Filling up on soybeans and diesel

A growing industry
Increased consumer interest and state and federal tax incentives for producers means there are now about 1,500 biodiesel distributors nationwide.

“It’s a matter of economics,” said Rich Cregar with the National Alternative Fuels Training Consortium at West Virginia University. “I don’t think anybody is arguing we’re going to see cheap oil again.

“Alternative fuels will be economically viable.”

As the operations manager for the nation’s longest running user of biodiesel in school buses, Joe Biluck Jr. has seen the industry evolve.

“Today, I’m happy to say there has been a tremendous amount of interest,” said Biluck, director of operations for the Medford Township, N.J., school system. “The supply chain is improving.”

When Biluck started using biodiesel, the closest distributor was in Massachusetts. He is now able to purchase fuel from a supplier in nearby Philadelphia.

Proper mixing required
Biodiesel supporters refer to the fuel as a renewable energy source since it is partly based on soybeans or other oil-producing vegetables. The common mixture is 20 percent biodiesel, 80 percent diesel fuel.

The fuel requires less technology to produce than ethanol, and Cregar said studies have shown that fuels based on soybeans and other crops could produce up to 3.5 million barrels of fuel daily.

An improperly mixed batch, however, can cause problems with a bus, or even make it stop running, said Marion County Transportation Director Tim James. Marion was the first county in West Virginia to begin using the fuel in its 79 buses.

“Just make sure when it’s delivered, it’s mixed,” James said.

The EPA is requiring refiners to produce lower sulfur diesel fuel beginning next year, and diesel engine manufacturers to build cleaner burning engines by 2010. The agency estimates the new rule will cut emissions of smog-forming nitrogen oxides, soot, carbon monoxide, acid rain-causing sulfur dioxide and other air pollutants, preventing 8,300 premature deaths, more than 9,500 hospitalizations and 1.5 million lost work days.

“I consider it a very effective transition technology,” Biluck said. “Five to eight years from now we’ll be talking about something different.”

In the interim, using biodiesel “shows people we are trying to do everything we can to offset energy costs and at the same time, be more sustainable,” he said.

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