Tuesday, January 2, 2024

Biodiesel goal seen as unrealistic

The United States has an unrealistic goal for biodiesel fuels for this year, according to agriculture economist Scott Irwin of the University of Illinois.

Either some of the planned renewable diesel plants will not get built, or they will operate well below capacity, or existing biodiesel plants will be driven out of business, he said.


“Trust me, I have had some interesting conversations with investment bankers who have been putting money into this sector,” he said. “Some of them get very heated when I make my argument.” They refuse to believe the math, but they have no counter argument.


One fact is that biodiesel is priced at $1.50 to $2 per gallon more than conventional diesel fuel.


But optimists counter that airplane fuel will make up the difference if biodiesel falls short.


Soybean and canola growers are beneficiaries as the Environmental Protection Agency ups its targets for biodiesel.  


The agency and Canada also gave corn prices a major boost when they mandated targets for ethanol inclusion in gasoline.