[Biodiesel News] RI eyed by biodiesel firms

RI eyed by biodiesel firms

Providence Business News - Providence,RI,USA

Biodiesel plants have been cropping up all over the country, turning such things as used cooking oil and animal fat into clean-burning fuel. ...

 

Biodiesel plants have been cropping up all over the country, turning such things as used cooking oil and animal fat into clean-burning fuel. Now Rhode Island, often considered a backwater of energy production, is being eyed for biodiesel refineries as well.

 

In Westerly, a company called Mason Biodiesel LLC is “in the process” of installing a tank on Oak Street, according to Charles S. Soloveitzik, a lawyer in the town who filed the documents of incorporation for Mason earlier this year.

 

Soloveitzik couldn’t provide further details, and manager R. Phillip Mason did not return a reporter’s call. But Jenna Higgins, a spokeswoman for the National Biodiesel Board in Jefferson City, Mo., said the group is aware of the Westerly project.

 

Higgins didn’t have a record of any other Rhode Island biodiesel project, but state officials and investors say there are multiple parties interested in building the plants here. “I was told that there are 12 to 13 companies interested in coming to Rhode Island to start up a biodiesel [plant],” said Robert Hainey, an investor from Warwick who wants to build a facility of his own at Quonset Business Park.

 

Hainey said that he has been in talks with the Quonset Development Corporation, the quasi-public state authority that runs the North Kingstown seaport and industrial park, about purchasing nearly 18 acres there for a biodiesel plant.

 

He has not submitted any formal plans, but Providence Business News confirmed he has an agreement to operate a plant with biodiesel equipment from Palestine, Texas-based American Bio Fuel Inc. Hainey also said he has secured $30 million in private capital to launch a biodiesel operation, but he wouldn’t disclose the investment source. Quonset Development officials downplayed Hainey’s pitch.

 

“There was a very preliminary inquiry, and when Quonset gets something substantive, they’ll be glad to review it,” said David Preston, a spokesman for the authority. All building proposals for the industrial park, according to Preston, must be compatible with Quonset’s master plan, comply with the development goals of the Town of North Kingstown, and meet environmental standards – but, he added, “there’s a lot of land for development.”

 

Hainey said he has delayed submitting a formal proposal to Quonset, for fear the plans would reveal trade secrets about American Bio Fuel’s system for making biodiesel, but he plans to make an offer on property at the industrial park within days.

 

Meanwhile, Andrew C. Dzykewicz, chief energy advisor to Gov. Donald L. Carcieri and the head of the R.I. Office of Energy Resources, said state agencies plan to meet late this week to discuss a number of inquiries about erecting biodiesel plants at Quonset. “There are actually four companies that would like to do a commercial project down there,” Dzykewicz said. He added that he planned to meet Thursday with officials from the Quonset authority and the R.I. Economic Development Corporation to decide on a process for dealing with future proposals to build such plants.

 

Currently, the biodiesel plant closest to Rhode Island is in western Connecticut, in Bethlehem, according to Higgins at the National Biodiesel Board. Yet “there are a lot of new plants coming online,” she said, “and they are scattered throughout the nation.” The industry group reports there were 86 U.S. biodiesel plants in operation as of Sept. 12, a big jump from the 65 facilities in production when it last tallied them in April.

 

With growing angst over U.S. dependence on foreign oil and the impact of fossil fuel on the environment, not to mention rising prices, consumers are buying more biomass-based fuels such as biodiesel and ethanol.

 

In 2005, U.S. sales of biodiesel were $225 million, and they are on target to more than double this year, said Higgins.

 

Wendy Hawkins, general manager of REC Fuel at 9 Hylestead St. in Providence, said her service station was the first to begin selling biodiesel in the state. REC began offering it in August 2003. It sells a version of the product called B20, which is a mix of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent regular petroleum diesel.

 

“There’s no engine modification needed” to use B20, Hawkins said. “It adds lubricity to the vehicle’s engines, it costs about the same, it has a little better gas mileage, and it smells better.”

 

Demand for the fuel has mounted at REC. “I started out [in 2003] with 3,000 gallons of B20 in my tank and it took about four months to sell that,” Hawkins said. “Now, I do about 3,000 gallons every 10 days.”

 

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Posted by Vince to Biodiesel News at 9/18/2006 10:13:00 AM