energy.agwired.com

Biodiesel maker Nova Biosource Fuels has agreed to purchase 50% of the biodiesel produced from a Greenville, Mississippi plant that is a joint ventire between Nova and Scott Petroleum.

In a company press release, Nova says the plant will be capable of producing 20 million gallons of biodiesel a year when it is finished this summer:

“We selected Nova’s technology based upon our confidence in the technology and the entire Nova team,” said Solon Scott, President of Scott Petroleum. “Nova’s ability to utilize multiple feedstocks, produced right here in the Delta, and its ability to generate outstanding fuel quality gave us the confidence to invest and become a producer in the emerging biodiesel industry. This tolling and off-take agreement is an extension of our continuing partnership with Nova, and we are very pleased to embark on this new opportunity.”

“Our relationship with Solon and Scott Petroleum has continued to evolve largely in part because of Solon’s vision to vertically integrate from the farm to fuel,” said Kenneth T. Hern, Nova’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. “Scott Petroleum has demonstrated leadership with an outstanding and successful track record as a petroleum distributor in the Delta for many years. We are very pleased to see that the continued benefits of our long-term alliance with Scott Petroleum will produce biodiesel utilizing our proprietary technology while granting us 50 percent of all production from the plant.”

The plant will use catfish oil, poultry fat and other rendered products from the area.

Nova is building three to four biodiesel refineries able to produce 160 to 240 million gallons of biodiesel fuel each year. In the next few years, Nova intends to have seven 20-60 million-gallon-a-year refineries up and running.

So many times, we talk about large biodiesel refineries coming online that will supply entire regions with the renewable fuel. But this little item in a local on-line paper caught my eye. The University of Wisconsin Extension Service is sponsoring at least two workshops… one at the Fox Valley Technical College in Appleton on March 27th and one in Dunn County on March 29th… teaching farmers how to brew their own biodiesel right on the farm.

The Dunn County News points out that Rudolph Diesel, inventor of the diesel engine, had intended for farmers to do just that… make their own fuel to run the tractors to work their farms. The article goes on to promise that at the upcoming workshops “farmers will get an unbiased, research-based look at what it takes to produce farm-based biodiesel”:

Jim Faust, UW Extension Ag Agent noted “There is a tremendous interest in biofuels, both among farmers, industry and government, whether it’s corn ethanol, biodiesel or ethanol from cellulose. It represents a potential win-win situation in terms of economic development in rural communities, reduction of greenhouse gases, as well as taking the U.S. on the road towards energy independence.

Wisconsin already has an aggressive plan for renewable energy. Governor Jim Doyle wants to replace 25% of the energy used in the state with energy from renewable sources, such as biodiesel and ethanol, by the year 2025 (see his plan here).

While these types of plans, such as the Wisconsin 2025 initiative and the big refineries, so often grab the headlines on this web site, it’s also the little initiatives such as the Wisconsin Extension Service’s attempt to teach farmers to make their own fuel that help chip away at that foreign fuel dependence.