Price of B99 biodiesel?

Skyco · Jun 22, 2008

Picked up 10 gallons of B99 in Asheville, NC to use as an additive to improve lubricity and keep my diesel fuel systems clean. I was a little disappointed it was $4.93 a gallon vs about $4.75 for petro diesel. Thats in WNC, I can get B20 in SC for around $.05 a gallon cheaper than petro diesel. I haven't found anywhere near me in SC to buy B99 though...
I thought bioD was cheaper to make.
What are ya'll paying for it and where?

I was also surprised to see how brown it was...I guess I was expecting clear or something....

Diamondpilot · Jun 22, 2008

Actually Bio is more costly to make at this time and the only reason you got it at that cost is the government subsidies. I just did some checking on this very thing. In my area it cost roughly $4.59 for the materials to make one gallon of Bio Diesel. That is making it at 10,000 gallons at a time. More fuel will equal a lower price and vise versa. Add transportation cost, profit, and tax and it will be about $6.00 a gallon then in my state there is a $1 per gallon the station gets back for selling it so they can sell it at about $5.00 a gallon.

From the research I did 80% of all Bio Diesel made here in the U.S. is sent overseas where Diesel is over $8.00 per gallon so it only makes since to use it there.

Chris

Leejohn · Jun 23, 2008

I have never see diesel more then gas until Biodiesel came about. It does cost more to make. So that tells me you are using a mix of both, making diesel more then gas, the more biodiesel the higher the price. I have seen lately when my tractor gets under a load it puffs white smoke not black and the smell is different. My tractor is new by the way.
Did you see on the news where a tanker from another country stops by the US and tops off the tanker with biodiesel and the US gave that $1.00 credit to them. The tanker made $9,000,000.00 in one stop to the US then he goes on his way with now a full load of mix and $9,000,000.00 ahead (our money.)
I think that snowball rolling down that hill well be hitting a brick wall soon, It's sure one thing it's more then half way.
I well not believe it's because it's got this and that in it and call it this and that, so that makes the price higher. It's more the high tech engines is the reason you don't see all the black smoke of days gone by.

Skyco · Jun 23, 2008

So I wonder why it costs the large producers so much to make bioD when all the people selling "kits" to DIY claim 50 cents a gallon or so...something doesn't add up.

Its just that I can buy B20 for less than straight diesel at home. The place doesn't sell B99 so I took an opportunity to pick some up to blend my own B2. I figured if a blend is less then the straight stuff should be even less per gallon than the blend.

Oh well- I still got enough to treat 500 gallons for $50.

The tanker taking our bioD abroad and getting a governmet credit for it...well that just isn't right. Kinda like I saw where we buy oil from countries that need our grain. The article suggested we should charge them the same thing for a barrel of grain as they charge us for oil. I think we pay them around $125 for a barrel of oil but sell them a barrel of grain for $7.

Just found this link-Biodiesel Magazine about the export of credited bioD. The article claims that bioD costs $3.34 to produce in Germany but American made bioD was selling for $2.78 there because of the roughly $1 a gallon credit....so we don't have enough inexpensive fuel and we are sending it overseas by millions of gallons... The article goes on to state some foreign bioD plants have shut down because they can sell us the rapeseed oil to make it at a profit then buy the produced bioD back cheaper than they can make it because of the credit...it really isn't right for our government to let that happen, and lets hope they stop it soon..

Diamondpilot · Jun 23, 2008

The $.50 a gallon is BS unless you have a unlimited supply of the ingredients needed to make the Bio on hand. I looked at making a 1000 gallons at time for me and my neighbors back 2 years ago. To get the veg stock, methanol, and other ingredients I was looking at roughly $2.00 per gallon and the was assuming I had under $500 in the rig spread over 5000 of production.

As for the article you saw it most be really old. I am quoting from a local study done 2 weeks ago and published in our local paper. In July of 2007 there were 1.57 million gallons of Bio made in my state. In March of 08 that number was down to 520,000 gallons. The reason why you ask? In July of 07 that 1.57 million gallons sold for $3.38 per gallon. March of this year that 520,000 gallons made sold for $5.98 per gallon. This is all based on B99.

Chris

Leejohn · Jun 23, 2008

I saw it on Fox news on 6/22/08 @ around 4 AM.

DANOCHEESE · Jun 23, 2008

The local plant here shut down makign bio diesel. Price of beans too high. Solf off the ebans at a profit and went fishing.

WTA · Jun 23, 2008

Same here. The plant shut down a couple months ago because feed stock prices were way too high. At the time they shut down it was costing a little over 10 dollars a gallon to produce B100. Blame the government for that one. Using any human food source for making fuel is a joke. It will never work.

Skyco · Jun 23, 2008

Diamondpilot said:
As for the article you saw it most be really old. I am quoting from a local study done 2 weeks ago and published in our local paper. In July of 2007 there were 1.57 million gallons of Bio made in my state. In March of 08 that number was down to 520,000 gallons. The reason why you ask? In July of 07 that 1.57 million gallons sold for $3.38 per gallon. March of this year that 520,000 gallons made sold for $5.98 per gallon. This is all based on B99.

Chris

The article was from October 2007, not very old.
$5.98 a gallon? I'm surprised they sold ANY at that price- Why would anyone pay MUCH more than petro diesel for bio

Diamondpilot · Jun 23, 2008

The price has skyrocketed in the last 6 months so what you read was probably true at the time. I just looked at Vegetable oil in 300 gallon quantity a few weeks ago and the best I could do was $10 a gallon. I would have had $13 a gallon in bio if I went that route.

What really chaps my ________ is we are using our feed stock of one source or another and then its being exported as fuel. I return we get to pay more for our food.

Chris