Trying to make biodiesel a cash crop
King County has teamed with University of Washington professors and a Yakima farmer to get a biodiesel project up and running. A grant for $75,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture is helping make it a go.
At the demonstration site in Prosser, Benton County, byproducts from wastewater treatment in King County are fertilizing test plots of canola, a crop whose crushed seeds yield oil for biodiesel.
Like ethanol, its better known corn-based cousin, biodiesel is a mix of vegetable oil and fossil fuels that's used to power cars and trucks. European gas stations have sold biodiesel for more than a decade, but high production costs in the United States have kept it out of more than just a few cars here. But as oil prices hover around $50 a barrel, the incentive for biodiesel grows.
Exhaust from vehicles that use it smells like french fries, said King County's Doug Howell, who works on regional environmental policy. "People like that." Some are using it to run their Mercedes and Jettas.
King County plans to use the project to move biosolids - the byproducts of wastewater treatment processes here - to the Yakima Valley.
Sally Brown and Chuck Henry, two professors from the University of Washington, applied for a $75,000 research grant from the USDA so they could bring biosolids to the farm of a friend, Ted Durfey. Brown said Durfey grows organic cherries, pears and grapes at his farm in Sunnyside.
For the professors' demonstration project, Durfey planted 30 types of canola last year. Seeds were harvested, heated and pressed to see which kind yielded the most oil. One goal was to show farmers there how much better crops can grow when biosolids are applied.
"We know it works better," said Brown, who has done lab research to support her conclusion. "They need to see it to believe it."
People worry contaminants in biosolids will get into the food chain, she said. "Citizens there think they're going to die if biosolids are involved." Teaching them that biosolids can be safe is part of the project, too.
Another goal is to get farmers to recognize canola as a cash crop. If more grow canola, more seeds will then be available for biodiesel.
Peggy Leonard works in the county's wastewater treatment division and oversees its biosolids program. She said the big picture idea is to create a sustainable, closed-loop system: biodiesel made from canola seeds can be used to fuel the trucks that bring the biosolids to plots where canola is grown.
"We have a beautiful system here," said Howell. "We just have to make it large scale."
Getting people to make the fuel a little closer to home means first finding people that want to use it.
It's easier to start biodiesel programs for governments than to try to bring private industries on board, Howell said. "Market penetration for biodiesel into the private sector is going to be a tough nut to crack."
Late last year, King County Metro Transit started a two-year pilot program to use a 5 percent biodiesel blend in 325 of its 1,200 buses. Blended fuel is expected to cost the transit agency an extra 6.3 cents per gallon.
It might cost less if biodiesel didn't have to be shipped by railcar from as far as Iowa, said Howell.
People who are interested in making biodiesel need raw materials, and also don't want to have to go so far.
John Plaza is the founder of Seattle Biodiesel, which plans to manufacture and sell biodiesel. "Ideally we want to use oil that is grown and crushed in the Pacific Northwest," he said, "with Washington as our main source of crop."
Howell cites a few other groups interested in making biodiesel, such as the Spokane Conservation District. Baker Commodoties in Tukwila has been looking for real estate for the last year and a half to make biodiesel from its waste vegetable oil. Creston in Lincoln County is looking for a facility in which to crush canola.
And though "backyard brewers" who cook up biodiesel in their garages aren't certified, international standards are now in place, another sign a biodiesel market is beginning to emerge, said Howell.
A recently passed bill that allows a federal tax credit for manufacturers and distributors could be "the 800 pound gorilla" to jumpstart a new market.
This story is courtesy of the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce (subscription required):
Trying to make biodiesel a cash crop