Barge (full of biodiesel) signals new 'green' era (but it's headed from New Jersey to Europe)

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://www.northjersey.com/environment/barge022309.html

Barge signals new 'green' era

Monday, February 23, 2009
Last updated: Monday February 23, 2009, 8:55 AM
BY JAMES M. O'NEILL
NorthJersey.com
STAFF WRITER

When Innovation Fuels pumped 15,000 barrels of biodiesel into a barge this month at its Newark facility and sent it off to New York Harbor, it reflected a bygone era of the Passaic River as a vital commercial waterway — and hinted at its potential to fill that role again.

…

The company's primary customers are in Europe, where demand for biodiesel is greater than in the United States, said Fox, who spoke by phone recently from Brussels, where he was calling on clients.

Last year, biodiesel demand in Europe reached 1.5 billion gallons, while United States demand was only 500 million gallons, Fox said. Europe's demand is expected to double to 3 billion gallons this year, driven by more stringent requirements to use cleaner fuel.

Biodiesel fuel produces less carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases related to global warming. Biodiesel produces no sulfur, an ingredient in acid rain. Biodiesel also produces half the particulate matter of regular diesel fuel. Particulates are linked to asthma.

…

[damntexdem]

1. It's headed somewhere on planet Earth.

And that's good for all of us.

[OKIsItJustMe]

2. If it's good to "eat local" shouldn't we "fuel local" as well?

Somehow, the idea of shipping biodiesel across the ocean makes my brain go mushy.

[dipsydoodle]

3. A lot of it is associated with this

In the area of fuels, the 2001 Biofuels Directive requires that 5.75% of all transport fossil fuels (petrol and diesel) should be replaced by biofuels by 31 December 2010, with an intermediate target of 2% by the end of 2005. However, MEPS have since voted to lower this target in the wake of new scientific evidence about the sustainability of biofuels and the impact on food prices. In a vote in Strasbourg, the European parliament’s environment committee supported a plan to curb the EU target for renewable sources in transport to 4% by 2015. They also said that a thorough review would be required in 2015 before the EU could progress to an 8-10% mark by 2020.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_emission_standards

Also - Euro 5 comes into force this year. That has limits on particulants in addition to existing Euro4 regs on CO2 etc emissions. In general you don't use our small efficient diesel engines in the USA for whatever reason. Exactly what you've got against a car doing almost 50 miles to your reduced size gallon is one of life's complete mysteries but does kinda create a credibility problem when you whine about fuel prices.

[excess_3]

4. how much of this stuff is non-petroleum

one percent?

anything European --> scam

[OKIsItJustMe]

5. Let me see if I'm following you

You're suggesting that someone would ship (essentially) petroleum from New Jersey to Europe. (Where is the profit in that?)

[excess_3]

7. Biodiesel is usually a blend ......

'Biodiesel' is usually a blend of
various amounts, 1%, 5%, 10%, 20%,
of 'real' bio fuel (modified soy oil / fryer grease)
and the balance being tradional petroleum diesel.
......................
at the same time,
there is/was, some type of abuse of European subsidies
going on,
where diesel would be shipped to the US,
one percent of 'bio' fuel would be added,
and then shipped to Europe.

Don't know if that applies to this story,
watch out.

[OKIsItJustMe]

8. Biodiesel sold at the pump (as "B1" or "B5") is only partly biodiesel. There's no deception there.

But it wouldn't make any sense to ship a mixture of "real biodiesel" and petrodiesel (if you will) from New Jersey to Europe.

[excess_3]

9. the 'splash and dash' abuse, w/ links

this stuff is two years old, so take it
for what it is worth


http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0608/p02s01-usec.htm
snip............
The maneuver begins with a shipload of biodiesel from, say, Malaysia, which pulls into a US port like Houston, says John Baize, an industry consultant in Falls Church, Va. Unlike domestic diesel-biodiesel blends, which typically contain from 1 to 10 percent of biodiesel, the Malaysian fuel starts off as 100 percent biodiesel, typically made from palm oil.

Then, the vessel receives from a dockside diesel supplier a "splash" of US petroleum diesel. It doesn't take much to turn it into a diesel-biodiesel blend that is
snip................


also worth reding
http://www.biodieselmagazine.com/article.jsp?article_id=1863&q=&page=all

[OKIsItJustMe]

10. You either misunderstand "splash and dash" or you're misrepresenting it intentionally.

The idea of "splash and dash" is that a very small amount of "petrodiesel" (just a "splash") is added, to make a shipload of biodiesel count as a "blend," so it qualifies for the "blenders tax credit."

