Biodiesel will drive Eastern Wa. train during summerlong test

Tag : biodiesel plant.

CRESTON, Lincoln County — When the Eastern Washington GatewayRailroad train pulled out of town Friday, it was hauling 52 cars,about 6,600 tons of wheat and — for the first time —500 gallons of biodiesel.
It was the first leg of a journey expected to last all summer, asthe railroad operator and an Eastern Washington biofuels companytest whether biodiesel can work in locomotives.
The train will stop at the Columbia Bioenergy plant here every weekor so for another dose of the fuel made from canola oil, restaurantgrease, soy and other crops. They hope to have a good idea of howit's working by the busy harvest time.
"It'll continue for the summer here, and we'll evaluate it in threemonths or so," said John Howell, president of EWGR, a companyemployed by the state to run the 109-mile rail line between Cheneyand Coulee City.
The project is one of the first biodiesel tests on locomotives inthe Northwest. So far, few trains use biodiesel, though there havebeen experiments in some passenger-train systems in Europe and U.S.shortline railroads similar to this one — in proximity to thecrops needed and a production facility.
A 2007 article in Biodiesel Magazine reported a reluctance amongsome railroad operators to try something untested.
The Cheney-Coulee City line, used almost entirely for grainshipments, was purchased by the state in 2007 after years ofproblems.
The demonstration project arose partly from proximity — therail line runs past Columbia Bioenergy's plant in Creston, and thecompany is a customer of the railroad. John Graff, a companyfounder, said his plant uses regional crops to produce the fuel, sothe locomotive project creates a "full loop" between the railroadand its customers.
"We're putting fuel back into someone who is bringing us our rawfeedstock and shipping our biodiesel," he said. "I think that'skind of a unique thing."
Howell said the EWGR's biodiesel test won't save money, but said hewas interested in working with the customers on his route andfinding ways to reduce pollution. Columbia Bioenergy, meanwhile,wants to know whether a market for biodiesel in locomotives isfeasible. The railroad project comes at a time when biofuels havebeen under increasing scrutiny. Recent studies have shown thatwhile biofuels may reduce emissions compared with conventionalfuels, their cultivation and production make them a larger overallcontributor to global warming. Also, biofuels programs andsubsidies have been criticized for contributing to higher foodprices by using a growing share of corn, soybeans and other crops.
Graff said industrial uses for those crops aren't new, and thatbiofuels aren't the major cause of rising food prices. He also saidmuch of the criticism aimed at biofuels is focused on ethanol, andhe argued that biodiesel production is more efficient and cleaner.He and Howell emphasized that the use of biodiesel will reduce thetrain's greenhouse-gas emissions. "There is no question aboutthat," Graff said.
Graff and Brad Lyons started Columbia Bioenergy in 2005; it was thestate's first certified biodiesel refinery. Establishing thebusiness was difficult, as interest in biofuels was rising, but theeconomic systems to make them work were still being created.