Biodiesel Fuel?

Biodiesel fuel is a clean burning alternative fuel that comes from 100% renewable resources. It is considered the fuel of the future. Biodiesel does not contain petroleum, but can be mixed with petroleum to produce a biodiesel blend that can be used in a variety of vehicles.
Pure biodiesel fuel, though, can only be used in diesel engines. Biodiesel is biodegradable and non-toxic, making it so safe that common table salt has been proven more toxic.
Biodiesel is not like vegetable oil alternative fuels. Biodiesel can be used in its unaltered form in diesel engines. Vegetable oil fuels must be modified and used only in combustion- ignition engines. This makes biodiesel one of the easiest alternative fuels to use. In fact, it is a great option for use on farms in farm equipment.

Biodiesel fuel is made through a process called transesterfication. This process involves removing the glycerin from the vegetable oil or fat. During the process byproducts are left behind, including methyl esters and glycerin. Biodiesel is free from such substances as sulfur and aromatics which are found in traditional fuels.

The unique qualities of biodiesel makes it unlike other alternative fuels. It has passed all the health effects testing requirements, unlike other alternative fuels. This means it meets the standards of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. Biodiesel is legally registered with the Environmental Protection Agency as a fuel that can be legally sold and distributed. Other alternative fuels can not be legally sold as motor fuel because they do not meet the EPA's fuel specifications.

One of the best things about biodiesel fuel is that is it not harmful to the environment like traditional fuels. Biodiesel is made from renewable resources which means it is safe for the environment. It does not produce the high emissions like traditional fuels. Biodiesel does not cause harmful effects to the environment that will produce lasting effects on generations to come.

Biodiesel is also good for the economy because unlike traditional fuels, the resources to make biodiesel come form within the United States. It is made with products grown in the USA without having to involve politics with other countries. The country can become less dependent upon foreign countries for fuel supplies and the money goes right back into the US economy.

Biodiesel is an innovative fuel that is rapidly becoming more available to the general public. It can be found around the country in select places or it can be bought directly from producers. It costs a little more than traditional fuels at the current time because the demand is not as great. However, as demand grows and the public realizes the benefits of a biodegradable, renewable fuel source, the price will drop.
Right now, though, the cheapest way to get biodiesel fuel is to make it at home yourself.

Minnesota Fishing Opener

Fishing Opener in Minnesota is 05/10/08. Lake Mille Lacs will, no doubt, be as busy as past openers with wall to wall boats. Follow the crowds if you're new to the lake. Big Winni is always a good lake for the opener. I've always had good luck at the Dugouts on the north shore or at the entrance to Cut Foot Souix. We have fished Round Lake at the town of Squaw Lake in the past on opener with great luck from the public landing north of Squaw Lake to the north shore. Another great opening day lake is Bowstring Lake north of Deer River. The south end between the duck camp to the river is good early in the year. If the water levels are high enough, fishing right in the river can be outstanding. Last year we fished Sand Lake near Bowstring and had great luck just off the SW side of the island bobber fishing in 12 ft. of water. Also, in the evening, fishing was good right up to the Anchor Inn bridge, with a couple of very large fish caught there.

Truman Lake Crappies

Crappies are starting to hit on Truman Lake. We fished last week near Clinton, Mo. at Bucksaw. Crappies were being caught in the mouth of the creeks.We fished Wednesday and had several nice fish. We fished the mouth of all the major creeks on the Grand Arm. Fish all the trees leading into the creeks in 12 ft of water or more fishing 10ft deep.We caught all our fish on 1/16th oz tube jigs in the blk/char colors. We covered alot of water and kept on the move .The bite was fair and with the water warming up, it will get better.

Ethanol Subsidies Are a Complete Waste

The full story 0f ethanol seems to be that ethanol subsidies are a complete waste. One can't expect a lobbyist to walk into a farm belt congressperson's office and say, "Sir or madam, ethanol subsidies don't reduce our dependence on foreign oil, alleviate air pollution, or benefit the country in any other demonstrable way. A large portion of the money goes directly into the coffers of a single multibillion-dollar corporation. Some experts say that manufacturing ethanol consumes more energy than the fuel produces. In fact, all the ethanol industry dependably generates is profits for itself and campaign contributions for you. Can we count on your vote?"

