Bangor, MI biodiesel plant, just a year old, running at only 1/6th capacity
That screen grab to the right of this text tells you everything you need to know about the reason Michigan's first biodiesel plant is still in operation, but only barely.The plant opened with a splash just over a year ago, and was supposed to make 10 million gallons of the biofuel a year. Today, the plant is operating at just 1/6th capacity and most of the plant's employee's are on "hiatus."
The reason for the slowdown is that the cost of raw materials (in this case, soybeans) is climbing to the point where it has become uneconomical to make biodiesel from them, according to John Oakley, CEO of Michigan Biodiesel on the WWMT news site.
The forecast is that prices will rebound next year, so Oakley is keeping the plant running for now. As he told the TV crew, "If we shut the doors, why would a customer come back to us that had started buying biodiesel from us."
You can also watch the local TV news video at the "Read" link.
Related:
[Source: WWMT]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Frustrated Consumer 11:28AM (6/29/2007)
I'm no economist, but isn't that what futures contracts are for? To lock in a price you can do business at? Why would you open a plant and then simply buy on the spot market?
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A.Brien 11:47AM (6/29/2007)
I think that it's a crime to burn food especially
to subsidize it to make fuel while artificially
slowing down classic petroleum production. The best
will be to build car running on natural gas and it's easy to make methane with waste of all kind.
Maybe some people think that their cars are their
cherish kids then they give it organic foods instead of hydrogen gas, LOL.
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bioburner 6:59PM (6/29/2007)
"Falling in love" with your car is as American as hot dogs and Apple pie.
The rising price of soy bean oil is probably caused by higher fuel prices which the farmers have to pay to produce the food we eat.
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Mike P. 1:06PM (6/30/2007)
Building a biodiesel plant that can only run on ONE feedstock (an expensive/volatile feedstock, no less) was a poor business decision. These folks in MI are at the mercy of soy markets and the soy lobby. Soy is to biodiesel what corn is to ethanol: a lousy, expensive feedstock. Using soy or corn to produce fuel in this country is the biofuel equivalent of running a factory in a strong union state... high fixed costs and no flexibility.
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