With ever-rising fuel prices and an increasing dependence upon foreign oil, research into alternative fuel has become extremely important. Ethanol has quickly become a well-researched and known additive for conventional gasoline engines. For diesel engines, however, alternative fuels are just becoming more intensely researched. A potential replacement for petroleum diesel fuel that has come to the forefront in recent years is biodiesel. Biodiesel is a renewable fuel comprised of esters derived from vegetable oils. The vegetable oils can be from almost any oilbearing seed, such as soybean, corn or sunflower. The oil reacts with an alcohol such as methanol, but ethanol, another valuable product from crop production, can be used as well.

Long Meadow Ranch confirmed today that it had formally adopted a policy of exclusively employing biodiesel fuels in all of its farming equipment after more than two years of experimentation. Biodiesel is an alternative fuel produced from plant oils and animal fats that can supplant the use of conventional petroleum-based fuels in most diesel engines.

There are also several disadvantages to using biodiesel fuels. Overall, biodiesel has lower energy content than diesel fuel, causing a reduction in fuel economy. Current production costs keep biodiesel slightly more expensive than diesel fuel. The cold flow properties of biodiesel prevent it from being used in colder climates or in winter conditions. The flow characteristics of biodiesel have been shown to not work well in some diesel fuel injection systems. Though significant reductions in other emissions exist, biodiesel produces higher nitrous oxide emissions. The exact cause of this phenomenon is not exactly known. This greenhouse gas is becoming more strictly regulated by the government and more research needs to be completed to better understand how it is produced so it can be more effectively controlled.

Northeast Biodiesel Company is a biodiesel plant in Greenfield Massachusetts designed to produce 10 million gallons of biodiesel for diesel vehicles and oil heat systems using recycled vegetable oils and animal fat as the primary raw material. It will initially produce five million gallons per year. Construction will begin in 2008 on the $7 million production facility. The Ralston, Iowa-based company is planning to raise up to $150 million in an IPO according to regulatory filings with the SEC on Monday. REG boasts that it is one of the leading biodiesel producers in the United States, with an output of about 78 million gallons of fuel in 2006. REG is not the only one to cash in on the clean-craze.

Midwest Biofuels, 125 Industrial Drive, is about to become the second plant in Wisconsin to produce biodiesel commercially. It will be the first completely indoor biodiesel producer in the world and one of the first in the nation to use a waterless method of turning soybean oil into diesel fuel. Imperium is expecting to complete construction on its Port of Grays Harbor facility on the coast of Washington state in July, 2007. When complete, the facility will have the capacity to produce up to 100 million gallons of biodiesel per year, making it the largest biodiesel production facility in the United States. The company is using the proceeds from the Series B round to begin planning for up to three additional similarly sized facilities across the country and around the world. The combined facilities will be designed to produce up to a total of 400 million gallons, or about 10 million barrels of biodiesel, per year by the end of 2008.

Crescent Biodiesel will use soy, sunflower, peanut, cottonseed and palm oil to produce biodiesel fuel. South Carolina farmers will have the first opportunity to supply the crops needed for raw materials. About a year after it?s open, Crescent Biodiesel?s plant is expected to produce 25 million gallons of fuel a year, Mr. Phillips said.

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel that is blended with or replaces petroleum diesel. With Biodiesel, any diesel engine can become a renewable fuel engine. Biodiesel is made in the USA from vegetable oils, animal fats, and used restaurant grease. The raw materials used to make Biodiesel are grown by America’s farmers, many of whom are already running on it, and have been for years. Biodiesel is safer to use, handle, and store than petroleum diesel. Biodiesel is less environmentally damaging to produce, and cleaner at the tailpipe. Plus, it is less damaging if it spills on the ground or in water.

BQ-9000 is a quality assurance certification program that includes procedures for fuel storage, handling and management aimed at ensuring fuel quality throughout distribution. There are two categories: certified marketer and accredited producer. Although there are more than ten accredited producers, Sprague Energy is only the second company to become a certified marketer. The other is Peter Cremer, an Ohio-based biodiesel manufacturer.

