http://www.pjstar.com/news/business/g49555a.html PJStar.com - Peoria Journal Star Online Biodiesel may fuel the future
Renewable mixture reduces engine emissions January 1, 2002 By STEVE TARTER of the Journal Star BLOOMINGTON - If the past year was big for ethanol, 2002 may be the year biodiesel moves into the fast lane. Biodiesel is a mixture of vegetable oil and diesel fuel that reduces engine emissions. It will help in finding use for the glut of soybean oil presently on the market. As a renewable fuel, it's been in the shadow of ethanol, the corn-based fuel, but biodiesel showed signs of stepping out on its own in 2001. "The growth over the last few years has been tremendous. In 1999, we produced 500,000 gallons of biodiesel. In 2001, we produced 25 million gallons," said Judd Hulting, domestic marketing manager for the Illinois Soybean Association in Bloomington. Biodiesel is sold to three basic markets, Hulting said. "Our three audiences are farmers, municipal fleets and over-the-road trucks," he said. The over-the-road trucking market is a huge one, using 35 billion gallons of diesel fuel a year, he said. But to crack that market, biodiesel has to drop in price. Currently the B2 blend (diesel fuel with 2 percent vegetable oil) adds 3 to 5 cents a gallon to the cost of diesel while B20 is 15 to 20 cents more a gallon. But help may be coming from Washington. Legislation could reduce the federal tax on biodiesel as well as establish a timetable for increases in renewable fuel use, he said. Congress may require that all motor vehicle fuel sold in the United States contain a minimum amount of renewable fuel. "That would be huge," said Hulting of how the legislation would impact biodiesel. But other things are happening on the renewable fuel front. The Environmental Protection Agency's emission standards for new trucks and buses will take effect in 2007. An agency-mandated reduction in sulfur in diesel fuel (in 2006) should spur a boom in the biodiesel market, said Joe Jobe, executive director of the National Biodiesel Board in Jefferson City, Missouri. Some fleets aren't waiting for regulations to take effect. "After Sept. 11, we had a trucking firm call who asked, 'What can I do?'" said Mark Dehner, market manager for Growmark Inc., a farm supply cooperative in Bloomington. "Sept. 11 spurred people to be more cognizant of what's going on. People around the country decided that if we can grow it (fuel) here, let's do it. Let's have more control over our own destiny," he said. Growmark rolled out its own homegrown fuel campaign in November, providing ethanol and biodiesel to farmer members throughout the Midwest, Dehner said. The terrorist attacks triggered "an emotional reaction" by customers who wanted to use homegrown fuels, said Chris Miller, spokesman for World Energy in Chelsea, Mass., the nation's largest supplier of biodiesel. The movement towards biodiesel is good news for soybean farmers, said Brad Glenn of Stanford, president of the Illinois Soybean Association. "In 2001 we saw a lot of great things happen. About 15 states - even Hawaii - passed some sort of tax enhancement for biodiesel last year. Unfortunately, Illinois wasn't one of them. Hopefully, we'll see success in 2002," he said. Glenn said education and distribution are the two biggest needs for a surge in the use of the renewable fuel. "We don't have the terminal distribution that ethanol presently enjoys," he said. Two Illinois bus fleets recently conducted tests with biodiesel, said Hulting of trials at Illini Swallow Co., Champaign, and the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District. "The fleet managers said it worked great but it comes back to cost. When your're buying thousands of gallons of fuel, every penny counts," Hulting said. But fleets that have to meet stringent federal guidlines remain a target market for biodiesel, he said. Transit systems in Cincinnati and Kansas City recently announced plans to use biodiesel in some buses. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Tiny Wireless Camera under $80! Order Now! FREE VCR Commander! Click Here - Only 1 Day Left! http://us.click.yahoo.com/WoOlbB/7.PDAA/ySSFAA/9bTolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuels at Journey to Forever http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuel at WebConX http://www.webconx.com/2000/biofuel/biofuel.htm 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/
