Diesel prices

In addition to the cost analysis of the system, a sensitivity analysis estimating the impact of diesel prices (0.4, 0.6 and 0.8 /L) on the final cost of energy produced by the PV-diesel system was taken over. The project lifetime used in the analysis was 16 years. 

Soybean oil-based biodiesel in the United States is not profitable without government support. Wholesale diesel prices have to break 2.00/gallon just to provide... 

Biodiesel is a mixture of long-chain fatty acid methyl ester (FAME) that is produced from biomaterials through transesterification of triacylglycerol (TAG, ie, plant oil and animal fats) with methanol. In chemistry, the biodiesel synthesis could be expressed by the reaction as shown in Fig. 1.2. In principle, any triacylglycerol could be used for biodiesel production. In fact, the first generation of biodiesel was mainly produced from edible plant oil, such as soybean, rapeseed, and palm oil. The low price of plant oil before 2008 and high diesel price in the European countries allowed... 

However, cheap fuel more than offsets the capital expenditure required for fuel treatment and additives, washing the fuel, and other costs. This cost savings increases with the power capacity of a plant. Using a difference in residual oil and diesel prices of 50/ton, a 300-MW facility typically could save 22 million at 0.5 capacity factor and 36 million at 0.75 capacity factor. 

If 10% of the U.S. gasoline consumption were replaced by methanol for a twenty year period, the required reserves of natural gas to support that methanol consumption would amount to about one trillion m (36 TCF) or twice the 1990 annual consumption. Thus the United States could easily support a substantial methanol program from domestic reserves. However, the value of domestic natural gas is quite high. Almost all of the gas has access through the extensive pipeline distribution system to industrial, commercial, and domestic markets and the value of gas in these markets makes methanol produced from domestic natural gas uncompetitive with gasoline and diesel fuel, unless oil prices are very high. 

The exacting Hst of specification requirements for aviation gas turbine fuels and the constraints imposed by deUvering clean fuel safely from refinery to aircraft are the factors that affect the economics. Compared with other distillates such as diesel and burner fuels, kerosene jet fuels are narrow-cut specialized products, and usually command a premium price over other distillates. The prices charged for jet fuels tend to escalate with the basic price of cmde, a factor which seriously underrnined airline profits during the Persian Gulf war as cmde prices increased sharply. 

Trucks line North Capitol Street in Washington, D.C., as they convoy toward the U.S. Capitol on February 22, 2000. Hundreds of trucks entered the district to protest a steep rise in diesel fuel prices. (Corbis Corporation)... 

The development and blending of additives is undertaken for the most part by the petroleum refining industiy. Additives are essential to the economic well-being of the mdusti y because they tend to boost sales for gasoline and diesel fuel. In most cases, additives do not differ in price by more than three to four cents a gallon. The recently developed additives do... 

The major advantage of Fischer Tropsch diesel, compared to natural gas, lies in its liquid nature. It does not need special infrastructure and compression like CNG does, and unlike LNG, once converted, it is a liquid fuel that can be treated like any other liquid fuel. However, because the GTL process is more complex than traditional refining, it requires low-cost natural gas priced at less than 1 per million BTUs to remain cost-competitive. Without stranded gas, sources sold at a large discount compared to crude oil, GTL diesel would be considerably more expensive than traditionally refined diesel fuel. 

The United States is unique among the major countries in that supply and demand has determined price structures in the petroleum industry. Today, even though the products are much better than fifty years ago, the before-tax retail prices of gasolines, diesel fuels, and heating oils are much less on a constant-value dollar basis than they ever have been before. Even with the federal and state taxes included, the retail prices on a constant-value dollar basis... 

Energy Information Agency. The Transition to Ultra-Low-Sulfur Diesel Fuel Effects on Prices and Supply. Special Report. 2001 May. Available from http //www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/ servicerpt/ulsd/pdf/ulsd.pdf. 

---