I see that the negative reply comment was removed about Dr Oz.. I think that was a good move.
Regardless of the value of soy bean oil, I certainly understand DSG (not the transmission), known as Distillers Grain, which is the high protein leftovers from making ethanol. Same is not true of the soy meal. It's less valuable after process, because it's about 20% less volume, but about worth about 40% less. Soy oil is valuable or it wouldn't sell for $950 a metric ton as a commodity. compared to soy meal which is under $500mt.
It would be helpful if everybody agreed on definitions. This place is rampant with 'Imaginative definitions'. Among those are words that are virtual fabrications, used to titillate the masses; billet, forged, exclusive... all are names to lure with inventive and misleading marketing. You can include 'biodiesel to that list.
'Biodiesel' is poorly defined and can mean just about anything that will burn in a diesel engine that is NOT a petroleum based product. When you assume that it means that the glycerin is removed, you jump to an inaccurate and assumptive conclusion. Raw soy bean oil is what they add in Missouri and I doubt there are very many who take the expensive steps to REALLY make what I have to refer to as tritrated biodiesel. We have been to several plants that produce it. But the mandate for Minnisota allows the introduce a small percentage of a renewable energy source, in our state; corn squeezin's(for gasoline engines, B85 or 10% ethanol blends) or soy bean oil.. Although there may be canola, sunflower and some other vegetable oils allowed, the availability and price usually keeps the soy bean oil as the nearly exclusive product... and it is straight out of the presses, refined for solids and to remove water. So, the broad definition is to mislead users to think it is something that it is not.
Now, if you want to think your definition is vegetable oil with glycerin removed, you are going to have to do some homework. The comercial enterprises doing that are set up with large heating and conversion tanks; a somewhat complicated procedure, requiring several steps and close attention to detail...
The government allows raw vegetable oils to be added, Now, really... which method do you really think the dino-diesel wholesaler and retailer are using? Unless they can show me different, the 'glycerin removed' story, of fuel that is added to the retail diesel fuel tanks, is fiction. But you would have to not just show one or two... you would have to show me hundreds of tritration method biodiesel manufacturers that supply the volume needed to cover every diesel fuel stop. There just aren't all that many converting true biodiesel.
The tritration method is not free, but requires a heat source, Methanol, lye, and a goodly amount of time, energy and resources from the business converting the WVO and/ or raw oil to a diesel engine's compatible form. There is the problem that the raw oil costs money and the conversion process costs money. The 10,000- 20,000 gallon stainless steel tanks are typical for larger commercial setups. They are expensive.
The current spot market for raw soy bean oil is $850 per metric ton, which is 287 gallons or roughly $3 per gallon BEFORE conversion to true biodiesel. Comparing other oils, Commodity: Canola, $950, Sunflower, $127, Peanut, $1200…
So where the loosely coined ‘biodiesel’ is concerned, Soy Bean is King. The cost as I have gotten it, conversion to a viscosity of 2-3 and elimination of glycerin costs about $1.40 a gallon, so the base price, without taxes, transportation, equipment or time is currently about $4.40 per gallon, using raw soy bean oil.
Adding soy oil to the mix actually raises overall costs. The winner in this mandate is the farmer and the mechanic.
1. It inflates the soy bean market price
2. The gylcerin shortens operating life of the injector.
3. So, the injectors end up getting less fuel economy.
Do you see where this is going? If it’s a government mandate, the wholesalers can’t afford to take the glycerins out of the fuel mix for any of the stuff added ‘biodiesel’ you buy from the pump. It is NOT biodiesel as I would like a glycerin-free oil to be defined. If I had my way, we would have our ambitious law-makers devise a standard to separate raw soy bean oil from tritrated soy bean oil, or other oils that have been refined to eliminate the glycerin.
So, let's try to get some nomenclature correct...
Raw vegetable oil… Any vegetable oil that can be burned in a diesel engine, with the solids and water removed.
WVO... Waste Vegetable Oil-- Reclaimed grease or oil, usually obtained from deep fryers.
Petroleum Diesel... Otherwise known to the world as D2 or #2 Diesel. Diesel is the product that most all modern automotive diesel engines are intended to run on… a petroleum based product.
Biodiesel… What this should mean… Renewable resource vegetable oil that has been altered to remove the glycerin, solids, water and has the viscosity corrected to match #2 diesel’s weight.
Give me THAT Biodiesel, the way I define it and I’ll burn it in my car…when it is competitively priced compared to Petroleum Diesel.