Julian, Yours is a very broad parameter.
Perhaps what would serve best to start is to establish "What it is that can best be achieved with each scale and are those achievements in line with sound economics?" Bio-regional (presuming that you mean approximately that by "small scale") reduces the consumption of transport fuels, reduces the degree of mechanical transportation infrastructure, keeps jobs local, keeps monies local, keeps the consumption of the finished fuel local, which in turn benefits the environment of the immediate locality. A volume as low as 500 gpd is economically sound to produce in a commercial setting when using WVO. SVO is a slightly but not entirely different kettle of fish, as the oilseed has to be pressed first, which requires more infrastructure. Centralized production runs almost entirely opposite of bio-regional. It gives cause to greater consumption of transport fuels, increases the amount of mechanical transportation infrastructure required, prevents the development of local jobs, exports monies from local economies and requires the importation of the finished fuel (erego more transportation fuel consumed and higher cost to consumers, making it even less competitive with fossil diesel). Batch production is primarily found in present day centralized and micro-bioregional facilities. Ocassionally continuous stream systems are found, but they generally require a labor pool of higher pay scale, inclusive of licensed engineers and technicians certified to work with high pressure equipment. Simply put, there are considerable benefits in accessing micro-production rather than centralized. Whether or not it meets the margin demands of corporate "Americana" is not really the point, not if it can first meet the needs of rural and even suburban "Americana." Todd Swearingen ----- Original Message ----- From: "jdautremontsmith" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <biofuel@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Saturday, April 17, 2004 6:47 PM Subject: [biofuel] small scale vs large scale > Hello, > > I've often heard it said that small scale biodiesel production is > more efficient than large scale production, or, in other words, > biodiesel production has diseconomies of scale. I'm trying to find > some documentation of this. Does anyone know of any resources that > investigate this issue? > > Thanks as always for your help! > > Julian > > > > > > > Biofuel at Journey to Forever: > http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html > > Biofuels list archives: > http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ > > Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. > To unsubscribe, send an email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Yahoo! Groups Links > > > > > > ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~--> Buy Ink Cartridges or Refill Kits for your HP, Epson, Canon or Lexmark Printer at MyInks.com. Free s/h on orders $50 or more to the US & Canada. http://www.c1tracking.com/l.asp?cid=5511 http://us.click.yahoo.com/mOAaAA/3exGAA/qnsNAA/FGYolB/TM ---------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Biofuels list archives: http://infoarchive.net/sgroup/biofuel/ Please do NOT send Unsubscribe messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/biofuel/ <*> 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/
