[Homestead] gas prices

Don Bowen don.bowen at earthlink.net
Wed Jun 6 11:32:51 EDT 2007


At 6/6/2007, you wrote:
>  But my question was and
>still is: is it feasible for a small farmer or
>homesteader to have his/her own bio diesel plant?
>When I googled it I didn't find a site that addressed
>that issue in terms I was comfortable with.

Soybeans        48 gal/acre
Sunflowers      102 gal/acre
Peanuts 113 gal/acre
Rapeseed        127 gal/acre
Avocado 282 gal/acre
Florida Aspen   689 gal/acre

Subtract from the above the energy cost of production (tilling, planting, 
fertilizing, harvesting, and processing).  To make bio Diesel you need to 
add the costs of production of about 10% methanol.  Methanol in the best 
facilities returns about 15-20% over the energy invested.  BioDiesel from 
Soybeans costs about $2-3 a gallon in facilities of 3M gallons or less.  In 
larger facilities the cost can be driven down to well under $1.


Don Bowen              Awl Knotted Up                       KI6DIU
http://www.braingarage.com
My travel journal
http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html

I am omnivagant.  


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