Asa Watten, CEO of Fossil Free Fuel LLC, stands in his shop in Braddock. Justin Merriman | Tribune-Review
A business that collects used cooking oil and processes it into fuel for diesel-powered vehicles plans to convert a dilapidated gas station in Braddock into a biofuels filling station next year.
Fossil Free Fuel LLC in Braddock plans to convert the station in the 300 block of Braddock Avenue into a biofuels location, so motorists can fill their vehicles' tanks with a cleaner fuel, said CEO Asa Watten.
The station would be the first of its type in Allegheny County that offers a biofuel, a biodiesel and diesel, said Colin Huwyler, one of the founders of Fossil Free Fuel and CEO of Oakland-based Optimus Technologies LLC., which converts commercial diesel engines to burn biofuels.
The Allegheny County Redevelopment Authority approved a one-year lease with Fossil Free Fuel for the station property, said Robert Hurley, deputy director of the authority. The one-year lease could evolve into a longer lease, or the sale of the property, Hurley said.
The unmanned station is to have four pumps to dispense the fuel from a 5,000-gallon above-ground tank. About 3,000 gallons will hold pure plant oil, with the remainder capacity split for biodiesel fuel -- a blend of a biofuel and diesel -- and diesel, Watten said. It will cost about $125,000 to purchase the module from Clean Emission Fluids Inc. in Detroit and repave the lot, Watten said.
Photo from: http://www.ncat.org/news/news2008.php
A new piece of equipment for the Clemson University biosystems engineering program will help researchers conduct novel research on new biomass sources, such as algae and fungi, that may supply biofuels of the future.
“The new $125,000 mobile biofuels processing plant delivered from Piedmont Biofuels in North Carolina is a state-of-the-art pilot facility that will not only give us a valuable research tool for working with plants, microbes and waste oils, but also will be useful to demonstrate biofuels production for local producers, bioenergy industrial partners and to the public,” said biosystems engineer Terry Walker. “We had our initial successful run last week using waste algal and sunflower oils from Martek Biosciences in Kingstree and then used the biofuel to cycle back to a generator to achieve net-zero production.”
The plant is being developed to convert waste oils to high-grade biodiesel that can be used in many vehicles. The biodiesel is expected to cost less than regular diesel fuel, has a lower “carbon footprint” or environmental impact and can form the basis for a new industry in the state.
Walker said support for the purchase came from many sources, including Clemson Public Service Activities; the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences and others at Clemson; Piedmont Biofuels in Pittsboro, N.C.; and SunStor Inc. in Greer.
The new mobile facility will be showcased at the annual biomass meeting this fall at the Pee Dee Research and Education Center. The meeting is being sponsored by Clemson University, the South Carolina State Energy Office and the Biomass Council.
“South Carolina is fairly visible in the U.S. biofuels industry," Walker said. "There are several manufacturers, including Ecogy Biofuels in Estill and Carolina Biofuels in Taylors, as well as other smaller producers like Midlands Biofuels in Winnsboro.
"Smaller, innovative, local companies not only are making biodiesel but also are participating in outreach efforts, such as designing and building pilot facilities for universities and training folks at local community colleges for green jobs.”
It’s sort of hard to tell from the photo, but the entire biodiesel production facility comes in a trailer that can give demonstrations and seminars any place, any time. This system will have an impact on many students and business people.
Photo from: http://www.rechargenews.com/energy/biofuels/article206496.ece
Over the past couple of years the biodiesel industry has trended toward utilizing fewer virgin oils, largely due to economic factors such as dependence on more expensive refined materials and reliance on low-value waste oils such as used cooking oil. Interest in securing and processing even lower-valued materials, such as trap grease and sewer grease, is also on the rise. BBI International’s Southeast Biomass Conference & Trade Show,Nov. 2-4 in Atlanta, will feature a panel on this very topic, titled, “Biodiesel from Waste and Low-Value Feedstocks.” Christina Borgese, president of PreProcess Inc., a company that focuses on scaling up alternative energy systems from bench- to commercial-scale, will present on converting problematic feedstock such as sewer sludge into process-ready feedstock for biodiesel production. Borgese, who comes from last year’s World Economic Forum winner BioFuelBox, said much discussion in the arena of low-value feedstock centers on conversion technology rather than feedstock pretreatment, economic separation and overall cost reduction associated with an undesirable feedstock. “We focus on a heated, intensified, layered approach,” she said of PreProcess’ separation technique. Borgese will cover the engineering and economics of grease separation, including what has been done in the past, what is on the table at present, and what the future may hold.
That is the single most attractive thing about biodiesel—it can be made from waste material such as WVO and animal fats, and biodiesel does not depend on food feedstocks.
Photo from: http://www.wbdfarmmachinery.ie/service.php
Some farmers in the Northeast are in the midst of an experiment in energy independence: They're growing crops that produce the fuel to run their tractors and equipment. As part of a collaboration with Northeast stations, Vermont Public Radio's Susan Keese reports.
John Williamson pulls his tractor up to a shed on his farm in North Bennington, Vermont. He reaches for a hose and starts filling his tank. "That's B-100 biodiesel. That was grown right here on our farm last year. That's from sunflowers," he says. For the past six years, Williamson has run his farm machinery on 100 percent home-made biodiesel. He started with used cooking oil from restaurants, but then began growing his own oil-rich crops -- like sunflowers and canola seeds. It's been a process of trial and error for Williamson and about 30 farmers in New England and New York, learning to grow new plants and finding the right equipment to harvest them. Williamson lost a lot of seeds at first. "Like canola, for instance, is a very small seed, you know, and then the littlest tiniest crack in your combine that would hold your corn or oats, it would flow right out like water," he says. Those seeds not only yield fuel, but replace the grain Northeast farmers usually import from the Midwest. "A lot of folks don't realize that these oil crops are grain -- once you squeeze the oil out you have that grain left over and that's livestock feed," Williamson says.
That is interesting, once you get the oil, the food is still available. If a farmer, I would have my own biodiesel running everything, what a keen sense of pride one would have.