Grain company building biodiesel production plant

Grain company building biodiesel production plant
Kentucky.com - Lexington,KY,USA
... It will have the capacity to produce 50 million gallons of biodiesel a year, Wright said, making it among the largest such facilities in the nation. ...

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OWENSBORO, Ky. - A western Kentucky grain company is building a $22 million biodiesel production plant.

John Wright, vice president of strategic planning and development for the Owensboro Grain Co., told the Owensboro Messenger-Inquirer that the plant is on track to begin production in June of next year.

It will have the capacity to produce 50 million gallons of biodiesel a year, Wright said, making it among the largest such facilities in the nation.

Biodiesel is defined as "a nontoxic, biodegradable diesel fuel made from soybean and other vegetable oils, animal fats and used or recycled oils and fats."

The National Biodiesel Board reported that Americans used 75 million gallons of biodiesel last year - up from 500,000 gallons in 1999.

At the beginning of the year, there were 65 biodiesel plants in the U.S. with a total annual capacity of 395 million gallons, according to the board's data. Eight of those plants are expanding and 50 more plants are under construction.

"If all these projects are completed and come on line, they will add an estimated 714 million gallons of capacity," the agency said.

The biodiesel board said it expects demand for the blend of soybean oil and diesel fuel to jump from 75 million gallons last year to 650 million by 2015.

One of Daviess County's largest users of diesel fuel says it plans to switch to biodiesel as soon as Owensboro Grain's new facility begins pumping it out.

"We've looked at it," Wendell Shreve, transportation director for Daviess County Public Schools, said of biodiesel. "The only reason we haven't gone to it is a supply problem. Soybean is the proven source. That's what we want. As soon as Owensboro Grain begins production, we'll be buying it.

"They've had a few problems when it's not made from soybeans. But with soybeans, they say we might have to change the filters on the buses a couple of times at first. That's the only changes we'll have to make."

Shreve said Owensboro and Daviess County governments, as well as the city and county school systems, take bids together on both gasoline and diesel fuel each year, making them a large consumer of biodiesel.

"We have 120-plus buses running 1,300 miles a day," he said of the county school system. "They average eight miles per gallon. Do the math."

That breaks down to 162.5 gallons of diesel a day, 812.5 gallons a week or 3,250 gallons a month.

Kentucky's fleet of diesel-engine vehicles began using biodiesel in April 2005, according to the Kentucky Clean Fuels Coalition. By Dec. 31, 2005, the coalition says, the state had used 240,000 gallons of biodiesel.

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