**Courtesy Energy Information Administration

*Source: E I A

Great Articles

Cheaper Veggie Diesel May Change the Way We Drive
Brian Handwerk
for National Geographic News

November 15, 2005
Japanese scientists may have found a cheaper and more efficient way to produce "biodiesel." The renewable, vegetable oil-based fuel can be used in conventional diesel engines, which are found in about 2 percent of cars currently sold in the U.S. and in about 40 percent in Europe. The breakthrough could be just in time—industry experts say that demand for the cleaner, greener fuel is on the rise. Any vegetable oil can become fuel, but not until its fatty acids are converted to chemical compounds known as esters. Currently the acids used to convert the fatty acids are rohibitively expensive. 

Michikazu Hara, of the Tokyo Institute of Technology in Yokohama, Japan, and his colleagues have used common, inexpensive sugars to form a recyclable solid acid that does the job on the cheap. Their research is reported in last week's issue of the journal Nature. "We estimate the cost of the catalyst to be one-tenth to one-fiftieth that of conventional catalysts," Hara said. The breakthrough could provide cost savings on a massive scale, he said, because the technique could fairly easily make the transition from the lab to the refinery—if interest warrants. "We have developed this material for large-scale chemical production," Hara said. "Unfortunately, interest in biodiesel in Japan is not higher than in the U.S. and Europe." 

Biodiesel Boom?  Though it has been historically limited, U.S. interest in the fuel appears to be rising rapidly.  "We are anticipating 75 million gallons [284 million liters] of production in 2005, and that's triple last year's production," said Jenna Higgins, a  spokesperson for the National Biodiesel Board, a biodiesel-industry trade group.  Higgins cites several reasons for the surge, including government incentives and the rising cost and sometimes short supply of conventional diesel fuel.  A Minnesota law, which took effect September 29, mandates that virtually all diesel sold in the state has to be at least 2 percent biodiesel—provided local producers can match the demand.  "That created demand for about 16 million gallons [61 million liters] a year," Higgins said.

A larger boost was provided by a U.S. federal tax credit that encourages blending biodiesel and regular diesel fuels. "That has made biodiesel more cost competitive and significantly increased demand," she said.  The most common biodiesel fuel product, B20, is 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent conventional diesel. Most commercially available biodiesel is sold in such blends.  Generally, biodiesel costs more at the pump than regular diesel fuel. The cost difference is about the same as it is between premium and regular gasoline.  Biodiesel production costs are tied to weather patterns that affect crops used in its production, such as soybeans or rapeseed (canola). Diesel costs are tied mainly to the cost of its source, petroleum.  Currently the U.S. is home to some 45 biodiesel plants. The average plant produces just 6.5 million gallons (24.6 million liters) a year, but larger facilities may soon be coming online. 

Tip of a Green Iceberg?  Monty Goodell is president and CEO of Houston, Texas-based Cogeneration Technologies, parent company of the Biofuel Industries company. He is developing a 50-million-gallon (189-million-liter) facility. The operation would double the entire U.S. biodiesel output, based on 2004 numbers.  "We are at the tip of the iceberg for biodiesel," he said.  "There were 500,000 gallons [1.9 million liters] of biodiesel produced five years ago [in the United States]," Goodell said. "Last year there were 25 million gallons [95 million liters] of B100 biodiesel produced—a 5,000 percent increase in just five years." B100 is 100 percent biodiesel—no diesel added.  If B20 ever becomes a diesel fuel standard, Goodell says, biodiesel demand could be staggering.  "[There were] 55 billion gallons [208 billion liters] of petroleum diesel consumed in the U.S. last year," he said. "[A biodiesel requirement of] 20 percent would equal a requirement of 11 billion gallons [42 billion liters] of B100 biodiesel needed" for mixing with diesel fuel.  The word does appear to be getting out.  "We are seeing quite a bit of demand," said John Rymes, of Rymes Heating Oils in Concord, New Hampshire. Rymes has several biodiesel pumps and also provides biodiesel for construction-vehicle operators and home heating-oil consumers.  "I'm not going to tell you that we've generated a lot of income from it, but we're committed as a company to try to bring a cleaner-burning fuel to the region," he said. 

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has determined that the greener fuel emits only a third of the unburned hydrocarbons and half of the carbon monoxide and particulates that standard diesel fuel emits. Furthermore, biodiesel's sulfur oxide and sulfate emissions, which cause acid rain, are negligible.  The fuel is also biodegradable, so safety concerns and pollution issues are minimal.  Rymes explains that New Hampshire fuel taxes currently take a big bite out of his potential profits on the fuel. But, to stimulate interest, he keeps biodiesel priced as competitively as he can.  "It's a great product," he said, "and there are a lot of people interested in using it."

March 28, 2008

Source: American Trucking Associations
 

Truckers Demand Cheaper Fuel
ARLINGTON, Va. -- The American Trucking Associations is urging the Bush Administration to act quickly to ensure that strategies are in place to ensure an affordable supply of oil for the nation's 3.5 million truck drivers and American consumers. The trucking industry is experiencing the highest prolonged fuel prices in history. Historically, fuel represented the second-highest operating expense for motor carriers. For some motor carriers, however, fuel is beginning to surpass labor as their largest expense. This ultimately will increase the cost of everything delivered by truck.

ATA is urging the federal government to help bring down the price of diesel fuel and to alleviate trucking companies' hardships by doing the following:

-- Stop filling and instead release oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve;

-- Establish a national diesel fuel standard;

-- Allow environmentally responsible exploration of oil-rich areas in the United States that are now off-limits;

-- Allow environmentally responsible development of crude resources in oil shale and tar sands in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming;

-- Work with the 50 state Attorneys General to combat any fuel price gouging that might occur;

-- Continue to fund EPA's SmartWay Transport Partnership Program, which encourages fuel-saving strategies;

-- Streamline EPA's regulatory framework for reviewing and processing applications for additional refinery operations;

-- Require speed limiters set for 68 mph or lower on all new trucks;
-- Set a national maximum speed limit of 65 mph;

-- Suspend the collection of the 12 percent federal excise tax on motor carriers' purchase of auxiliary power units (APUs), which cut the consumption of fuels in idling truck engines;

-- Require states to grant a weight exemption for APUs; and

-- Eliminate "splash and dash" - a tax benefit for imported biodiesel that is subsequently exported.

"The signs are troubling. We are concerned about fuel's direct impact on our industry and also its effects on the nation's economy," said ATA President and CEO Bill Graves. "The industry is doing its part to conserve fuel, but we need help." ATA recently issued letters to President Bush, the Department of Energy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration and the Treasury requesting that immediate steps be taken to address this crisis situation.

The trucking industry is making every effort to limit fuel consumption, including lowering speed limits and utilizing equipment to reduce idling. But rising fuel prices have been a significant burden on the trucking industry. The industry is on pace to spend an unprecedented $135 billion on diesel fuel this year, $22 billion more than a year earlier. The American Trucking Associations is the largest national trade association for the trucking industry. Through a federation of other trucking groups, industry-related conferences, and its 50 affiliated state trucking associations, ATA represents more than 37,000 members covering every type of motor carrier in the United States.