one dollar per gallon biodiesel in South Carolina ( McBrue Territory )

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Lowcountry Biodiesel Plant to turn waste vegetable oil into fuel

BY CHRIS DIXON The Post and Courier

The Lowcountry's first biodiesel plant will be built in an unused warehouse on the former Navy base, creating a local source of nontoxic, low-cost fuel that can be used in nearly any diesel engine and marking a further advance in what's been a largely backyard industry in South Carolina.

While one biodiesel plant already is being operated in the Upstate by Carolina Biofuels, the North Charleston plant will be unique in that it will use waste vegetable oil from hundreds of area restaurants to eventually fill the tanks of school buses, automobiles, trucks and even shrimp boats.

The lease agreement was signed Thursday between the Noisette Co. and Charleston-based Southeast Biodiesel. Plant owner Dean Schmelter, who owns several chemical processing businesses throughout the Southeast, said the idea for the Noisette plant came about accidentally.

"Last summer I was talking to my diesel mechanic at Black Forest Imports in Mount Pleasant," he said. "I was complaining about the high cost of fuel, and he said, 'Well, you're a chemist. Do something about it.'"

Schmelter set up a small-scale operation at one of his Florida facilities. There, he perfected the process for making the fuel. He now runs his Mercedes turbo diesel on B100, or 100 biodiesel.

Rudolph Diesel, founder of the diesel engine, originally created his spark plug-free motor so that farmers could power their tractors with oil from plants they grew. Nearly any diesel engine built today will run on straight vegetable oil, but the fuel system must be modified to heat the oil so it flows smoothly. This process is unnecessary with biodiesel.

To make biodiesel, waste vegetable oil must be filtered and de-watered. It then goes through a process that utilizes methanol and lye to remove fats that could clog fuel injection systems. The process leaves behind the fuel and glycerin, a key ingredient in soap. "I like the EPA's line," said Schmelter, "It's more biodegradeable than sugar and less toxic than salt. It looks and smells just like the vegetable oil in your pantry."

Schmelter said he hopes to begin annual production this fall of about 2 million gallons, with an ability to ramp up with relative ease. The plant will employ about seven people initially and its fuel should cost about a dollar a gallon.

Fuel should begin to flow right around the time that the South Carolina has mandated that all the state's diesel engines, including notoriously pollution-belching school buses, begin operating on B20, a mix of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent petroleum diesel.

Biodiesel provides a substantial emissions benefit whether used as B20 or B100. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, B100 produces 67 percent fewer unburned hydrocarbons, 48 percent less carbon monoxide and 47 percent less particulate matter. At a 20 percent mixture, the reductions are 20, 12 and 12 percent respectively.

The combustion of biodiesel also results in about 10 percent lower emissions of carbon dioxide or CO2 - a greenhouse gas. If vegetation used to make the fuel oil is replanted, then B100 produces almost no greenhouse emissions because plants take in CO2 and give off oxygen during photosynthesis.

James Peeler, a machine shop owner from Gray Court has been making biodiesel and working on a pilot program for school buses in his area.

"With oil from their school cafeterias and prisons, I can make biodiesel for $1.50 a gallon," he said, adding that he sees biodiesel as a means to keep Carolina farmers on their land and wean the United States off of foreign oil. This week, he used his homemade fuel to drive his Ford F-350 Diesel pickup truck and fifth-wheel recreational vehicle from Laurens to James Island for a family vacation. He said the truck runs better on biodiesel, and gets better mileage.

"I don't mind paying taxes, but I really don't like paying Exxon for fuel," he said. "When someone starts gouging my back pocket, I start looking for another way."

Like ethanol gasoline blends, which can be made from locally produced corn, biodiesel has been getting noticed by state politicians.

Last week, legislators passed a bill that includes tax credits for new ethanol or biodiesel facilities. Plants that begin operations between

2007 and 2009 will earn tax credits of 20 cents per gallon, and 25 percent on the cost of equipment and distribution. Additionally, purchasers of E85 (85 percent ethanol, 15 percent gasoline) or B20 will get a five-cent-per-gallon discount at the pump.

At the Noisette Co., project manager Jeff Baxter said that the new plant will mesh well with the nearby Fisher recycling plant and Noisette's overall ambition of creating a sustainable community by supplying a renewable fuel.

"You'll have the Dodge diesel Sprinter vans manufactured up here, along with the maritime industry and all the local trucking that can run on biodiesel," he said. "There are a lot of people here who could use this stuff."

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Reply to
greek_philosophizer
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Wow... cheap diesel... now only if I can convince someone to do it up here.

Reply to
Tiger

Gee, the politicians ought take notice of how restrictive EPA is toward the diesel vehicles, denying us the benefit of using Biodiesel on a larger scale. As long as the diesel vehicles cannot easily and cheaply meet the ridiculous EPA regulations, we will continue to have a very restricted choice. Even though EPA tiers and EU levels are very similar, but they differ enormously on procedures of measuring and certifying, adding more cost of engineering the system and programming the ECU to comply with EPA.