Corn belt states began subsidizing ethanol after the Arab oil embargo of 1973. The federal government joined the party a few years later. The Energy Tax Act of 1978 authorized an excise tax exemption for biofuels, chiefly gasohol (a gasoline blend containing at least 10 percent ethanol). Another federal program provided loan guarantees for the construction of ethanol plants, and in 1986 the U.S. even gave ethanol producers free corn. It's estimated that the excise exemption alone costs U.S. taxpayers as much as $1.4 billion per year.

The immediate beneficiaries of ethanol subsidies have been corn farmers and, more significantly, the Archer Daniels Midland Corporation of Decatur, Illinois, better known as ADM. The world's largest grain processor, ADM produces 40 percent of the ethanol used to make gasohol. As might be supposed, the company and its officers have been eloquent in their defense of ethanol and generous in contributing to both political parties. The politicians have been generous right back. The libertarian Cato Institute estimates that every dollar of ADM's ethanol profit costs taxpayers 30 bucks.

One might not mind spending the money if it bought us something--energy independence, say, or cleaner air. But based on current evidence, it doesn't. Ethanol contains only about two-thirds as much energy per gallon as gasoline, so cars using ethanol blends get lower mileage. Though ethanol can reduce carbon monoxide emissions, the fuel may well produce more of other air pollutants. True, the ethanol industry drives corn prices up, which helps farmers--but a 1986 USDA study found we'd be better off mailing the farmers checks rather than propping up an entire industry with tax dollars. (Ethanol has since been touted as a substitute for MTBE, an additive that makes gasoline burn cleaner but also causes groundwater pollution. However, skeptics claim that due to improvements in engine technology, it'd be better just to dispense with such additives altogether.)

The capper, though, is the claim that it takes more energy to make a gallon of ethanol than you get by burning it. One of the most vocal proponents of this view is Cornell University ecology professor David Pimentel. In an analysis published in 2001 in the peer-reviewed Encyclopedia of Physical Sciences and Technology, Pimentel argued that when you add up all the energy costs--the fuel for farm tractors, the natural gas used to distill corn sugars into alcohol, and so on--making a gallon of ethanol takes 70 percent more energy than the finished product contains. And because that production energy comes mostly from fossil fuels, gasohol isn't just wasting money but hastening the depletion of nonrenewable resources.

These findings were denounced by ethanol producers and their allies. Michael Graboski, a professor of engineering at the Colorado School of Mines, published a rebuttal of Pimentel's paper, saying he used obsolete data, etc. Pimentel in turn rebutted the rebuttal. The debate has gotten pretty technical. I make only a few observations: (1) Pimentel seems to have tweaked his calculations--in an August bulletin from Cornell, he says making a gallon of ethanol takes 29 percent more energy than it provides, not 70 percent. (2) That conceded, the guy is no flake, among other things having chaired a U.S. Department of Energy panel that investigated ethanol economics (and reached similar conclusions) in 1980. Graboski, on the other hand, is a consultant to the National Corn Growers Association. (3) Given that ethanol production involves the conversion of massive amounts of energy from one form to another, the contention that the process is an efficient way to make fuel seems to fly in the face of basic physics--so much so that I'm inclined to regard the subsidy program, and the fact that it has survived for a quarter century, with something approaching awe. Money-wasting government schemes are hardly rare. But how many do you know of that flout the second law of thermodynamics?

SoyMor Biodiesel-Where's Some More Handouts

Friday, March 28, 2008 9:46 AM CDT

GLENVILLE — Renewable Energy Group announced this week that it is withdrawing its initial $150 million public offering because of commodity prices and adverse market conditions, which is temporarily ceasing production at SoyMor Biodiesel.

“We’re at all-time highs right now — on gold, crude oil, you name the commodity,” said Gary Pestorious, chairman of the SoyMor Board of Governors.

