Texas looks at biodiesel feedstock options

06 September 2007 22:35  [Source: ICIS news]

AUSTIN, Texas (ICIS news)--Texas biofuels participants are looking at new feedstock options for the state's evolving role in renewable fuel production, speakers said on Thursday at the Biodiesel Coalition of Texas (BCOT) conference.

"We can't rely on soybean oil," said Travis Miller of Texas A&M University at College Station, Texas.

About 20% of the motor fuel used in the US is diesel - about 40bn gallons/year - Miller said.

According to Miller and others, soybean oil and cottonseed oil have only about 19% oil content maximums. This oil content base equates to an oil harvest of about 40 gal/acre, whereas the feedstock growers are keen to get 100 gal/acre for dedicated energy value crops.

Texas has the land to supply feedstocks for all the biodiesel refining capacity in the US, Miller said.

Texas is a minor player in the US 69m acre soybean agricultural area, claiming only about 0.03% bean production. Cotton is the major oilseed crop of Texas, but only about 5-6m acres of land are farmed for cotton and the crop harvest goes mainly into textiles and feeds, not cottonseed oil production, Miller said.

But state agriculture research groups and industry are investigating other hopefuls such as castor beans, flax, sunflowers, and a desert plant called lesquerella.

According to Miller, castor could yield as much as 50 gal/acre of oil, with sunflower having the greatest potential at an estimated 800-900 gal/acre.

"We're trying to find feedstocks that aren't competing," Miller said. "Food, feed and fibre demands will remain and dominate", he added. 

By: Judith Taylor
+1 713 525 2653

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