A biodiesel maker in Upstate New York has expanded its capacity to turn waste vegetable oil into the green fuel by five-fold.
This story in Biodiesel Magazine says Buffalo Biodiesel Inc. can now crank out 5 million gallons each year:
According to Sumit Majumdar, president of Buffalo Biodiesel, the expansion project took approximately two months to complete. Buffalo Biodiesel, which collects and renders yellow grease from restaurants within the New York and Pennsylvania areas, has the capability to produce 5 MMgy of biodiesel at its facility in Tonawanda; however, the plant is currently producing approximately half the volume of its maximum rate due to lack of demand for the biofuel along with competing demand for bio heating oil use in the Northeast, according to Majumdar.
“There really is no demand [for biodiesel] at a price higher than heating oil,” he said. “Right now we need to push more volume [of biodiesel]. Until the fuel prices go up, every biodiesel producer will continue to sit on the sidelines for now.”
Mujumdar said that the expansion of Buffalo Biodiesel’s feedstock processing segment will allow the company to enter into contract negotiations with current biodiesel producers who are interested in buying its rendered yellow grease as feedstock for biodiesel production. At press time, Mujumdar didn’t disclose potentially interested parties for its feedstock.
The article goes on to point out that the feedstock sold to producers can help those producers turn it into a profit.