Ladies and Gentlemen,
I've had the pleasure of reading along with all of you for a number
of months and believe now I can add something useful. Feel free to
toss a cabbage if you don't agree. :-)
I'm making small batches (3gallon) of biodiesel as I learn the
processes involved. I'm slowly gearing up to produce at least the 20
gallons per month I burn in my VW Passat TDI. I'd like very much,
tho, to begin a much larger processing operation and retail sale.
The comment: There are a number of Volkswagen Diesel enthusiasts
that are buying commercially-produced biodiesel. These folks are the
type that go out of their way for the best fuel, the highest cetane,
etc. to burn in their 'babies'. Those that live near a production
facility are happy to pay a premium for a better, cleaner fuel, and
that it's green is all the better. All the other folks that want the
fuel can't afford to have quantities of it shipped across the country.
An example: A Portland, Oregon manufacturer sells fuel for $1.50
per gallon (US) in 55 gallon drums. It costs approximately $180 per
drum to ship to Michigan. Now the fuel costs $5.10 per gallon.
So...drive out and buy 10 drums and drive them back home. Just adding
the price of fuel to make the trip (in other words, free driver and no
'32 cents per mile' to cover expenses for the vehicle) brings the
price up to $2.50 per gallon. These rough numbers do not figure in
sales taxes, road use taxes, fees incurred shipping motor fuel across
state lines, etc.
Distributed processing seems to be the way to go. Every town that
has a couple of fast food stores and a Krispy Creme donut shop could
support small-scale production and sell biodiesel in large lots for
fuel, small lots as a lubricity additive.
It seems that, just as centralized computing went out the window in
the past, and commercial power has to move to decentralized production
in the present, that the small decentralized biodiesel processing
plant would be the most cost effective, commercially viable model.
Bring on those cabbages!
Andy
Biofuel at Journey to Forever:
http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html
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