Fueling Up For The Future With Biofuels

By Nancy K. Crevier

“Biodiesel is one small part of the energy solution,” said Richard Reilly, but it is a piece that has paid off for the Sandy Hook entrepreneur. Last year, Mr Reilly spent about $100 a month on electricity, but only $1,200 the entire winter to heat his 2,600-square-foot house and only $500, including taxes, to power his diesel Volkswagen Jetta for a whole year.

As the owner in 2003 of a mobile quick lube business that visited corporate parks, Mr Reilly wondered what was happening to all of the crank case oil picked up from his company by a recycling company. “I found out it was being sold for 57 cents a gallon. It was being blended with industrial fuels to become furnace fuel for industrial boilers.”

He started researching biofuels and ended up at a biodiesel convention, where he became fascinated by the idea of producing his own extremely cost-effective and environmentally friendly fuel.

He bought a diesel Jetta and began producing his own biodiesel fuel from methanol, lye, and used vegetable oil collected from a local restaurant. The process is not difficult, he discovered. With a corporate finance background and virtually no chemistry background, he still found online directions very simple to follow. He started out blending biodiesel to regular diesel fuel 20 parts to 80, “But within a month, I was using 100 percent homemade fuel, at a cost of 70 cents a gallon,” Mr Reilly said. At only $10 to fill his tank, he can go 600 miles, giving him bragging rights that outdo just about any other driver around town.

What was most difficult, he said, was finding the equipment to make the biodiesel at home. He quickly realized the need for a parts source for biodiesel fans wanting to build their own oil conversion processors, and started up Biodieselwarehouse.com. The online company provided biodiesel kits for those new to the process.

“Half of my customers were looking to save money, and half wanted to save the planet,” he said.

Biofuels have been criticized for using more fossil fuel to make and distribute than they provide, he said, and for potentially requiring swaths of farmland that could be planted in food crops to be planted in crops turned into fuel, instead. Ethanol, a corn product, has come under particular fire, but he argues that biodiesel manufactured from waste vegetable oil has huge advantages over ethanol.

“Unlike ethanol, where you have to distill grains at very high temperatures for long periods of time, the process with biodiesel can be done at room temperature or just a little higher, maybe 105 degrees.”

Biodiesel has the best energy balances of any alternative fuels, said Mr Reilly, refuting studies that have accused biofuels of a negative energy balance. There is waste issued in the form of glycerin from biodiesel production, he admitted. “But glycerin waste can be recycled into many other items,” he explained.

Environmentally, Mr Reilly said biodiesel has a positive impact, for the most part. “Biodiesel has 80 percent less carbon dioxide emission than regular diesel fuel. As soybeans, the source for soy oil, grow they take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, resulting in only a small net carbon gain.

“Volatile organic compounds, which are carcinogens in diesel fuel, are reduced 98 percent with biodiesel. And there is no sulfur emitted with biodiesel fuel,” Mr Reilly said.

The one negative, he notes, is in nitrous oxide emissions. “Biodiesel does produce more nitrous oxide than regular diesel fuel, and that makes it an issue for some people.”

What Europeans, who have used diesel and biodiesel fuels for many years, have decided, said Mr Reilly, is that the many good aspects far outweigh that one negative component.

Not only has Mr Reilly produced his own car fuel for four years, last winter he heated his home with biodiesel. “I was building up a supply from the restaurant collection. I was collecting about 2,000 gallons a year and only needed about 500 gallons to run my car.”

He switched to a 20:80 mix of biodiesel and regular fuel oil, realized savings, and discovered that because the heating process in a furnace is somewhat different than what fuel is subjected to in an automobile engine, the fuel ran very, very clean. “When burned in a home heating unit, it actually reduces the nitrous oxide emission compared to burning regular fuel oil,” he said.

Home Heating Fuel Companies Take An Interest

Despite the success of Biodieselwarehouse.com, last December Mr Reilly sold the company to pursue a new business with partners Eric Gordon and Pete Romprey, former business connections.

“I had been consulting with F&S Oil in Waterbury about biodiesel home-heating fuel. When they told me they wanted to make their own biodiesel at their own plant, I knew I could start a collection company.”

Grease Guys sends two large pumper trucks to restaurants all over the state, collecting used oil and fat for conversion at biodiesel plants in New England. “We have hundreds of customers and collect thousands of gallons of used oil every week,” said Mr Reilly.

The oil is stored and filtered at the Grease Guys’ warehouse in Hamden. “We sell filtered vegetable oil to biodiesel producers. Typical customers are regional biodiesel customers,” said Mr Reilly. “We are committed to placing our oil in the hands of fuel companies.”

Having access to a great quantity of finely filtered vegetable oil has led Mr Reilly to a new decision in recent months. “I’m now looking for a car to convert to run on just filtered vegetable oil.” His savings, since he no longer will be spending his time or buying the methanol and lye to convert the fuel to biodiesel, will be even greater.

“I don’t have to support foreign oil and I get to do something good for the planet,” said Mr Reilly.