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0608/p02s01-usec.htm

…

Created under the 2004 American Jobs Act, the "blenders tax credit" was supposed to boost US production of biodiesel by encouraging US diesel marketers to blend regular petroleum diesel with fuel made from soybeans or other agricultural products. It succeeded, perhaps too well.

…

Your editing left out the vital part:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0608/p02s01-usec.htm

…

If the ship holds roughly 9 million gallons, it takes only about 9,000 gallons of traditional diesel (0.1 percent of the total) to make the entire load eligible for the blenders tax credit.

The US importer of the load applies to the Internal Revenue Service for the credit – a dollar for each of the 9 million biodiesel gallons, Mr. Baize calculates. The next day the tanker can set sail – dash – for Europe. There, the US importer resells the biodiesel, taking advantage of European fuel-tax credits that, in effect, keep biodiesel prices above US prices.

…

http://www.biodieselmagazine.com/article.jsp?article_id=1863&q=&page=all

…

European Union (EU) countries started to notice biodiesel being imported as a B99.9 blend. That is, about 1,000 gallons of petroleum diesel were added to every million gallons of biodiesel. That small “splash” of petroleum diesel, if added to a tanker of biodiesel from, for example, Malaysia, in a U.S. port, would qualify the entire shipment for the U.S. tax credit. After getting the credit, the tanker could continue to Europe—the “dash”—and receive European fuel tax credits. In effect, the fuel would be subsidized once by U.S. taxpayers and again by the Europeans.

…

So, it's not that the tanker now holds a laughably small percentage of true "biodiesel" it's that it contains a laughably small amount of "petrodiesel." The blend is being represented as "B99.9" (99.9% biodiesel) which is what it is.

They're not conning consumers, they're taking maximum advantage of tax incentives.

[excess_3]

12. follow the abuse

anytime fuel moves from the
US to Europe, something is wrong.

I just don't know exactly
what, in this individual case.

[OKIsItJustMe]

13. You're not following the scam

Essentially, you've got a tanker of biodiesel going from Malaysia to Europe. For that, they get a European tax credit.

The scam is that by stopping off at the US, and adding a "splash" of petroleum, they pocket a US tax credit for the entire shipload, because they're now a "blender."

By collecting a subsidy from the US, they can undersell their competition when they get the biodiesel to Europe.

http://www.biodieselmagazine.com/article.jsp?article_id=1863&q=&page=all

…

The European Biodiesel Board (EBB) made an official complaint in March to Peter Mandelson, commissioner of trade for the European Commission asking that action be taken against B99 import. The complaint stated that B99 imports had reached 30,000 metric tons a month in January 2007. “In most EU countries, EBB member companies are experiencing dumping competition from B99 blends which are offered in the market as pure biodiesel with a substantial discount in some cases going from 100 to 150 euros per ,” the complaint reads. “The competition is price setting and is progressively disrupting the margins of EU biodiesel producers, putting out of business many EU biodiesel producers who are already confronting important market difficulties because of the late implementation of EU biofuels legislations in many EU countries and subsequent industrial overcapacities.”

One company, World Energy Alternatives LLC, is reported to have been shipping more than 1 million gallons of biodiesel per month to Europe since February.

A report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) cited information from the German Biofuels Industry Association claiming that in Germany, B99 blends from the United States were being offered for sale at €53.25 per 100 liters ($2.78 a gallon) while the German cost of production for biodiesel was €64 per 100 liters ($3.34 a gallon).

…

[tom_paine]

Duplicate. self-delete n/t

[tom_paine]

6. I am very skeptical of what I consider to be the Biofuels boondoggle.

Not only is it taking food in a hungry world and turning into fuel for the well fed, making it pretty damned immoral, IMHO, but the EROI (energy return on energy input) is pathetically low and increases soil exhaustion by requiring the removal of "crop residues" (root systems from harvested plants normally left back in the soil to decompose, thus returning nutrients to the soil).

Perhaps technology can overcome some of this, but the low 1.2-1.8X EROI makes it unlikely that biofuels can ever be much of a substitute on a large-scale, not without starving the world.

Maybe I am wrong or misinterpreting, but this seems bad from moral, ecological, and environmental standpoint

[OKIsItJustMe]

11. I'm with you (with some very small exceptions)

Now, for example, take the "waste cooking oil"… Let's see, would I rather have it dumped somewhere? or used for a fuel source. Yeah, that kind of biofuel sounds OK to me.

Now, it's quite a step to go from that to growing vegetable oils with the express intention of burning them as fuel.