A green fuel that also gives you the intoxicating aroma of bacon as you drive? It’s as if half of Homer Simpson’s brain had been implanted into Al Gore! A small, startup company in Manitowoc, Wisconsin has opened its first biodiesel station with the feedstock being the pork fat left over from making pre-cooked bacon.
This story from the Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter says husband and wife Dan and Tracy Kaderabek have opened their Bio-Blend Fuels filling station in the city on the western shore of Lake Michigan:
“The pork gets run through microwaves to make precooked bacon, the grease falls off and that’s what we use,” Dan said. “Americans’ bad eating habits ensure our supply.”
While the Kaderabeks view producing biodiesel as an environmentally friendly “green” industry, their business model for success doesn’t depend on what direction political winds are blowing.
“We’re not relying on government handouts or rebates or tax credits,” said Tracy. “Those would be a bonus, but you can’t rely on those in running your business.”
Success will be based, they said, on having low overhead and selling the biodiesel cheaper than regular petroleum diesel.
On Monday, Kirt filled his tank with a 50-50 blend of biodiesel and regular diesel for $2.09 a gallon, compared to about $2.20 for 100 percent fossil fuel, “dino diesel.”
The Kaderabeks’ blend of 20 percent biodiesel-80 percent regular diesel sold for $2.17 Monday while “B99” (almost all fuel from the pig fat) was $1.99.
There are ideas to one day change to algae as a feedstock.
While this is certainly no where close to some of the big operations… or even some of the medium-sized operations… it’s nice to see a couple of regular Joes (or in this case, a couple of regular Kaderbeks) making it with their own version of a green vision. And as a plus, it involves BACON! Brings a tear to my eye just thinking about it (or is that drool from my mouth?).