Entrepreneurs cash in to make biodiesel fuel

Tag : bio diesel fuel

Restaurants are finding they no longer have to pay people to taketheir used cooking oil. Instead, they can get paid for it.
And if they are not careful, someone might actually steal it.
Start-up companies large and small are taking advantage of readilyavailable kitchen grease and refining it into biodiesel fuel.
The hot commodity has sparked grease wars, a battle over who canget to the grease trap first to cash in on the slimy but valuableresource.
It has become real competitive with all the fuel problems, saidMichael Pires, a grease collections manager for Biotane Fuels, thelargest biodiesel producer in the state.
Once a day, a restaurant has a big tank and someone has taken (theoil), he said. Operating out of Selma, Pires collects from about450 restaurants in the Central Valley, including 50 from greaterBakersfield.
With the rising price of diesel, now between $4.89 and $5.19 agallon in Bakersfield, according to gasbuddy.com, companies find it profitable to develop biodiesel, an alternativefuel for diesel engines.
Individuals are getting in on the grease, too. Biodiesel kits sellon eBay for less then $200 and Pires said he suspects individualsrunning backyard refineries are the reason for the missing grease.
As a member of the San Francisco Biofuels Cooperative, Bill Croliussaid he has been developing his own biofuel for two years andusually picks it up from from small restaurants in San Francisco.
What I am doing is technically against regulation, he said. Thestate of California requires a permit to collect or haul grease. Hegets about 50 gallons a month, saving himself about $150 in gascosts.
Pires said he has service agreements with the restaurants hecollects from, but didnt want to reveal who for fear of losing hisclients.
Detective Matt Eastman with the Bakersfield Police Department saidno cases of stolen cooking grease have been reported.
It could be that people arent reporting it, he said.
HOW IT WORKS
The grease Pires collects ends up at Biotane Fuels in Coachella, asubcompany of Imperial Western Products. Biotane Fuels refineseight million gallons of biodiesel a year.
It takes only a few days for the dirty, particle-filled grease tobe transformed into clean, ultra-low carbon biodiesel fuel,according to Curtis Wright, division manager of Methyl Ester andGlycerin Production at Biotane Fuels.
The fuel is first cleaned, then goes through a multistep process,taking about 24 hours, in which the tryglycerides found in allforms of grease are combined with some type of alcohol, usuallymethanol. The methanol acts as a catalyst and converts the mixtureinto methyl ester. The plant began refining grease in 2001.
Biodiesel made from used cooking oil is probably the mostsustainable oil out there, Wright said. Biotane Fuels sells itsbiodiesel to gas stations and also directly to fleets of buses ortrucks.
The relatively new technology is becoming more prevalent becauseits a renewable fuel source, no modification is necessary forbiodiesel to work in diesel engines and people are wary of high gasprices.
With biodiesel you can use diesel one day, biodiesel the next dayand a blend the next day, said Amber Thurlo Pearson, spokeswomanfor the National Biodiesel Board.
The organization recommends drivers use whats called B20 (20percent biodiesel and 80 percent low-sulphur diesel) because theblend performs well in cold climates. Pearson said about 4 percentof passenger cars in the United States are diesel, compared with 50percent in Europe and that the majority of consumers in biodieselare large trucks and buses, which are nearly universally diesel.
Recently San Francisco began a program powering city busesexclusively with biodiesel. The entire fleet of 511 buses runs onB20, for which a city contractor collects grease and processes it,said spokesman Judson True of the San Francisco TransportationAgency.
SOME PAID, SOME NOT
Although many restaurants are letting companies take their cookingoil away for free, some restaurants, such as the IHOP at 1500 WibleRoad, get paid for the grease.
We get a $16 check once a month, said Brent Pressley, theassistant manager. It doesnt pay much but at least we dont haveto pay someone to take it.
He said the restaurant, which has been paid for its grease for twoyears, amasses about 546 pounds of it from 105-pound fryers thatoperate around the clock.
However, the grease business is new, and many restaurants are stillpaying, rather than getting paid.
John Dovbert, owner of four Baja Fresh Mexican Grill locations withtwo in Bakersfield, said he pays $50 a month to get a barrel ofgrease hauled away once a week from each his restaurants. Severalcompanies have approached him in the last month about picking uphis valuable grease, but he isnt going to give it to just anyone,he said.
We are always into making our restaurants more profitable but weare more interested in quality, he said. We cant have them notpick up the grease and have it overflow. He said he would call thecompanies soon about working on a deal.
Joe Lay, manager of Kentos Mandarin Bar B Que, pays $33 a monthfor grease collection and did not know he no longer has to pay forthe service.
A company sent me some mail saying they will pick up the greasefor free, he said, but he hasnt called them back.
Co-owners Paul Howard and Alex Marquez of Great Central SteakNHoagie said they worked out a contract with Pires seven months agofor free grease pick-up. Previously they paid $125 every two weeksto have a 55-gallon barrel taken away.
They even built a special dolly for us to carry it out, Howardsaid. They will do anything to get that oil.