Biodiesel Energy Efficiency Has Risen With Improved Soy Varieties, Group Says
By John O'Dell October 16, 2009
Better soybeans and soy production methods are making biodiesel far more energy efficient.
That's what one biodiesel trade group is saying after the University of Idaho and the U.S. Agriculture Department published a report examining the efficiency of biodiesel production.
For every energy unit in fossil fuel it takes to produce biodiesel, more than four units are contained in the fuel, the National Biodiesel Board said this week, citing the report.
The board is promoting the biodiesel energy improvements study in hopes of influencing the Environmental Protection Agency as it prepares rules to implement the expanded federal renewable fuels standard.
The carbon impact of each fuel is weighed in setting the mix of fuels to be used in the country and the agency is using a four-year-old study to establish baseline numbers for petroleum and biodiesel and the numbers favor gasoline because biodiesel production was less energy-efficient then, the board says.
"In its rule-making, the EPA should recognize that biodiesel production s growing more efficient, while oil exploration and drilling becomes more intensive each day," said NBB's chief executive, Joe Jobe.
Because of advancements in soy growing such as new seed varieties and less soil cultivation - as well as the fact that the sun delivers much of the energy that goes into growing soy, the principal feedstock for biodiesel in the U.S. - biodiesel productivity has improved about 40% in the past decade, the NBB said.
In contrast to the 300 percent increase in energy delivered as fuel from soy biodiesel, the report said, petroleum was found in1998 to return just 84% of the fossil fuel energy required to make it.
"Our research shows continued progress in the renewability of biodiesel production," Dev Shrestha, University of Idaho Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering Assistant Professor, said in a statement.
"Farmers, soybean processors and biodiesel producers are getting even better at using non-fossil resources and adopting other efficiencies that are leading to greater energy returns."
The increased production of such alternative fuels as ethanol and biodiesel has been a source of controversy since Congress passed a tax credit in 2004 equaling $1 for every gallon of biodiesel blended in the U.S.
Critics are concerned that resources not involved in the refining of raw materials into biodiesel or ethanol, such as energy required to fertilize, till, water and harvest the crop, aren't fully factored into what the NBB calls the alternative fuels' "energy balance."
Indeed, citing earlier studies about soy-biodiesel's energy efficiency, Seattle, Wash., began testing biodiesel made from waste cooking grease out of concern that crop-based biofuels required too much energy to produce.
Many environmentalists, academic researchers, economists and even some auto industry analysts also have been critical of increased ethanol and biodiesel production, saying it has contributed to a spike in corn and soybean prices that has exacerbated worldwide food shortages.
The price of corn - the major ethanol feedstock in the U.S. - quadrupled between mid-2005 and mid-2008, but has fallen about 50% in the past year because of the global recession. Soybean prices almost tripled between early 2006 and early 2008, but have fallen about 40% since then.
The NBB doesn't address the food-for-fuel issue but says that on the energy front all factors required to make and process biodiesel are included in the positive energy balance calculation, including the energy required to make fertilizers and pesticides, transport the feedstock and power farming equipment.
Danny King, Contributor,
and John O'Dell, Senior Editor
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