British biodiesel firm close to collapse
British company Biofuels Corporation has been hit hard by the rising price of vegetable oil that they use to produce biodiesel. They recently had a £100million loss because of the cost of rapeseed, palm and soy oil prices that are climbing due to increased food demand. Soy demand in China rose between 22 and 29 percent in 2006. Biofuels CEO Sean Sutcliffe has complained that US subsidies for biofuel producers could threaten the entire European biofuel industry.
[Source: AutoExpress]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Tim 1:21PM (6/15/2007)
According to the article, they are having a difficult time competing with food based fuel sources: “…One solution is to use non-edible crops, such as the oil extracted from Jatropha seeds. A spokesman for rival firm D1 Oils said: “This doesn’t compete with food sources, so we’re not affected by the rocketing price of vegetable oils.” They are partially correct. They only left out Algae fed by C02 and heat exhausted from coal fired power plants that would have otherwise entered the atmosphere. Not quite ready for prime time, but we’re getting closer. We must recycle waste heat and other “exhausts” from existing industries to produce biofuels and take advantage of a twofer to maximize efficiency, minimize costs and produce profits. Where there are no profits, there is no sustainability.
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Jack S. 4:15PM (6/15/2007)
I'm guessing they have some rough forward contracts with their buyers and none regarding their suppliers if they've lost 100m quid. There's plenty of 'mandatory' demand for biodiesel in Europe given the EU's recommendation of, and some Member States imposing, minimum renewable requirements on the petroleum producers.
Two things to address : find other feedstocks (as mentioned in first comment) quickly and 2 start renegotiating contracts to limit volatility risks
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bioburner 5:01PM (6/15/2007)
Gee you would think they could get plenty of soy oil from the USA. But Ya oil from Algea is probably the best long term "fix" for the problem.
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