One of the industrys pioneer biodiesel producers has announced a company makeover and the largest planned biodiesel expansion in the history of the industry. In August, Renewable Energy Group, Inc. (REG) announced completion of a $100 million private equity financing and two new strategic partnerships. The company has said its overall biodiesel production will reach approximately 640 million gallons by 2009, including third-party plants.

Buoyed by President Bush’s plan to reduce gasoline consumption by 20 percent in the next 10 years and growing consumer demand for alternative fuels, venture capitalists and private equity firms are tossing hundreds of millions of dollars into alternative energy companies. Last year, an estimated $740 million flowed into ethanol, methane and biodiesel startups — a sevenfold increase over 2005 levels, according to the Cleantech Group.

Ethanol producers Cilion and Altra scored more than $150 million in financing last year, while Ralston, Iowa, biodiesel producer Renewable Energy Group pulled in $100 million. Meanwhile, the National Biodiesel Board reports that there are 105 biodiesel plants in the U.S., with a total production capacity of 864 million gallons. That could increase by 1.7 billion gallons in the next 18 months if all the plants in development are built.

Gary Haer, vice president of sales and marketing at Renewable Energy Group, said his company plans to open three plants in Iowa this year. Deriving fuel from Midwest soybeans, those three plants alone would add 90 million gallons of biodiesel capacity. Last year, Renewable Energy Group’s production stood at 72 million gallons — making it one of the largest in the country. By 2009, the company hopes to be producing 600 million gallons.

Oils
Biodiesel can be produced from many types of vegetable oils. The ones most commonly used are soybean and rapeseed oils. In the United States, 90% of biodiesel is produced from soybean oil. It can also be produced from crops such as Jatropha, field penny cress, sunflower, palm oil, mustard, etc. Other sources for biodiesel include Waste Vegetable Oil, animal fats like lard, yellow grease and tallow. Biodiesel can also be made from the byproducts derived in the process of making Omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil.

Another important economical source for production of biodiesel is algae. Algae for producing oil for biodiesel can be sourced cheaply from sewage wastes thus obviating the need for land which can be utilized for growing food. Many people consider waste vegetable oil to be the most ideal source for production of biodiesel. But the volume of biodiesel required to be produced to meet the demands of the transportation and household sectors is too large to be met with the inadequate supply of waste vegetable oil. Similarly inadequate is the supply of animal fat to produce biodiesel. Use of petroleum diesel can however be reduced to some extent by using discarded animal fat to produce biodiesel. Discarded chicken fat that can be procured from local poultry firms can be a viable source for biodiesel. Around 3 million gallons of biodiesel can be manufactured from nearly one billion kg of chicken fat and this source is utilized by some plants in USA

Not Enough to Replace Fossil Fuel
To produce soybean and animal fat in a scale than can produce enough biodiesel to substitute petroleum diesel as fuel is practically not possible. The enormous quantity of vegetable oils required to be produced towards making biodiesel would need very large scale farming with use of pesticides and fertilizers. People all over the world might object to such large scale diversion of agricultural land for producing vegetable oilseeds instead of food cultivation. As per the estimates of the Energy Information Administration of the US Department of Energy, consumption of diesel as engine and heating fuel is around 160 million tonnes in USA. Production of vegetable oils and animal fat in the country is estimated to be around 11 million tonnes and 5.3 million tonnes respectively that indicate the inadequacy of the production of these substances to produce biodiesel in sufficient volume to replace petroleum diesel.

From Algae
To produce biodiesel from soybean oil to meet the estimated consumption in USA of 160 million tonnes of fuel would require the total cultivable land of the country. This impractical prospect can be eliminated by the alternative option of using algae from sewage wastes that is economical and does not require much land. According to the estimate of the Department of Energy, to meet this fuel need, only 15000 square miles of land is required for growing algae. Algae can be grown in arid lands including in desert and marine conditions and can yield more oil for biodiesel than other plants. The energy yielded by algae per acre is estimated to be 30 times more than crops grown on land like soybean.

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