I am assisting a client with the start up of a two million gallon per year Biofuel facility in CT and the only piece missing is the end user/buyer - any thoughts?
Thank you,
Debbie
Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things.
Have you tried making business connections using this site?
In the same vein as "goldengopher's" answer, you will find hundreds if not thousands of people around the world, mostly of professional status at http://www.linkedin.com/ who are involved in "green energy" in general and biofuels in particular.
As in most business sectors, the closer you get to "retail" the more fully you can expect to realize the full retail value of your product from your "customers", however the closer you get to retail sales, the most customers you must have to sell millions of gallons per year, and the more regulations you will have to comply with along that route.
However, "retail" customers that buy very large amounts are governments, schools and the military. All of them are eager to acquire biodiesel right now, and should be good steady customers for many years to come if you can get them now. One of the local school boards in our area has been using almost as much biodiesel as petroleum diesel for several years. Municipal bus lines are also switching over in some cases, at least until they can get to LPG or CNG (very, VERY clean burning fuels for buses and heavy duty vehicles with a lot of stops like garbage trucks). The "switch" also is a virtual "no-brainer" since normally nothing has to be down to the vehicles to switch, it is just a matter of having the separate storage, or the ability to blend from B100 or B99 you deliver. (California retailers have been barred, at least temporarily from storing anything more than 5% biodiesel blend in any underground tanks until more testing is done on tanks and potential hazards of biodiesel spills -- I know, seems like a waste of time, but they made mistakes before and don't want to find that they've allowed you to pollute the groundwater for hundreds of miles.) Check that CT doesn't have those kinds of problems too, and if it doesn't you might be able to interest one of the "blenders" or local distributors who deliver to regular filling stations to take a substantial portion of the output to add to their inventory offerings. Almost any non-brand gas station is buying from an independent distributor (and for that matter even some of the major brand outlets) get their gas from the same distributor as the generic operations.
The military are also a very attractive market right now, and at least as of the last report I read, the AirForce is lagging behind the other services in implementing alternative fuels in their vehicles (and I don't include the aircraft in that -- they are working on greening up those fuels too).
You, and/or your client should probably join the local Chamber of Commerce and plumb the depths of their needs and local connections.
Tell your client to be careful about controlling the costs of his feedstock. Vegetable oils are often more valuable on salads than in gas tanks. The expansion of algae cultivation should help this, as will supplies of castor and jatropha oils.
There are, of course, secondary markets for the glycerol byproduct of biodiesel making, but the prices are not attractive now that so much biodiesel is being produced and demand for glycerol, especially just "raw" (unrefined) glycerol demand is not growing virtually at all. If you are interested in "upgrading" you glycerol to a whole other product, you might want to look me up (online or off) to discuss our new machinery for turning glycerin into a more valuable liquid fuel.
Sincerely,
Stafford "Doc" Williamson
http://daochienergy.com
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