How To Make Biodiesel

Dec. 21–Plans have been announced for the Milwaukee area’s first biodiesel refinery as interest heats up for renewable energy.The refinery, planned for the Village of Butler, also could result in the area’s first fueling station that specializes in home-grown fuels such as biodiesel and E85 ethanol.The station would be built on the same 3 acres as the refinery. Construction of the $4.4 million refinery is scheduled to begin in February with completion in July. It is being built by a group of five local investors that includes an environmental engineer.Fuel production could begin next summer at the rate of about 5 million gallons a year, with the capacity to expand to 35 million gallons. Initially, the plant will employ about 10 people.Soybean oil from Illinois or Iowa will be used as the plant’s feedstock, even though soybeans are one of Wisconsin’s largest crops.”We need to get our soybean oil from a large processing facility, and for us the nearest two are in Illinois and Iowa,” said Richard Sawall, president and founder of North American Biodiesel LLC, the investment group formed to build the plant.Sawall has worked as an environmental consultant and has a master’s degree in geological engineering. He and his business partners have been planning the refinery for about a year.They wanted to build a plant in Butler in Waukesha County because the village is close to petroleum distributors and has railroad service for bringing in tankers of soybean oil.The plant’s investors are negotiating with a Calgary, Canada, firm to distribute the fuel that’s made here.”Our hope is to sell most of it locally,” Sawall said. “Now the fuel has to come from Minnesota or Iowa, and transportation costs add about 15 cents per gallon to the price.”Nationwide, there are 87 biodiesel refineries in operation and at least 65 more under construction. Wisconsin has three plants, and two more are under construction in Dane and Rock counties.The Rock County plant is scheduled for completion late next year and would be the state’s largest — producing 45 million gallons of fuel a year. That would be more than double the capacity of the state’s first large-scale biodiesel plant, which is scheduled to open early in 2007 in Dane County.The industry is growing as more states mandate the use of renewable energy or at least provide incentives for it.Texas and Iowa are nearly tied for producing the most biodiesel, said Amber Thurlo Pearson, spokeswoman for the National Biodiesel Board, a trade association in Missouri.It could be years before the market becomes saturated with refineries making alternative fuels, Pearson said.Wisconsin wants to jump-start additional investments in biodiesel, ethanol and other renewable energy under a $1 million grant program.Former Gov. Tommy Thompson is one of the business partners behind plans to build a $195 million ethanol plant in Walworth County, and at least five more ethanol plants are on the drawing board here.Alternative fuels receive government subsidies, partly so they can remain affordable. Also, having local refineries could help reduce fuel prices for consumers by lowering delivery costs, according to Sawall.”In the fuel industry, it all comes down to price,” he said.Across the Midwest, farmers are selling more corn and soybeans to ethanol and biodiesel plants. It has helped tighten corn and soybean supplies and lift crop prices, according to agricultural economists, and the trend doesn’t show any signs of slowing.The proliferation of alternative- energy plants will likely continue as long as Congress subsidizes fuel additives. Wall Street is getting in on ethanol production, further fueling its development.But, eventually, backers of the plants will have to scale back their investments or risk losing money in an overbuilt industry.If biofuels had to stand on their own, without government subsidies, it’s doubtful there would be such a booming industry, said Mike Davis, an economist with the Maguire Energy Institute in Dallas. Credit: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

No Responses to “Biodiesel plant planned for Butler: Proposal includes filling station with alternative fuels”

No comments yet

Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

Comment :

Security Code: