Perhaps a little more research and you would find there is a realy big commodity in yellow tallow, animal grease, and vegetable oil.  Much of it is shipped overseas and comes back as soap.  The soap makers didn't need a big price break and the bio-diesel emphasis was purely politicial.  As such, this blog is somewhat condemned by the political counter-argument.

So far, the bio-diesel market is dominated by some small players in various niche markets, and I suppose that it could be good policy to utilize rapeseed and here, chicken fat.  But at the end of the day, it is not how much is made but how much can be bought.

Most operators of diesel engines hate bio-diesel.  It gums up the filters and injectors.  Environmentalists hate it is because it increases oxides of nitrogen, an ozone and aerosol precurssor.  If the stuff was so good, why isn't everybody using it?

The fact is that distillate Number 2 will be the diesel of choice in the coming years and fortunately most of it will be ultra low sulfur diesel.  Why we are having this discussion about boutique fuels like bio-diesel seems rather strange to me.  If you recall, energy policy also dictated CNG, propane, and methanol in the past and those were real loser turkeys.  They have always been slighty nuts.

I've been in the "snake oil" business for years and while I appreciate market diversity, fail to see how these strategies make any sense.  That includes hydrogen power and fuel cells - I mean give me a break, this simply is not going to happen on a mass scale very soon.  The buyers will find out, after losing their collective butts on a few deals, and go back to the "tried and true."
~Sam

Onward through the fog