Problem 2 North Plains Biofuels (NPB) has negotiated a con- tract with an oil firm to sell 150,000 barrels of ethanol per year, for 10 years beginning in end of year (EOY) 4. The oil firm will pay NPB $10M annually beginning from EOYO to EOY3 and then $110 per barrel. (a) If NPB uses an interest rate of 15%, which method should be used to produce the biofu- els? Annual O&M costs increase 2% per year and raw materials costs 3% per year. Corn Algae Purchase of land (EOYO) Facility construction (EOY1) Innual O&M (EOY4) Raw materials (EOY4) Salvage value (EOY13) $1,900,000 $5,300,000 $2,450,000 $1,500,000 $3,000,000 $3,800,000 $7,100,000 $2,800,000 $250,000 $3,600,000 (b) What are biofuels? How are they used in the automotive industry, and what are the pros and cons of this use? What are some of the important non-auto industry uses of biofuels