BIOFUEL PROS & CONS

Note: Environmental effects below refer to end-use, and do not include effects associated with fuel production and transportation.

PROS

• Can be used wherever diesel fuel is utilized: vehicles, electricity generators, marine vessels, and oil-fired heating systems.

• The soybean-oil portion is biodegradable, nontoxic, odorless, and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics.

• Reduces problems associated with cold weather, stability, material compatibility, and storage-tank cleanliness.

• Provides increased lubricity.

• Can reduce carbon-dioxide greenhouse emissions that may contribute to global warming, as well as other harmful emissions including sulfur oxides and possibly nitrogen oxides.

• Cleaner-burning properties enable cleaner heat exchangers in boilers and warm-air furnaces, theoretically reducing cost of annual cleaning and tune-up.

CONS

• Costs as much as 20 cents a gallon more than diesel fuel.

• Possible two percent increase in nitrogen-oxide emissions.

• Limited emission benefits compared to new, low emission engines or after-market add-ons such as PM traps.

• Cold-flow management costs.

• Lack of American Society for Testing and Materials standards.

• Biofuel produced from feedstocks with high levels of saturated fatty acids (tallow, lard, some yellow grease) has a risk of freezing in tanks and forming crystals that plug fuel filters.

Sources: U.S. Dept. of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); University of Idaho; New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.