New Frontier » Biodiesel http://blog.new-frontier.com Solutions for an Accelerating World Wed, 01 Sep 2010 20:38:21 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 We have to decouple feedstocks from fossil fuels http://blog.new-frontier.com/2010/01/03/we-have-to-decouple-feedstocks-from-fossil-fuels/ http://blog.new-frontier.com/2010/01/03/we-have-to-decouple-feedstocks-from-fossil-fuels/#comments Mon, 04 Jan 2010 00:41:07 +0000 Nate http://blog.new-frontier.com/?p=334 What energy sources have a feedstock decoupled from fossil fuels? Solar, Wind, Geothermal, Tidal, Biomass?

There are multiple problems that will make it difficult for biodiesel to ever compete without subsidies. In a nutshell the key problem is that the feedstock costs are linked to fossil fuel prices. The feedstock is generally a vegetable oil and methanol – an alcohol typically produced from natural gas. A second big problem is that biodiesel is an inferior fuel to hydrocarbon diesel (especially in cold weather). Further, the by-product of the biodiesel process is glycerin, which has limited value (especially at the volumes produced when biodiesel production is ramped up).

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