1 more biodiesel plant up, running
Posted on Thursday, May 22, 2008
CROSSETT — Arkansas ’ third biodiesel plant began producing “B 100,” or pure biodiesel, this month.
Pinnacle Biofuels Inc., in the Crossett Industrial Park, can produce 10 million gallons of the renewable fuel annually, said Steve Bolin, company president.
That’s a drop in the biodiesel ocean. Nationwide, about 450 million gallons of biodiesel were produced in 2007, according to the National Biodiesel Board, a Columbia, Mo.-based trade group with about 250 member-producers.
Demand won’t slacken anytime soon. The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, which became law in December, increased the volume of renewable fuels that must be sold annually in the United States to 36 billion gallons by 2022. For the first time, a minimum biodiesel usage requirement was established, starting in 2009 and reaching 1 billion gallons by 2012.
Planning for Pinnacle began about 22 months ago, and construction of the 16, 000-squarefoot plant, tank farm and railspur loading facility took a year to complete, Bolin said.
“Support for the project from the state of Arkansas and from the Crossett Economic Development Foundation have been tremendous,” he said. The venture is owned by five businessmen — Bolin, Gregory Stanley and Mitchell Stanley, all of Hamburg, Larry Johnson of Crossett and Steve Richardson of Warren.
About the same time that Pinnacle began operation, Arkansas’ second biodiesel plant suffered heavy tornado damage. Stuttgart-based Patriot Bio-Fuels Inc., which began production in April 2006, was able to manufacture up to 3 million gallons of B 100 annually. On May 10, the plant took a direct hit from a tornado packing winds of 136-165 mph. “It’s pretty much gone,” Patriot co-owner Steve Danforth said. The plant, which had operated only during spring and summer to produce biodiesel for farm use, recently had signed a one-year contract to produce fuel yearround, he said.
Patriot’s owners are in discussions with their insurance carrier, Danforth said. The results will determine whether the plant will reopen, he said.
“Even if we were to get the green light today to rebuild, it’s going to take four or five months,” Danforth said.
Arkansas’ first biodiesel plant, FutureFuel Chemical Co. near Batesville, which began operating in October 2005, can produce 24 million gallons of B 100 annually.
Demand for the product is strong, said Rich Byers, Future-Fuel’s biofuels manager.
Given the escalating price of soybean oil, which has nearly tripled in two years, FutureFuels has been producing biodiesel primarily from beef tallow and pork lard, he said.
“The market this morning for soy oil was 67. 35 cents per pound,” Byers said Monday. “That would make a gallon of biodiesel from soybean oil cost about $ 5. 50,” he said, far from competitive with petroleum diesel, which is selling for an average $ 4. 435 a gallon in Arkansas, according to AAA.
Two additional Arkansas plants are scheduled to begin biodiesel production in July: Delta American Fuel LLC, which is building a 40 million-gallon plant near Helena-West Helena; and Arkansas SoyEnergy Group LLC, which is building a 7. 5 million-gallon plant near DeWitt.
Pinnacle, which employs about 20 people, is scheduled to operate around the clock, 350 days a year, producing 28, 000-30, 000 gallons of biodiesel daily, Bolin said.
The plant is equipped with a Greenline Industries’ continuous-flow processor that can use vegetable oils and animal fats to make biodiesel, plant manager Brad Dobson said. The Greenline equipment, which is known for its “waterless process,” was manufactured in Germany, said Dobson, who installed Greenline biodiesel equipment in about 15 U. S. plants before accepting employment with Pinnacle.
Although P innacle had planned to use mostly soybean oil and some chicken fat to produce biodiesel, the proportions now are about 80 percent chicken fat and 20 percent soybean oil, because of high soy oil prices, Dobson said.
Most of Pinnacle’s biodiesel will be shipped by rail to Houston, where it will be blended with petroleum diesel and distributed for retail sale.
Pinnacle’s managers hope to market up to 2 million gallons of B 100 annually to short-haul logging companies in the Crossett area.
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