> I understand from a friend who works for Central Soya in Illinois that they > have biodiesel production capability but do not offer it for sale. Apparently > other sourses also refuse to sell it for road use. > > What is going on? ..............
Gary, I can only presume a couple of reasons for their position. But I can guarantee you that our biggest obstacle to selling road biodiesel is government. Making methyl or ethyl esters is one thing. You can sell billions of gallons of esters all day long under little scrutiny. Selling off road and road taxable fuel crosses into the realm of licensing and bonding for fuel distribution and throws open the flood gates for government manipulation and intervention. Some states charge as much as a $150,000.00 US bond just to legally be permitted to sell the fuel, others a lesser value. Fifty states times "x" equals a boatload of revenue. All-the-while, this money isn't necessarily placed in an escrow account to the bond holder's benefit. (Some would call this theft. Others simply call it government.) If you only have one fueling station, for example the point of manufacture, the same dollar values apply, even though your distribution circle is limited solely to "your country mile." Until such time as farmers develop umbrella co-ops for fuel distribution, splitting the licensing and bonding fees and establishing individual fueling centers throughout the cooperative's region - much as do the fossil fuel giants - there won't be much road taxable or off road fuel production. Also, until the combined cost of manufacturing biodiesel and federal and state road taxes (~$0.45 - ~$0.50 US per gallon of diesel) approaches the cost of dino diesel, they will continue to manufacture and sell ethyl and methyl ester - not biodiesel. Also take into consideration that when selling esters as "off road" biodiesel, there is the US requirement that the fuel be dyed with 3.9 pounds of solvent red per 1,000 barrels (42 gallons per barrel). When selling pure esters, there is no such requirement. Selling esters as non-taxable "off road" fuel incurs one more manufacturing cost and forces the manufacturer to carry two inventories, dyed off road fuel and pure esters. It is not the manufacturer's responsibility to keep the end user honest. Should you wish to pull up in a flatbed and load 20 drums of ester, so be it. Should you so choose to consume it all purely as a solvent, fine. Should you so choose to put this product in your farm tractor's fuel tank or a heating oil tank, it is not the manufacturer's concern. Should you put same in your tractor trailer or VW Rabbit, it should remain no concern to the manufacturer. However, the moment you pull up and pump the ester into your fuel tank, government regs make it a liability to the manufacturer. Most are only preparing to start accepting this burden. It will take some more time. Todd Appal Energy [EMAIL PROTECTED] Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
