The city of Berkeley, CA, recently celebrated a milestone – six months of running nearly all of their diesel fleet on 100 percent biodiesel. Plans are to run the entire fleet of 200 vehicles on pure biodiesel long term.
Berkeley had previously been running their refuse trucks, street sweepers, fire trucks, paramedic ambulances, large mowers, and other diesel vehicles on a blend of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent petroleum diesel for 18 months. The environmentally conscious city switched to 100 percent biodiesel in January 2003 and city officials estimate using 217,000 gallons by the end of the year.
Patrick Keilch, deputy director of Public Works, said the city pays about $2.15 per gallon for their biodiesel, which includes delivery and state and local taxes of 42.5 cents. Using 100 percent biodiesel will cost the city about $150,000 more this year, but city officials said the cleaner air is worth the extra cost, although they expect biodiesel prices to drop as the alternative fuel becomes more popular.
Two tanks at the city maintenance yard hold the fuel, which is supplied by Imperial Western Products’ (IWP) biodiesel plant in Coachella, CA. Currently, IWP produces 300,000 to 400,000 gallons per month of biodiesel using recycled cooking oil, or yellow grease, collected from area restaurants either by contracted pumpers or through a working agreement with Baker Commodities, a renderer headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, who operates a biodiesel plant adjacent to IWP’s Coachella operation.
“They [Baker Commodities] are an integral part of the biodiesel that’s supplied to Berkeley,” stated IWP’s Bob Clark. The alternative fuel is trucked to Berkeley.
Renderer Plans for Future
In an effort to diversify their business, Canadian renderer Rothsay is building a full-scale biodiesel facility in Quebec, Canada. Currently in the engineering phase, plans are to begin construction in September with the facility fully operational by April 2004.
Rothsay engineers designed the technology they will be using in the biodiesel plant to be very economical and accommodate any feedstock, whether it’s yellow grease, tallow, or vegetable oil. The plant will have a minimum capacity of 30 million liters (7.8 million gallons) and a maximum of 60 million liters (15.6 million gallons).
For the past year, Rothsay has been operating a biodiesel pilot plant in Quebec, processing one million liters (260,000 gallons) per year with very little problems. Once the full scale plant is up and running, Rothsay may construct a second biodiesel facility in Ontario.
“We want to see how it operates at full scale before we build a second plant,” said Claude Bourgault, Rothsay. The company has six rendering plants in eastern Canada.
Illinois Creates Tax Incentives
Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich recently signed legislation that will create a tax incentive for biodiesel blends as well as grants for construction or improvements of renewable fuels production facilities in the state.
Senate Bill 46 provides a partial sales tax exemption of 20 percent on biodiesel blends containing from one percent to 10 percent biodiesel (blended with petroleum diesel). Biodiesel fuel blends above 10 percent receive a total exemption from state sales tax, which is 6.25 percent.
House Bill 46 establishes the “Illinois Renewable Fuels Development Program” that offers grants of up to $15 million annually for constructing, modifying, altering, or retrofitting a renewable fuels plant with a minimum production capacity of 30 million gallons. Both bills define biodiesel as a renewable diesel fuel derived from biomass that is intended for use in diesel engines. Biomass is defined in the bills as a non-fossil organic material that has an intrinsic chemical energy content, which includes, “but is not limited to, soybean oil, other vegetable oils, and ethanol.”
Texas Passes Production Incentive
According to the National Biodiesel Board, the Texas legislature passed biodiesel incentives in June that offer a net grant of 16.8 cents per gallon (cpg) of biodiesel produced. The bill established two funds, one each for biodiesel and ethanol.
Plants register with the state and must show that they are capable of production, have a substantial investment, and that the plant is a permanent fixture. Producers report monthly the gallons produced, imported, or blended, and pay a 3.2-cpg tax on production into a fund. The state matches by a multiplier of 5.25 cpg. No less than quarterly, the state issues grants of 20 cpg back to the plants, resulting in a net grant of 16.8 cpg. The producer is entitled to receive the 20 cpg for 10 years after the beginning of production. Biodiesel must meet American Society of Testing and Materials specifications and the law is feedstock neutral. Grants are limited to 18 million gallons per year per producer per registered plant ($3.6 million), and may be lowered if the fund is insufficient for that fiscal year. The program is run through the Texas Economic Development and Tourism Office.
New Zealand Targets Tallow
Government officials in New Zealand recently reported that the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) plans to initiate an effort to convert the fat, or tallow, by-product of animal slaughter into biodiesel.
Currently, the 150,000 tons of animal tallow produced annually is exported and used in chemicals or animal feed. Officials noted that EECA hopes to use as much as 120,000 tons of tallow to make the cleaner-burning fuel.
“The fact that we have both sheep and beef tallow here as a waste product means that it’s much…easier to make it financially a goer than…actually growing a crop with the production of biodiesel specifically in mind,” said EECA transportation expert Elizabeth Yeaman.
Australian Biodiesel Plant Opens
Biodiesel Industries, Las Vegas, NV, opened a new biodiesel facility in New South Wales, Australia, in March. The 40 million liter (10.4 million gallons) per year facility will produce the renewable fuel from vegetable oils, animal fats, and recycled cooking oils.
Ian Macfarland, Australia’s minister of Industry, Tourism, and Resources, dedicated the facility that is located in Rutherford, about two hours north of Sydney near Newcastle, and will be managed by Rutherford native Andrew Hill. Hill’s family has been involved in the petroleum distribution business for many years. After several visits to Biodiesel Industries’ Nevada plant and investigating other production technologies, Hill chose Biodiesel Industries’ modular production system. The construction and commissioning of the facility took less than three months.
The city of Newcastle began promoting biodiesel last year when it purchased a Volkswagen Kombi and started using biodiesel imported from Biodiesel Industries’ Las Vegas facility.
Thailand to Double Palm for Fuel
Thailand will spend nearly $200 million to more than double its palm oil production in the next four years and promote its use as an alternative fuel for vehicles to reduce diesel consumption.
Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob told Reuters news service his ministry wanted farmers to grow more palm trees and use a mixture of palm oil and diesel to run their equipment and trucks. He said the agriculture ministry would lure farmers, mainly in southern Thailand, with soft loans from a state bank to expand the country’s palm plantation by another 800,000 acres by 2007. Thailand currently plants 600,000 acres of palm.
Chidchob said crude palm oil supply would rise tenfold to seven million tons a year in 2007, with most of it used by vehicles with diesel engines. He said ministry studies showed drivers could save 1.30 baht/liter (31 U.S. cents per liter) if they used one part crude palm oil to every three parts of diesel in their engine.
Malaysia, the biggest palm oil producer in the world, has also been promoting palm oil as an alternative fuel.
U.K. Power Company to Burn Fat
In an energy-related matter, Singaporean power company SembCorp Utilities plans to begin generating electricity at its 133-megawatt Wilton power station in the Teesside region of England through the use of animal fat, or tallow, collected from cattle slaughtered during the country’s bovine spongiform encephalopathy crisis.
According to SembCorp, the company is currently in discussion with the United Kingdom’s Rural Payment Agency to purchase 100,000 tons of tallow that has been in storage since 1996 for use in its efforts. If granted approval by the U.K. Environment Agency, SembCorp said it would begin burning tallow “early next year.”
“The government is encouraging all power generators to use more renewable fuels and as a business, it is strategically important that we do so,” said a company spokesperson.
Biodiesel Bulletin - August 2003 Render