In the real world, without extreme measures, how much diesel comes from a barrel of oil? I'd like to be able to say that "for every XXX gallons of biodiesel I use instead of dino diesel, I save a barrel of imported oil. However, I've been unable to learn how much dino diesel you get from a barrel of crude oil.

Obviously, I am asking a very simplistic question -- it depends on the kind of oil, you get various 'fractions,' diesel and other things, when you 'crack' oil -- but I only need a simplistic answer. So far, in searching the web, the only statement I've found is that "40% of distilled crude oil is gasoline." [Source: http://www.howstuffworks.com/oil-refining4.htm] Nothing for diesel.

I am also ignoring the energy cost to produce and transport biodiesel, the effect on the economy and food prices of turning vegetable oil into biodiesel instead of Twinkies, etc. As I said, just a simplistic answer, please.

Anyone have a number or a link?

__________________

"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

Do you know how many gallons are in a barrel?

Does this help?

http://www.energy.ca.gov/gasoline/whats_in_barrel_oil.html

a barrel is 55 gallons and that chart shows jet fuel (which is similar to diesel.) IIRC the fuel oil is also diesel, thus up to 27.6% of a barrel is diesel compatible.
so 55/27.6%= 15.18 gal. so 3/4 tank per barrel being optimistic that all possible conversion from the barrel went to your car and not heating a home or flying a plane.

Cheers,
-nB

Buggered up my last edit:
That site defines a barrel as 42 gallons, thus each tank of B50 saves a barrel of oil. Each tank of b100 saves nearly 2 barrels of oil.
-nB

__________________
'83 300D Turbo
Current: ???K mi - 19.2mpg -> 17.4mpg -> 22.9mpg ---> ODO Died
bought at: 233.8K mi - 10MPG For $1.00
3.5 cylinders work: 320 320 100 340 280
Got insurance? FarmersReallySucks.Com

That's what most people seem to think.

Do you mean to say saves the diesel component from a barrel of oil?

Burning biodiesel does not save the gasoline, naptha, tar etc components of the barrel, only the diesel component.

And yes, a barrel = 42 gallons.

__________________
2009 VW TDI Jetta Sportwagon 172k miles (rear-ended harder than Elton John on 8/4/13. Total loss)

1991 Volvo 240 142k miles (T-boned by a stop sign runner. Total loss)

but a trade 'barrel' has always been 42, ever since the barrels were made of wood and the waste gasoline was dumped out as 'unfit' for use in kerosene lamps.

__________________
1987 300D (230,000 mi on a #14 head-watching the temp gauge and keeping the ghost in the machine)
Raleigh NC - Home of deep fried sushi!

yes that is what I (and I assume Jeremy5848) mean.

__________________
'83 300D Turbo
Current: ???K mi - 19.2mpg -> 17.4mpg -> 22.9mpg ---> ODO Died
bought at: 233.8K mi - 10MPG For $1.00
3.5 cylinders work: 320 320 100 340 280
Got insurance? FarmersReallySucks.Com

This will give you some idea how complex the real answer is:

http://www.uidaho.edu/bioenergy/NewsReleases/Biodiesel%20Energy%20Balance_v2a.pdf

http://www.renewableenergyaccess.com/rea/news/story?id=34304

http://www.biodiesel.org/resources/pressreleases/gen/20050721_pimentel_response.pdf

...and many others. The point is, there is no simple answer to your question.

Craig is right, there really isn't a simple answer. I did find (on the EPA kid's web page!!!)

http://www.eia.doe.gov/kids/energyfacts/sources/non-renewable/oil.html#Howused

that from one barrel (42 gallons) of crude oil, we can get 7 gallons of diesel, 20 gallons of gasoline, and other things. So I guess it's fair only to say that every gallon of biodiesel saves a gallon of diesel made from crude oil. Even that doesn't touch all of the associated effects -- smog, agriculture, engine wear, etc. -- which will take a lot of beer to figure out (and maybe not even then).

Thanks for the excellent links, Craig.

__________________

"Buster" in the '95

Our all-Diesel family
1996 E300D (W210) . .338,000 miles Wife's car
2005 E320 CDI . . 113,000 miles My car
Santa Rosa population 176,762 (2022)
Total. . . . . . . . . . . . 627,762
"Oh lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz."
-- Janis Joplin, October 1, 1970

It's impossible to provide a simple answer to such a complex question.

You'd need to know where a barrel of oil comes from, how the oil was retrieved from the earth, how it was transported to the refinery, the refinery process itself, then transporting to the fuel supplier. There's a lot of stuff going on there, and each little bit of it is consuming lots and lots of natural resources.

You want to talk about the cost of war too?

__________________
-justin

1987 300TD, 1987 300TD
2008 R32, 2000 Passat Wagon

Exactly, petroleum produced from different points on the earth has very different characteristics.....and those characteristics determine how that particular oil will be refined and what products are produced.

There should be a Petroleum Engineer out there than can explain this far better than I am able to.....

SB

And, yes, we as USA citizens tend to forget that part of the reason for our involvement in Iraq is to maintain some sort of stability in the crude oil market.

__________________

Diesels:
'85 300D, "Max, Blue Benz", 155K, 27.0 MPG
'84 190D 2.2, "Eva, Brown Benz", 142K, 40.2 MPG
'77 240D (parts car)
'67 Eicher ES 202 Tractor "Otto" (2cyl, Air Cooled, 30HP)
Gassers:
'94 Ford F-150, "Henry", 170K (300 Six) 17.5 MPG
'85 190E 2.3, 148K....Parts Car
'58 Dodge W300M Powerwagon (Flat Fenders) Less than 10 MPG

True enough.
You will get vastly more fuel from Arab Extra Sweet (I've heard of it being burned as fuel-oil straight-up) than from Canadian tar sand. I was trying to provide a fairly simplistic answer to what I knew was a complicated question. Namely based on that graph and figuring you burned the entire fraction that your diesel could burn then you'd get about half a tank per average barrel of oil.
-nB

__________________
'83 300D Turbo
Current: ???K mi - 19.2mpg -> 17.4mpg -> 22.9mpg ---> ODO Died
bought at: 233.8K mi - 10MPG For $1.00
3.5 cylinders work: 320 320 100 340 280
Got insurance? FarmersReallySucks.Com

This is a very interesting question. The corresponding question, however, is how much food would be provided from the grain that is used for oil instead of food. If it is a non-edible crop that is used, how much food could be produced from the same amount of cropland?

Well, now you have to factor in how much crop land has been converted to housing developements as well. I've been in the same rural area for 30 years.

Not a whole lot of crop land left now. What is left is for sale.

__________________
RRGrassi


70's Southern Pacific #5608 Fairmont A-4 MOW car

13 VW JSW 2.0 TDI 193K, Tuned with DPF and EGR Delete.

91 W124 300D Turbo replaced, Pressure W/G actuator installed. 210K

90 Dodge D250 5.9 Cummins/5 speed. 400K