cost to process - Diesel Forum

Nebraska_Farmer · 11-08-2004, 05:37 PM

What is a good estimate of the cost to process soy oil to bio diesel? I have easy acess to a lot of feed grade oil. It wasn't process in a mill that had the right sanitary equipment. It is processed in a machine shed with an extruder and expeller with soybean meal being the product he is after and the oil is byproduct. Thanks Kurt

shoebear · 11-08-2004, 06:23 PM

If you DIY I think the current cost is about 60-70 cents/gallon for materials (lye and methanol). Add to this whatever labor rate you feel like paying yourself. Experienced processors take about 2-3 hours of time per batch, I think. And also add the cost of the processing eqt itself, which can be anywhere from free to $3000+. The cheaper processors take some labor to set up and/or scrounge for free parts.

If you make it yourself, you need to count on a learning curve and some bad batches. You also need to be very vigilant that none of the bad stuff gets into your equipment as fuel.

If you want to get the oil processed professionally, you could check with an outfit like West Central Soy and see if they would do a railcar load for you. Or maybe they would accept the oil as payment, then give you some percent back as biodiesel.

teester · 11-08-2004, 07:29 PM

My cost is about .45/Gal including power and excluding labor of course. I get the methanol shipped to the door for 1.85/Gal and lye is $15 for 50Lb bag.

ToddT · 11-08-2004, 08:30 PM

Guzzler, you've got great pricing on the methanol. I own a chemical company and it costs me $2.25/gallon in single drum quantities. I'm in Louisiana where they refineries are, too! You may want to grab yourself a drum or more at that price.

Todd

teester · 11-08-2004, 08:32 PM

Ever heard of Whitaker Chemical? They quoted me that price months ago and when I purchased it last week they said the price was still good. You think I should get more? Why, is it going up or something?