Biodiesel best crop?

Question

If we count all costs including efficiency, pollution, farming, and production cost, What is the best crop for biodiesel? and why?

Answer 1

Potentially at least the best crop is Jatropha http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jatropha_oi... because it can grow on dry and poor soils which are not suitable for growing food crops.  There is an increasing problem with the rising price and availability of grains in particular needed to feed the world's population and food crops should not be diverted into biofuels.  In the future it may also be possible to produce biodiesel from algae but this is some time off.

Answer 2

Rape is currently the preferred oil seed crop (there is no such plant as canola).

Answer 3

Higher gas, smaller car.

Answer 4

In general there is no current best crop for bio-diesel.  Although soy, canola, cotton seed and others could be good sources.  

The best sources for bio-diesel would be crops were it is a secondary product.  Or recycled vegetable oils.  

All current farming techniques are not efficient enough.  

Recycling cooking oils is the way to go.  

The future of clean Bio-diesel is in biological created bacteria than when fed organic material will produce Diesel.  These have already been created to turn coal and other sources such as vegetable matter and plastic into diesel.

Answer 5

Jatropha curcas

it can be grown on substandard land and would not displace food crops.

does not need large amounts of fertilizers.

does not need to be cultivated

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jatropha_cu...

http://www.researchsea.com/html/article....

this is a tree type plant and with little water would improve

many ares of the southwest by being used as wind breaks.

Answer 6

In regards to bio diesel   soy beans are used the most due to the fact that they are in the top 3 of crops produced in the US. cava beans have a higher oil; content though,but biodiesel is nothing more than a gimic because if all available crop land in the us was converted for bio diesel or ethanol production it would only provide approx 35% of our fuel use.we use 17 million barrels of oil a day or714,000,000 gals /day

Answer 7

I've also heard the soy bean is the best. However, I did a science fair project on it, and vegetable oil is perfectly fine also. Here's an interesting article on it

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/venture/30...

Answer 8

I believe they are using mostly Soy beans now.  If there was something cheaper and easier to make it out of then they would use that on a greater scale.