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Can small and community-scale biodiesel plants be economically viable and contribute to rural development in the Western United States? A new report by the Western Organization of Resource Councils (WORC), “Homegrown Prosperity from the Bottom Up,” answers that question with case studies of biodiesel plants in those western rural communities… and the answer is YES!

This article from Biodiesel Magazine says the report, entitled “Homegrown Prosperity from the Bottom Up” and co-written by Wilbur Wood, found that these small, local biodiesel plants can “disengage family farmers and ranchers from domination by the global fossil fuel market, enhance both fuel and food security, create jobs, and keep money in local communities”:

Brett Earl, co-owner of Earl Fisher Biofuels LLP in Chester, Mont., is featured in case study number one. Earl views biodiesel as a community-based industry. “We can grow the oil seeds locally, we can manufacture the fuel locally, and we can consume the products locally,” he said. The facility currently operates at 275,000 gallons annually and employs three full-time employees, with plans to expand to 1 MMgy and employ six to ten workers. Earl said that would make Earl Fisher Biofuels the third largest employer in the small town of Chester. When operating at a larger scale, Earl wants to share it with other rural communities in Montana, proving it can work.

Not only does the report use the successes of the community-scaled biodiesel plants as examples of how they could spark economic growth in rural areas, the WORC makes the case that there should be federal and state government policies to help these small production facilities.

The little guy on the left might not look very pretty, but it could be beautiful when it comes to turning food waste into biodiesel. It’s the larva of the Black Soldier Fly, and this bug is at the heart of EcoSystem Corporation’s MAGFUEL™ biofuel feedstock model.

This company press release says EcoSystem is using the larvae to turn food scrap waste into natural oils for biodiesel feedstock:

When at full capacity, Black Soldier Fly food scrap waste conversion technology could yield up to 190,000 gallons of crude (non-food) natural oils per acre of bioreactor surface area annually. In comparison, soybean yields an average of 40 gallons of oil per acre annually. EcoSystem’s integrated bioreactor is estimated to be deployed at a cost of less than $100 per square foot with minimal use of utilities for other than periodic cleaning and heating.

EcoSystem estimates that 25% of the volume of retail, restaurant, and industrial generated food waste could be converted into Black Soldier Fly larvae. Based upon U.S. 2010 Census data, up to 100 million gallons per year of MAGFUEL™ natural oils could be produced and sold to U.S. biodiesel producers using EcoSystem technology.

This product could be a real win-win situation… creating a high-quality, competitively-priced biodiesel feedstock, while taking more waste out of landfills.

A Seattle-based company has come up with a new method of boosting the growth of algae that will help make the green scum more commercially viable for biodiesel production.

This story from Biofuels Media Ltd. says Bionavitas is using what the company calls Light Immersion Technology.. pencil-shaped rods that bring more light to algae, stimulating growth:

The acrylic tubes can direct sunlight deeper into a pond of algae which could allow algae to grow up to 1.5 meters deep, rather than the about 10 centimetres depth now possible before “self-shading” prevents deeper growth.

“For you to be able to grow any kind of density that’s cost effective, you must be able to break through the self-shading barrier,” he said.

The article goes on to point out that algae might just be the perfect feedstock for biodiesel, but the high cost of production have held it back a bit, commercially. This new technology could change all that.