While, at this point, the company's production resembles considers "backyard brewing", The popularity of such backyard brewing appears to be growing nationwide. However, the National Biodiesel Board has not tracked how much biodiesel individuals are producing.
"As fuel prices continue to rise, we see more of a demand for alternative fuel," said George Wilson, who last year opened Biodiesel Resource in Belle Chasse, selling kits to individuals to make their own biodiesel. Wilson said using waste oil, people can make diesel for 64 cents a gallon.
"That's a great price for diesel fuel," he said.
If homebrewers are at one end of the spectrum of biodiesel production, two refineries planned for the metro area are at the other.
Green Earth Fuels is planning an 83 million-gallon biodiesel refinery in Harvey on River Road. The company is close to starting construction on the plant, which will be one of the largest in the nation, said Jeff Trucksess, executive vice president of Green Fuels.
Trucksess said southeast Louisiana is a good location for a biodiesel plant.
"One of the assets of New Orleans is that it's obviously a major distribution hub for the oil and gas industry," he said. "There are tremendous logistical advantages."
Green Earth will sell its product to major distributors, which then can blend the biodiesel with regular diesel. Reneweable Energy Group, which is hoping to build a 60 million-gallon-per-year refinery at the International Matex Tank Terminal in St. Rose, cites similar advantages to locating a plant along the river. The Renewable Energy Group is waiting for some incentives and grants to come through before finalizing its plans, said Alicia Clancy, a spokeswoman for the group.
On Thursday, the state bond commission approved $130 million in bonds for construction of the plant.
A refinery at the IMTT site is also advantageous because of its proximity to food company Bunge, which will partner with Renewable Energy Group on the plant, said Clancy.
A cheap source of vegetable oil is critical for these plants.
Bill Webster, of Biodiesel Fuels of Mississippi, in Meridian, had to stop producing biodiesel from soybean oil because it got too expensive.
Webster said his company used to produce 3,000 gallons a day, and now produces about 3,000 a month, using only waste oil from about 40 restaurants in the area.
The price of soybean oil has doubled in recent years, as has the price of methanol, he said.
"You end up making a product that you maybe will make five cents a gallon on and spend a lot of time making," he said.
While it may be relatively cheap to make biodiesel, a gallon of the fuel purchased at the pump is about the same as a gallon of regular diesel. According to industry reports, pure biodiesel costs between $3 and $3.35 a gallon on May 9, higher than diesel by about a dime. Using soybean oil has other problems.
While using waste oil reduces carbon dioxide emissions by up to 78 percent, Parkin said, planting soybeans to make oil for biodiesel may increase greenhouse gases.
According to David Pimental, a professor of ecology and agriculture at Cornell, planting soybeans for biodiesel production requires 27 percent more fossil energy than the fuel produces.
The industry is looking at cheaper and more sustainable alternatives, such as oil produced from algae, which can yield several thousand gallons of oil per acre. But at this point, that can't be done economically.
"We need to find better plants," Trucksess said. "Algae is the most expensive, but is the most viable alternative right now.
Louisiana is one of just a few states that plan to require biodiesel use. Last year the state legislature passed a law that mandates two percent biodiesel be used when the state's biodiesel production reaches 10 million gallons a year.
Mandates such as Louisiana's, as well as President Bush's push to replace 20 percent of gasoline with alternative fuels by 2017, likely will continue to encourage production and use of the biofuel.
But Marie LaRiviere, a biofuels analyst at the Energy Information Administration, says that biodiesel can't replace gasoline.
"Even if biodiesel grows, it's never going to surpass 5 percent of the diesel market," she said. "It's not the main thing if someone wanted to put their money into alternative fuels. Ethanol is the oxygenate of choice."
But Pearson of the Biodiesel Board says biodiesel's future is wide open.
"Rome wasn't built in a day," she said. "We're quite a new industry."
Trucksess said biodiesel has many inherent advantages.
Because it can be made so easily by anyone, "There's really an opportunity for all sorts of different size and style players and you can use different feedstocks. There's lots of different sized facilities, but they all contribute to the overall economic development."