Rising fuel costs threaten the survival of family farms and rural communities. Biodiesel—an alternative fuel for farm tractors—increases farmers’ profitability, reduces pollution, increases energy independence and enhances community development.

Activities

iCAST evaluates the feasibility of biodiesel production from oilseeds such as sunflower, mustard, canola, camelina, and soybeans. With a focus on farm and community scale operations, iCAST's analysis of costs and revenues from converting the vegetable oil into biodiesel and the meal cake into animal feed found that economic viability is highly sensitive. Factors impacting a project's feasibility are the price for the vegetable oil, price of petro-diesel, and access to markets for meal.

iCAST helps develop community-scale operations that can, under favorable market conditions, improve farm profitability, provide the community with new jobs, pay for new infrastructure and generate capital to expand the local economy. The production capacity is driven by local demand for biodiesel and access to meal cake markets. Community-scale biodiesel operations can improve small farm profitability, strengthen rural communities, and generate a renewable source of energy.

Objectives

• Work with farmers, cooperatives, civic leaders, and other local partners to create community-scale biodiesel production facilities providing fuel for local use.
• Create biodiesel businesses to generate new jobs and boost rural economies.
• Provide greater energy self-sufficiency for rural communities resulting in more stable fuel costs and less money leaving local economies.
• Reduce fuel expenses for farmers.
• Reduce emissions of carbon dioxide, particulates and other pollutants.

• General Information on Biodiesel and Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO)
• Fact Sheet: Uses of Biodiesel co-products
• Investigating Straight Vegetable Oil as a Diesel Fuel Subsitute
  
  • by Dr. Jerry Johnson, Research Scientist, Extension Specialist, Colorado State University; Nicolas Enjalbert, Graduate Research Assistant, Colorado State University; Ravi Malhotra, Executive Director, iCAST; Raphael Shay, Community Sustainability Manager, iCAST; Daren Coonrod, Cargil, Specialty in Canola Oil
• Biodiesel Co-Product Markets in Wyoming and Colorado
  • by Ryan Brown, iCAST
• Value of Crude Glycerin for Ruminant Livestock
  • by Bret Hess, Department of Animal Science, U of Wyoming