So. California biodiesel from oil seeds

Currently, most of the biodiesel available in California is derived from soybeans grown in the Midwest and shipped here by train.

In the future, biodiesel might develop into a new crop alternative for California farmers, according to Steve Kaffka, UC Davis extension agronomist.

Although it is, like vegetable oil, derived from oil seed crops, biodiesel is not the same as raw vegetable oil. Oil seed crops include those annual and perennial crop plants that produce seeds with a large amount of oil, like safflower, already widely grown in California, and canola, a possible new crop. After harvest, the seed is crushed and the oil extracted. Then, the oil goes through a process called transesterification, where glycerin is removed from the oil to leave behind methyl-esters, the chemical name for biodiesel fuel. The resulting biodiesel burns in diesel engines with little or no modifications.

Whether biodiesel can be produced in California in the short term lies in the economics of growing currently available or possible new alternative oil seed crops, according to Grant Poole, Los Angeles County UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor. A major cost in many agricultural production areas is for water. Poole plans to look into the economic feasibility of growing seed oil crops in Southern California's Antelope Valley. The greatest potential for growing the crops there would be where water pumping costs are minimal or using wastewater. Elsewhere, with higher rain fall, some of these crops might be grown with limited or no irrigation using reduced tillage systems. A new workgroup is forming to help develop biofuel alternatives for California's farmers. For more information, contact Poole at (661) 723-4483, gjpoole@ucdavis.edu, or Kaffka at (530) 752-8108, srkaffka@ucdavis.edu.