Bend biodiesel dealer to mix blend by hand

Bend biodiesel dealer to mix blend by hand
Red Carpet facility aims to solely offer ethanol, biodiesel
By Anna Sowa / The Bulletin Rob Kerr / The Bulletin

Bend residents Corina Hughes and Eric Ballinger buy biodiesel from Bend's Red Carpet Express on Northeast Eighth Street and Greenwood Avenue. Red Carpet Express recently discovered its method of pumping a blended form of biodiesel does not meet state regulations and is taking corrective action. Red Carpet Express owners eventually want to make the station an entirely biodiesel and ethanol-fuel station. Eric Ballinger only began using biodiesel a few months ago, but he's already worried about the future of the fuel manufactured from vegetable oil. Last week, owners of Bend's Red Carpet Express told Ballinger they feared they'd have to discontinue dispensing biodiesel because their fuel pumps were not state certified for blended biodiesel.

Ballinger, a St. Charles Medical Center-Bend physical therapist, usually rides his bicycle to work, but his job's been taking him to Redmond recently, so he decided to start filling his silver Volkswagen Golf Turbo Diesel with biodiesel from Bend's Red Carpet Express, the first and only public fuel station in Central Oregon to sell biodiesel.

"In my opinion, we should have biodiesel in every pump," Ballinger said. "It's getting away from the big industry of petroleum and away from our dependence on foreign imports."

The station has offered soybean-based biodiesel for the past year and a half. Any diesel-compatible car can fill up with the biodiesel blends: B-20, which is 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent regular diesel, and B-99, which is 99 percent biodiesel and considered pure biodiesel.
Biodiesel also is offered at the Bend Biodiesel Cooperative to members only. On Wednesday, the co-op's biodiesel cost $2.90 per gallon.

The commercial price of biodiesel at Red Carpet Express on Greenwood Avenue was $3.13 per gallon, its regular diesel was $3.02 per gallon and regular gasoline was $3.19.

Last week, Red Carpet Express operator Mike Fassett was told by the Oregon Department of Agriculture's measurement standards division that the pumps he used for mixing the biodiesel were not approved by either Underwriters Laboratories or the National Type Evaluation Program. That means, he said, that it's essentially illegal for him to pump B-20 biodiesel, since it's a mix of diesel and pure biodiesel. He can still blend biodiesel by hand, just not in the pump.

"Everything was fine last year when we installed (the pumps)," said Fassett, who operates the three Red Carpet stations in Central Oregon. The Greenwood Avenue station is the only one offering biodiesel. "I don't understand what happened. ..."

"Everything was fine last year when we installed (the pumps)," said Fassett, who operates the three Red Carpet stations in Central Oregon. The Greenwood Avenue station is the only one offering biodiesel. "I don't understand what happened."

After reviewing the issue, the gas station's owner, Bend Oil, and Fassett decided Wednesday to change the biodiesel dispensing system with plans of eventually converting the station to a 100 percent environmentally sensitive fueling facility, offering only biodiesel and corn-based ethanol, said Larry Kimmel, vice president of Bend Oil.

Installing them costs about $40,000, compared to a $15,000 regular gasoline dispenser, Kimmel said. Only cars made especially for ethanol combustion can use ethanol fuel.

Kimmel said conversion to the alternative-fuel facility will begin as soon as he can get certified ethanol and biodiesel dispensers, though he couldn't say when that might be. Fassett estimates the new equipment will be available by fall.

For now, Red Carpet will continue pumping B-99 biodiesel, Kimmel said, and offering a hand-mixed B-20 biodiesel.

Once the temperature drops to the low 30s, B-99 biodiesel tends to "gel," Kimmel said, so the station will switch to pumping the less-concentrated B-20, which can withstand temperatures dipping to 10 degrees.

Russ Wyckoff, administrator for the Salem-based measurement standards division, said Red Carpet simply uses a pump not certified to blend biodiesel. Manufacturers make the pumps, but they're not state-approved, he said.

Fassett had been using one pump to dispense both B-99 and B-20. Instead of installing a stand-alone fuel pump for each fuel, Fassett has just one B-99 storage tank and uses an electronic fuel mixer to blend B-99 with regular diesel, producing B-20.

That's how plus-grade gasoline is dispensed: one pump pulls from each of the unleaded and super-leaded storage tanks, then mixes the appropriate amounts of each within the pump, and finally dispenses the plus-grade fuel.

The biodiesel blending process is where Fassett has a problem.

"There wasn't a big demand for it before," Wyckoff said. "So now that maybe biodiesel is economically feasible, everybody's looking for it."

Since the biodiesel co-op is only open to members, it's not regulated by NTEP.

"First of all, we are not trying to prevent the sale and use of biodiesel and ethanol fuels in this country," Wyckoff said. "It's just that no device has been approved to blend biodiesel. We can't approve (Red Carpet's) blending device because it hasn't been tested and approved by the manufacturer. This is all for consumer safety."

The state did not fine Fassett, Wyckoff said, but Fassett must show he intends to install an approved blending pump. His Texas-based pump manufacturer, Dresser Wayne, is working on getting its pumps approved, Wyckoff said, which may happen by June.

Tests - which determine if the pump accurately dispenses fuel - could show Fassett's pumps are fine, but if he has to install new pumps, it will cost him roughly $150,000. Fassett is working with Bend Oil to subsidize the cost. Federal tax credits for biodiesel distributors will help, too, he said.

Though the price of biodiesel is less likely to fluctuate like gasoline prices, Fassett expects the price will rise again, especially if he has to pay for an upgraded pumping system.

Fassett says he sells 150 gallons of biodiesel per day to a niche of loyal customers, which accounts for only 25 percent of all diesel sales. Comparatively, he sells about 2,500 gallons of total fuel per day at the Greenwood Avenue station.

Both Fassett and Wyckoff agree that public interest in biodiesel is just the tip of the green-energy iceberg in Central Oregon. Soon, advocates predict all gas stations will offer alternative fuel that is cheaper, American-produced and less influenced by price fluctuations than gasoline.
"The greatest thing about biodiesel is there is nothing bad about it," said Wade Fagan, of the biodiesel co-op. "Especially with it being cheaper than diesel right now, it's flat-out un-American not to buy it. You're supporting American innovation, industry, farming, transportation and environment. Every diesel vehicle that you pour biodiesel into automatically makes that vehicle 76 percent cleaner-burning than petroleum."

Anna Sowa can be reached at 383-0304 or at asowa@bendbulletin.com.