Most people do not have the time, space, or skills to create their own biodiesel, but many still desire to use a product that they feel has some positive impact on the environment. Commercial suppliers of heating fuel have responded to this desire on a small, but growing, level.

Customers of Sippin Energy Products out of Monroe all receive a blend of biofuel and regular heating fuel, ranging between a 5 and 10 percent blend, depending upon the season. The company buys some preblended heating fuel, but the rest of their fuel is blended at its main terminal in Monroe, said Gary Sippin, vice president of Sippin. Higher percentages of biofuel blends would work fine, probably up to 20 percent, he said, but having even a very small number of customers with outdoor tanks causes a problem since biofuels freeze at 38 degrees Fahrenheit.

He sees biofuels as having a positive future in America, though. “New federal initiatives have made sweeping changes to the renewable fuel programs,” said Mr Sippin, “and the State of Connecticut has renewable fuel initiatives, too, that give local biofuel makers incentives.”

Sippin Energy Products is fortunate to have a very local source for the nearly three-quarter million gallons of biofuel it blends into its regular fuel each year. “Our biofuel comes from a factory in Bethlehem, Conn., made right in a barn, on a picturesque little farm,” said Mr Sippin. The B100 biofuel component made there is from high quality raw soybean oil.

“With biofuels, there are the concepts of using renewable energy, growing the product domestically, and helping the farmers that are appealing. It becomes a little bit more ‘home grown,’” Mr Sippin said.

But the soy oil must be shipped in from distant farms, one of the problems biofuels must overcome. The infrastructure in the United States does not support biofuels, Mr Sippin said. Due to compatibility issues, biofuels cannot be transported through petroleum pipelines, which would be the most economical way to transport biofuels, many of which are produced far from the Eastern seaboard. “For example, soy oil is shipped by rail or truck to Connecticut and then blended into heating fuel, in many cases,” he pointed out. It is one link in the chain to making biofuels more accessible and utilized that must be improved, he said.

Other Options

He pointed out that as biofuel technology improves, other plant-based options beyond corn and soy might become viable sources for alternative energy. “There are over 100 different seed bearing plants that can be turned into biofuel,” he said. “There are intriguing things coming down the pike for biofuel. Different crops have different fuel density.” Algae is one crop that Mr Sippin believes may have a future for distillate, or diesel, fuel. “Algae can produce 10,000 to 15,000 gallons of biofuels per acre, which is ten times that of soy,” said Mr Sippin.

“We need to be using energy solutions wisely,” said Mr Sippin. Wise use would mean Americans taking a close look at how much fuel from any source is used, he said. “We waste fuel in spades in the United States. We consume 85 million barrels of petroleum product a day. In other parts of the world, they have some sense of conservation.” It could take a big fuel tax to inspire Americans to be more conservative in fuel use, said Mr Sippin. “There’s no big, magic solution. But in the scope of how much [fossil fuel] is burned, replacing two percent with biofuels still represents thousands of gallons of diesel fuel.”

Leahy’s Fuel in Danbury does field requests for biofuels, said company President Steve Rosentel. But Leahy’s has been using a B5 mix for all home heating when available, already. B5 is a five percent biofuel mix blended with regular heating fuel. “The biofuel can be made from any renewable feed stock crop as a blend,” said Mr Rosentel. Leahy’s buys its blend from a supplier out of New Haven that mixes the biofuel blend using an injection system, which the company feels is the best way to incorporate biofuel into heating fuel.

The B5 mix burns slightly cleaner than 100 percent heating oil, he said, and feels that this conservative but progressive approach is best for the company and its customers at this time.

“There is still ongoing research as to the maximum limit for blending biofuel and regular heating fuel,” Mr Rosentel said. “For instance, we still need to know, does a B20 blend, 20 percent biofuel, have adverse effects on seals and gaskets in a home heating system? Nor is there a major regional terminal in the area yet for B20 injected fuel. We elected to stay in the B5 level and not go with a ‘splash blend’ technique.” The splash blend would involve dumping biofuel into the truck with regular fuel and letting it mix through agitation, a technique that Leahy’s does not feel is the best approach.

Along with burning a bit cleaner, Mr Rosentel is pleased that the B5 heating efficiency is comparable to regular fuel and that even at these levels has some impact on oil imports. “Using the B5 is the equivalent of saving five percent of our imported oil demand,” said Mr Rosentel.

Because meeting the specs of heating fuel is difficult for anyone not trained in chemistry, Mr Rosentel suggests homeowners approach blending their own biodiesel with regular heating fuel with caution. The use of fuel that has been modified by the homeowner would also void any contract with the company if problems should arise in the operation of the heating system, he warned.

“Biofuels will become a bigger part of the industry going forward. I would like to see a mandate for B5 in heating fuel, similar to the requirement for ethanol in gasoline,” said Mr Rosentel. Requiring the addition of B5, he explained, would give investors in alternative energy a way to survive when prices of oil drop.

“Biofuel will never completely displace fuel oil, but it is one more potential solution,” Mr Rosentel said. “And it sends a message to OPEC: There are other options.”