Biofuel plant opens in Chatham

Goal: 1 million gallons a year

PITTSBORO -- A Chatham County co-op that started out making alternative fuel from french fry grease launched the state's first big biodiesel production plant Monday.

Piedmont Biofuels, based in Pittsboro, plans to produce 1 million gallons of biodiesel a year, converting chicken fat into an alternative fuel that packs fewer pollutants and reduces dependence on foreign oil. Any vehicle that burns diesel can run on biodiesel.

Piedmont Biofuels is the first of three production plants going up in the state. North Carolina is among the nation's top consumers of biodiesel fuel, using more than 1.5 million gallons in 2005, say researchers at the Solar Center at N.C. State University. Local production could make biodiesel more widely available in the Triangle, where currently it's sold only at two service stations and through member-owned cooperatives.

Pure biodiesel, called B100, is often mixed with petroleum diesel and sold as a blend such as B20, which is 80 percent petroleum diesel and 20 percent biodiesel. Many school buses, city garbage trucks and street sweepers in the Triangle burn the combination fuel.

Blended biodiesel sells in the Triangle for about $2.80 to $3 a gallon.

"This whole thing has been driven by a quest for more fuel," said Lyle Estill, a Piedmont Biofuels executive. "I was making it for my tractor at home. In some ways, this represents a continuation of our quest. A million-gallon plant is our attempt to meet more fuel needs."

The plant, which began as a small cooperative in Moncure, employs 17 people and has been importing biodiesel from other states and reselling about 250,000 gallons a year, Estill said. The plant was launched with an investment of about $1 million, including a $170,000 grant from the state Energy Office for production equipment, Estill said.

Liquid chicken fat, delivered in 7,500-gallon tanker trucks, will be pumped into a 2,000-gallon reactor vessel. It is mixed with methyl alcohol and a catalyst such as potash to change the fat into fuel. A byproduct, glycerin, settles to the bottom and is removed and purified. It can then be used in the cosmetics and chemical industries. The biodiesel is cleaned to remove impurities, then is ready for sale. The plant can use vegetable oil as the feedstock, or base, for biodiesel.

The plant will supply fuel to cooperative members, and market fuel wholesale to local governments that have fleets of vehicles, and to petroleum distributors. In the coming months, Piedmont Biofuels is expanding its network of a half-dozen biodiesel outlets. The outlets sell the fuel in Raleigh to cooperative members. Through sales to distributors, biodiesel also should be more widely available to the public.

'A new era'

State and federal officials, legislators and members of Congress gathered Monday at the former chemical factory east of Pittsboro. Actual production is still at least a few days away.

"The opening of the biofuels plant is really a milestone for our state," said U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge, a Democrat from Lillington who introduced legislation this year to expand the production and use of biodiesel. "It signals a significant step for our state and a transition to a new era. We have to transition from having a ring in our nose from the Middle East."

In the United States, the biodiesel market is growing, according to Emerging Markets Online, a global energy market research firm. Biodiesel consumption in the U.S. grew from 25 million gallons per year in 2004 to 78 million gallons in 2005. Production is expected to reach 300 million gallons this year, and 750 million gallons in 2007.

State agencies are the state's largest consumers of biodiesel, burning about 5 million gallons in cars, trucks and road construction equipment.

"To have it made right here is going to make it more reliable and reduces transportation costs," said Tobin Freid, coordinator for Triangle Clean Cities at the Triangle J Council of Governments. "By making it here and using local feedstocks, you are eliminating all that impact on transporting fuel."

Pure biodiesel has significant environmental benefits, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Compared with petroleum diesel, biodiesel produces less carbon monoxide, soot particles and ozone-forming emissions.

"What you're doing here is helping us achieve our mission to protect human health and the environment," said Alan Powell, an EPA environmental engineer.

Schools lead the way

There are 15 to 20 biodiesel plants in the Southeast, producing 1 million to 30 million gallons per plant, Powell said. More are under construction, and smaller operations also are going up. The Gaston County Schools began producing bus fuel from cooking oil from school cafeterias and Lance Inc., a Charlotte producer of snack crackers.

Grady Truett, the system's assistant director for transportation, said the system made 13,000 gallons last year and expected to produce 100,000 gallons this year to burn in about 300 buses and other vehicles.

Truett, who attended the event Monday, said Piedmont Biofuels offered technical assistance to help them get started.

"They're the gurus in North Carolina," Truett said.