Biodiesel maker Imperium Renewables has inked a six-month deal to keep its Washington State plant in canola oil as a feedstock for the green fuel. Legumex Walker Inc.’s Pacific Coast Canola (PCC) subsidiary will deliver by truck its super degummed canola oil.
“We are proud to partner with Imperium, one of our local Washington State customers benefitting from our close proximity and load-out capabilities which allows us to ship multiple types of oil to our customers’ specifications,” said Matt Upmeyer, Chief Operations Officer at PCC. “Coupled with the strong demand for canola oil and meal from our core food processing customers, the Imperium contract is another big step as we bring our facility to full capacity, which is great news for local canola farmers.”
“The biofuel industry is an important complementary market for our canola oil, and crush margins for oil produced for that market are currently in line with oil produced for our core food processing market, ” said Joel Horn, President and Chief Executive Officer, Legumex Walker Inc. “Importantly, the Imperium business, because it is delivered by truck, helps relieve the outbound logistical challenges we are facing due to the North America-wide rail congestion problem.”
“This milestone agreement with Pacific Coast Canola will help us fully realize the potential of renewable biofuels in Washington,” said Imperium CEO John Plaza. “Canola grown by Pacific Northwest farmers will be processed by PCC, and that oil will be made into biodiesel by Imperium at our refinery in Hoquiam, WA and shipped to consumers in the region and around the world.”
Imperium officials went on to laud the fact they are able to get a locally grown source of canola oil for their operation. Legumax Walker is using trucks because of the large amount of rail traffic in that part of western Canada.