The question has been raised as to the value of making biodiesel from waste vegetable oil resources in terms of the net energy gain. I had posted on this topic a few days ago, but feel a more considered study was in order. This research is based on the following published study:
RESOURCES RESEARCH UNIT SCHOOL OF ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT SHEFFIELD HALLAM UNIVERSITY EVALUATION OF THE COMPARATIVE ENERGY, GLOBAL WARMING AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC COSTS AND BENEFITS OF BIODIESEL Final Report for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Contract Reference No. CSA 5982/NF0422 Report No. 20/1 by N. D. Mortimer, P. Cormack, M. A. Elsayed and R. E. Horne January 2003 available from: http://www.defra.gov.uk/farm/acu/research/reports/nf0422.pdf This study goes through all stages of developing biodiesel, energy inputs and environmental benefits. The study does not specifically address waste resource utilization, but can be used as a methodology guide. For yellow grease (waste) based biodiesel, one should ignore the energy cost of fertilizer, cultivation, harvest, drying, solvent extraction and product distribution. The energy inputs that are appropriate are for waste oil collection, esterification, storage, plant construction, maintenance and biodiesel distribution. Using these values, one can calculate an Energy Return on Energy Investment (ERoEI) of 5.26 times. This number would be significantly higher if transportation and heating costs were also based on biodiesel fuel. I also believe the values given for esterification are too high, and when adjusted will further increase the ERoEI. However, as a working number, this gives a steady value that is conservatively realistic. Compare this number with the equivalent liquid fuel of low sulfur diesel fuel with an ERoEI of 0.82 or an ultra low sulfur fuel value of 0.79. There are also equivalent benefits in terms of CO2 greenhouse gas emissions and toxicity, etc. This information should be used when decisions about project development are made. Tom Leue ----------------------------- Homestead Inc. www.yellowbiodiesel.com [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] Biofuels at Journey to Forever http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html List messages are archived at the Info-Archive at NNYTech: http://archive.nnytech.net/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuels-biz/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
