Ridgetown's biodiesel plant shows the way

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Launched last spring, the plant has a capacity of 800,000-1,000,000 litres and is intended to serve as a model for interested producers

by MIKE MULHERN

Art Schaafsma has real tractor-seat experience when it comes to biodiesel.
Schaafsma, a professor in the department of plant agriculture and director of the Ridgetown Campus of the University of Guelph, burned 100 per cent biodiesel on his farm last summer, using product produced at the college's Centre for Agricultural Renewable Energy and Sustainability.

Last spring was the launch of production from the facility, which was designed to be a template for a rural or farm-based biodiesel business producing biodiesel from recycled or new vegetable oils. It has the capacity to produce 800,000 to one million litres of biodiesel a year.

Schaafsma's experience was that he had to replace one or two fuel filters but, after that, there were no problems. "Biodiesel is a very good solvent," Schaafsma says, "so it cleans up the lines even on a new machine." Once the contaminants are out of the system, you're fine.

Biodiesel also lubricates well and, as a blend, it is helpful in low-sulphur fuels. Recent studies, Schaafsma says, indicate that it produces optimum power in a 10 to 20 per cent blend with regular diesel.

While the product has some admirable qualities and one large downside, – it gels below minus two degrees Celsius – that is not the reason it is being produced at the college.

Schaafsma describes the biodiesel facility as a "pilot facility to try and demonstrate a new opportunity for individual producers or a group of producers." He says a farmer using an existing building could get into the biodiesel business on a scale similar to Ridgetown for about $100,000 and the college is more than willing to share the experience it has gained with interested producers.

"We had to go through a whole series of steps," Schaafsma says, including approvals that took two years to get. "We now know what the process is."

One of the things they've found is that the price of the raw material fluctuates a lot. There is a high demand for used vegetable oil these days but, just a month ago, there was a glut because the market doubted the U.S. Congress would approve continuation of a biodiesel subsidy for farmers.

"For almost a year," Schaafsma said, "Congress was telling everyone they were not going to renew their dollar-a-gallon subsidy. In early December, there was a glut and the price was quite reasonable, until Congress did a flip. The subsidy is back on and you can't find it (used vegetable oil) anywhere."

The lesson there, he says, is to take a long view of the supply market and buy when prices are low.

The college itself does not buy used vegetable oil or sell biodiesel; a private company does that and the college is paid a price to actually produce the biodiesel. If a local farmer wants some, they can buy it in quantities of 1,000 litres or more. Schaafsma says they usually fill a tank and take it home for use in their equipment. It is also used to power highway tractors, often at 100 per cent biodiesel. The college's own farm equipment ran on a 10 per cent blend during last year's growing season.

The facility itself is run by Mark Uher, a renewable energy technician. Uher recently described the biodiesel production process to groups of farmers attending the 18th annual Southwest Agricultural Conference at the college.

He told the farmers the fuel produced at the college is sold for about 10 cents a litre below the pump price. Although that puts it a few cents above the price of dyed diesel, Schaafsma says the actual price is very hard to track.

A brochure explaining the refining process to visitors says "biodiesel is formed by a chemical reaction using methanol and a base catalyst mixed with heated oil or fat. In this reaction, the triglyceride (oil, fat) has its glycerin molecule removed, which is replaced by methanol molecules. The biodiesel is then cleaned (washed) and dried." Byproducts of the process are wash water and glycerin. The glycerin is sold to the cosmetics and pharmaceutical industries.

Uher says the price of the oil depends on a number of factors, including the level of free fatty acids in the used oil. The higher the level, the more refinement is required to arrive at the finished product and the lower the price paid for the used oil before it becomes biodiesel. He says suppliers test the vegetable oil for fatty acids before it is delivered and they double check the level at the facility.

While the biodiesel plant is up and running, the building it is in is being expanded to handle two other projects, a biodigester and an oilseed crusher.

"This is part of a larger piece," Schaafsma says, "to set up a sandbox of these kinds of things." He notes that the biodigester will produce methane from waste produced on campus that will be used to power generators which will supply power to the electricity grid. The crusher will have the capacity to produce enough oil to supply 100 per cent of the biodiesel plant requirements.

"One of the problems that some of these smaller crushers have is being able to get rid of the soybean oil, since most of the advantage is in producing cold-pressed meal and you get stuck with the oil. We're looking at an opportunity to use it."

He says building the crusher will depend on whether the college gets funding for the project, about $1.5 million. Funding for the biodiesel facility is in place to continue it for the next two years. BF