Production

Biodiesel is an environmentally friendly source of fuel that is derived from

organic plant and animal matter.Specifically, the oil from plants and the lipids

found in animal fat are the key ingredients to biodiesel.  Biodiesel is formed

through a complex chemical process that, for simplicity’s sake, combines the

organic plant/animal oils with a kind of alcohol called methanol.  Special

processing plants must be built to transform the source materials and to run the

chemical reactions used to make biodiesel[U.S. DOE - Energy].

Currently, biodiesel capacity in the U.S is quite low. It is estimated by National

Biodiesel Board CEO, Joe Jobe, that our current capacity could at best replace

5 percent of our petroleum based diesel consumption. Although the federal

government provides tax incentives under its Bioenergy Program, the future of

the program is uncertain as these inducements are scheduled to expire in the

year 2008 [International 2].  Despite the merits of biodiesel, the U.S government

has not whole heartedly embraced it as a serious alternative to gasoline. In fact,

of the nearly $16 billion in biofuels sales last year, only $1.6 were attributed to

biodiesel [Moran 1].  While there have been significant \ increases in the

amount of biodiesel produced in the U.S over the past few years, overall

progress has not had a big enough impact(see chart below) [Kempner 4].