An American company that moves fuels and runs terminals has successfully tested a biodiesel pipeline in the Southeastern United States, joining the firm’s efforts of moving ethanol through another pipeline in the South.
This story from Reuters says Kinder Morgan Energy Partners recently sent 20,000 gallons of 5 percent biodiesel from Mississippi to South Carolina through the Plantation oil products pipeline:
Company spokeswoman Emily Mir Thompson said Kinder would ship the fuel blends along portions of the line that carry gasoline and diesel fuel. That way, any potential “trail back” of biodiesel into jet fuel would be averted.
The Plantation line moves oil products from refineries along the Gulf of Mexico to the Southeast. Kinder expects to move the blends, known as B5, to markets in Alabama, Georgia, the Carolinas, and Virginia.
Kinder said late last year [see my November 11, 2008] it is also moving batches of another biofuel — ethanol– through a 105 mile (170 km) products line in Florida.
A Kinder Morgan spokesperson says the company could soon ship ethanol through another pipeline in the U.S. Southeast or West.