SoyMor announced March 14 it is suspending production of biodiesel. The plant’s 30 employees are on unemployment, Pestorious said. The board hopes to reopen the biodiesel refinery when conditions improve.

REG, based in Ames, Iowa, makes and sells a quarter of all biodiesel sold in the United States and only manages SoyMor. There are 56 owners of the Soymor limited liability company. Pestorious said REG is a large company that was going public in biodiesel but, like with SoyMor, the market makes it a tough time for prices, and it decided to wait. This decision doesn’t affect the Glenville plant, he said.

It seems the biodiesel industry is in a holding pattern, said Pestorious, while prices are making a large swing. Prices aren’t changing at 2 cents a day but changing an entire limit up or a limit down. Once the market gets comfortable with this year’s crop then maybe it will settle down, he said.

Soybean oil prices — one of the causes Pestorious noted for the halt in production at SoyMor — went down for a few days and then came back up for a few days during the past week. Prices jumped in 2007, going from 28 cents to 45 cents a pound. The Chicago Board of Trade Thursday has May’s soybean oil price at nearly 58 cents per pound.

“We’re kind of back to where we were,” Pestorious said.

Soybean oil makes up to 80 percent of operating costs for biodiesel plants, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

In addition to high soybean oil prices, Pestorious said, the cost of diesel fuel and the weakened U.S. dollar contributed to the fact that SoyMor ran fewer than 15 days a month during the past four months.

Many biodiesel plants across the country have stopped production or slowed in recent months.

“Soybean oil is a big factor but it’s not the only factor,” Pestorious said. “It’s a combination of a bunch of factors that will determine when and if we start back up again.”

Pestorious said the plant will only shut down if the market stays where it is.

The Board of Governors, he said, will not fire up the plant again until it is comfortable with the economics. The board wants the market to even out before thinking about production again.

“Right now we’re at a high spike so it doesn’t work. But we also don’t think it will stay there,” Pestorious said.

“We think the market will adjust in time, and when it does and the economics work we’re back in business,” he continued. “We’ll start up again.”

The longtime record for soybean oil was 45 cents a pound in 1974, but that was shattered in 2007.

just wait, they will be crying to the politicians for more welfare money. GREEDY FREE_LOADING FARMERS!!

Steal Your Money-Agri-business Ethanol

Ethanol is touted as the way to get off of foreign sources of energy, But that is a crock.
It is not even accepted that Ethanol production produces more energy than it requires*, and at any rate, bio-diesel, or sugar beet production are both more efficient than ethanol from corn. This is a titanic boondoggle and a huge lie and slap in the face of Americans who think they are being "Green". But someone else said it better than me, This from Vladimir on REDSTATE.Com:

Example: by mandating ethanol in our motor fuel, and by outlawing imports of ethanol refined elsewhere, we've had to deal with the impact of high levels of corn production on our ecosystem. Corn is one of the most taxing crops on the soil, and its cultivation requires large amounts of nitrogen fertilizers (derived, by the way, from natural gas). Runoff of nitrogen fertilizer is the primary culprit for the annual "Dead Zone" that forms in the Gulf of Mexico. I've seen it variously described as "the size of Connecticut" and "the size of New Jersey"; for our purposes we'll stipulate that it's the size of a densely-populated north-eastern state. An oxygen-depleted zone, it virtually wipes out commercial fishing.

* CORN ETHANOL TAKES MORE ENERGY THAN IT MAKES

ENS, USA, July 13, 2005
http://www.sarid.net/technology/050713-ethanol.htm

Berkeley, California, July 13, 2005 (ENS) - Using ethanol as an additive to make gasoline burn cleaner does more harm than good to the environment, finds a new report by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley. The study concludes that the cumulative energy consumed in corn farming and ethanol production is six times greater than the power the ethanol provides in a car engine.

Beware this evil called Ethanol.

Ethanol, The last, best, hope for big profits
Ethanol, The last refuge of a scoundrel
Ethanol, Like the proverbial lilies of the field, it toils not, neither does it spin
Ethanol, Full of sound and fury, signifying, nothing
Ethanol, Crucifying America on a cross of Corn!