It's time to do someth>

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Reply to
OM

They are never going to do it... the reason is simple as anyone is... the need to be different.... his way... my way... one up... one down... pissant attitude. AKA Napoleon complex.

Reply to
Tiger

Biodiesel isn't the answer to the United States' reliance on foriegn oil. I'm positive that our curent excess capacity isn't sufficient to make a complete switch to bio fuels (e85 or biodiesel) and expanding industrial farming complexes will involve a significant hazard to the environment. We need to find something cleaner and more sustainable than this to replace our current fuels.

M.

Reply to
MBuzzard

Maybe. But it begs the question is there anything than can replace fossil fuels without sending us back t the horse and buggy era.

Perhaps at this juncture we can use biodieel to mitigate the harm while not totally reducing it to zero recognizing it as a stop gap measure while the one true alternative is found.

The problem is it takes a lot of energy to go 100 miles and back on a while in one night and whatever form this takes, there's gonna be some fallout. Pun not intended. Mostly.

Reply to
Richard Sexton

Yeah, come to think how much vegetable oil is disposed by the restaurants and food service industry each and every day. A regular-sized restaurant goes through a barrel of vegetable oil every few days or so. Multiply that by thousands of restaurants. That would give us rough estimate of how much we could 'recycle' the vegetable oil into biodiesel. Many of restaurants are too happy to dispose the waste vegetable oil this way. Otherwise, they must pay the disposal fee.

University of Colorado at Boulder has a fleet of biodiesel shuttle buses and its own biodiesel production facility. It is able to sustain the biodiesel supply solely from its own cafeterias and fast food vendors on its campus. If CU is able to accomplish this, there's no reason why no one else can do likewise.

There's no reason why we must make petroleum-based soaps when we can produce glycerin-based soaps from waste vegetable oil.

I would not want to produce biodiesel straight from harvested plants but from the restaurant or food > Biodiesel isn't the answer to the United States' reliance on foriegn

Reply to
OM

Do it yourself. You don't even need to convert it to biodiesel, just filter it well and use it straight. Many people do that (I don't because I take transit to work and spend only around $150/month on fuel). There are a lot of options. You can buy a system for your car which will make the use simpler.

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Unless you live in an area where there are a lot of people scoring grease from the local restaurants, getting waste oil is easy, took me two minutes yesterday to get a weekly supply for a friend, just ask them if they would be interested in getting their used oil recycled for free (up here they have to pay)

cp

Reply to
cp

to be different.... his way... my way... one up...

You've hit the nail on the head.

cp

Reply to
cp

The highest yielding and best source of Biodiesel is actually algae. According to Wikipedia:

"The per unit area yield of oil from algae,(estimated to be from between 5,000 to 20,000 gallons per acre, per year), is 7 to 31 times greater than the next best crop, palm oil(635gal). Algal-oil processes into biodiesel as easily as oil derived from land-based crops."

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cp

Reply to
cp

I never noticed the end of the title... McBrue's Territory. Last I heard, he moved to Washington State.

Reply to
Tiger

Permanently?

Will there be a rusty tree and a river there?

DAS

For direct contact replace nospam with schmetterling

Reply to
Dori A Schmetterling

An how come them ole restuaraunts iz givin their cookin oil away just when it gits gud! Gotta have them well seasoned flavor in it ta git them gud tastin fries! An wifout enuf color an smell, they aint nevah gona git them ole fat back balls fried rite! Ummmm... Deep fried fat back balls an grits! Dad ratttted bush - whuts he got against a gud diet! Hows he thank any bodys gonna have a way ta fry them little burds when ya shoots them stead a shooting sum dumb ole laywer whut aint wurth cookin up anyway! An most of us caint shoot no lawyers laik he an his buddies can . Thats tha truble nowadays - alla these dum idears whut kills off tha quality of life here in greenville. Did go ta see washington state once but it wuz rainin an stuff laik thet an all them ole houses on them big ole island was raight hard ta see, specialy thet realllllllly big one that kept crashing with a blue screen coming up in front of it. An heres a free tip - don't go ta no markets in seattle cause them ole guys gits so wired up on koffee them is throwing fish all over an them gits mad ifn ya catches any of um. So that prooves what them gud ole boys in tha bak alwuys sayz - stay away frum koffee - not gud fer ya an gits ya all wurked up.

mcbrue under the bridge in the trailer down by the river

96 S420 (gas, of course)
Reply to
mcbrue

ha! =)

Reply to
cp

Go back to bed, McBrue....

Reply to
raoul

That was not nice Raoul.

You should apologize.

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Reply to
greek_philosophizer

thank you, greek philosopher! I wus afraid ah wuld haf ta go ta be early an tha boys in tha bak had a party planned!!!! Them wanted ta celebrate allaus gittin bak ok frum Hilton Haid!

mcbrue under the bridge in the trailer down by the river

96 S420

ps - wus guuuuuuuud party!

Reply to
mcbrue

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