How To Make Biodiesel

Aug. 20–HARLINGEN — Pouring a bottle of vegetable oil into the gas tank isn’t going to replace pumping gasoline or diesel. But by next year, a new fuel partly made from cottonseed oil produced by South Texas farmers could let a truck, tractor or other diesel-propelled vehicles hit the road. So says Valley Co-Op Oil Mill, a Harlingen-based company that has been processing cottonseed into products such as cooking oil, linters, livestock feed and hulls for more than 50 years. The cooperative, known as Valco, has announced that in 2007 it will begin producing biodiesel made of cottonseed oil and diesel. The fuel is supposed to be cleaner and friendlier to the environment than conventional fuel. It will be known in the market as Valco Bio Energy. Biodiesel is a clean-burning alternative fuel produced from domestic renewable resources. It’s also simple to use, biodegradable, nontoxic and free of sulfur and aromatics, according to the National Biodiesel Board based in Jefferson City, Mo. Hollis Sullivan, president and general manager of Valco, said the project would benefit Rio Grande Valley cotton growers because of the value added to their crop. “It would be an additional source of income for them,” he said. “We plan to produce up to three million gallons a year of biodiesel.” Sullivan said a plant, to be built north of the Valco main office, would open in early 2007. It would get its cottonseeds from the Valley and other regions of the state that the company is already working with. Currently, Valco gets cottonseed from as many as 22 member gins from all over the state, he said. He said the plant would create about 10 jobs, which he called another benefit for the community. The biodiesel would be the result of a chemical reaction between cottonseed oil and methanol, Valco vice president and sales manager Bobby Crum said. “Biodiesel is a replacement for diesel, but it’s a product that is more energy-efficient than ethanol, for example,” he said. “Consequently you get more miles per gallon.” Sullivan said the production of alternative sources of fuel has the support of the government. Crum said that all diesel-propelled vehicles built after 1993 are fit to run on biodiesel. He said biodiesel is available mostly in the Houston and Austin areas, but it’s spreading to other areas of the state. For the oil mill plant and the region’s cotton growers, the product is another way of diversifying their operations. Sullivan said they hope to start marketing the product by next March. Sullivan estimated this season’s cotton crop, which should be down because of bad weather, at 110,000 bales. That is expected to produce some 40,000 tons of cottonseeds. The biodiesel project would consume about half of the cottonseed production. But if it proves to be a more profitable venture, that could change. Biodiesel production stood at 75 million gallons in 2005 in this country, and it’s expected to increase to 150 million gallons this year, according to the National Biodiesel Board. Most of the production comes from the Midwest and is made with soybean oil and diesel, but Texas is soon to become the biggest producer of biodiesel, the NBB said. Credit: Valley Morning Star, Harlingen, Texas

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