Ethanol=Mice and Rats

An increase in mice and rats is causing problems in some
eastern Iowa homes and ethanol could be to blame.
With the high demand for ethanol, farmers are
increasing their corn production which, in turn,
causes mice and rat populations to grow. Mice and
rat's eat and breed in corn fields, and can easily
make their way into your home through cracks in the
foundation and even dryer vents. “Just pretty much
look at the bottom of the foundation make sure all
your cracks and crevices are tied up and then it's
just a matter of, if you do have mice and rats inside
the house after you take care of the foundation, just
something as good as a good ol' snap trap,” said
Michael Jones from Hawkeye Exterminating Co.
Exterminators also recommend filling any visible holes
outside your house with steel wool, or any caulking product.

Ethanol Plants Suck!

With a flood of ethanol plants headed toward Minnesota, there's growing concern about whether there will be enough groundwater to satisfy the booming industry's thirst. The issue was brought into focus last year in Granite Falls, where an ethanol plant in its first year of operations depleted the groundwater so much that it had to begin pumping water from the Minnesota River.

It takes between four and five gallons of water to produce a gallon of ethanol at a biofuel plant, and with 17 ethanol plants now operating in the state, six under construction and 10 more proposed or in the planning stages, the threat of more drains on underground water are rising. . .

The industry is consuming about 2 billion gallons of groundwater per year, according to state estimates. That amount could quadruple by 2011 if the state's ethanol production more than doubles, as expected. . .


All told, the state's 16 ethanol plants use a total of 1.9 billion gallons of water each year to produce over 562 million gallons of ethanol. With five new plants under construction, and several others looking to expand, the state's production capacity could reach one billion gallons by 2008, requiring the use of more than 4.3 billion gallons of water. That's slightly less water than was consumed by the city of St. Cloud in 2006.

Experts say there is a significant risk that increasing ethanol production could suck groundwater dry. Already, officials in and around the Midwest are delaying or denying approval of permits for ethanol plants out of concern for the water supply.

"What you want is to protect your water supply for future population and economic growth," says Jim Japs, assistant director of the DNR's Division of Waters. "Those are the two things that drive cities. Ultimately, if you don't have the water, you're not going to have the growth."

The Ethanol Scam

Here are some things you should know about ethanol.


* 30% WORSE average gas mileage with e85 than 100% gasoline. Yet you don't pay 30% less.
* Ethanol has a higher octane rating but this doesn't improve gas mileage unless your engine is knocking.
* Since 1978, ethanol tax exemptions have cost taxpayers more than $11 billion.
* A gallon of gasoline has about 125,000 BTUs of energy, while a gallon of ethanol contains about 84,000 BTUs, meaning that a gallon of ethanol contains about two-thirds as much energy as a gallon of gasoline.
* It takes around 98,000 BTUs to create a gallon of ethanol, 22,000 BTUs for a gallon of gas. The ethanol industry claims that equipment will be more efficient in the future with modernized ethanol plants, but that will only get them slightly over a 1:1 ratio.
* You may be getting short changed if your state doesn't require pumps to be labeled that they contain 10% ethanol (aka gasohol.)

Let's say you drive 20,000 miles per year in a vehicle that gets 20 miles to the gallon at $2 per gallon of 100% gasoline. Going by the ethanol price difference at the gas station down the street our example equates to $1.68 per gallon for e85. $0.32 less per gallon is a great deal right? Wrong.

* 1000 gallons = $2000 you would have paid at the pump for 100% gasoline. $166 per month.
* 1400 gallons = $2352 you will have to pay for e85. $196 per month.
* You will have saved 21 barrels of oil and used 6700 bushels (375,000 lbs.) of corn.

Bottom line is that it costs more for gas, raises taxes and wastes energy. I totally support alternative fuels, but not if they are worse than oil.

What a joke! We should be giving Walmart a government subsidy and require everyone to purchase 10% of there products there. That would make as much sense as dumping all our cash in the ethanol toilet!