AMERIgreen offering biodiesel at new NY blending terminal
Photo: AMERIgreen Energy Inc./IPT
February 28, 2012
BY Bryan Sims
The distribution of biodiesel-blended fuels for both on- and off-road applications in the Northeast just got easier as Lancaster, Pa.-based fuel dealer AMERIgreen Energy Inc., in partnership with International Petroleum Traders LLC, recently opened a state-of-the-art biodiesel blending terminal in Rensselaer, N.Y.
According to Steve McCracken, sales and marketing director for AMERIgreen, the terminal arrangement provides retail fuel companies in New York with a source point to lift finished biodiesel blends ranging from B2 to B20.
The rack blending system combines biodiesel and distillates such as No. 2 diesel using the latest, most accurate in-line ratio blending technology. AMERIgreen installed a 30,000 gallon storage tank at the site, McCracken said. “So we’ve got the logistics available so if we need to have multiple loads there throughout the day or week to be able to support refueling that tank, we have the capacity to be able to do that,” he told Biodiesel Magazine.
Advertisement
McCracken said the new terminal will enable fuel dealers in East New York to grow and adapt to market changes and position them to take advantage of Bioheat’s performance and marketing opportunities.
“Obviously, biodiesel is something that’s growing exponentially in the marketplace,” McCracken said. “When you start really focusing on the value aspect of what this new fuel does for the retail fuel distributor, it really opens up and revitalizes the company. You become more of an energy resource than just the same company selling the same old No. 2 fuel that’s been delivered for so many years.”
AMERIgreen is a leading supplier of biodiesel to dozens of fuel terminals in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. The newly opened terminal in Rennselaer is the company’s second wholly operated facility. The company also owns and operates a biodiesel blending terminal, opened in 2009, at the Duck Island Pipeline Terminal in N.J. In 2005, AMERIgreen, in collaboration with Petroleum Products Corp., opened the first blending installation on the East Coast at the PPC terminal in Highspire, Pa., currently owned and operated by PPC.
Advertisement
According to McCracken, traffic has remained steady since the terminal in Rennselaer officially opened in January, adding that AMERIgreen held a seminar in November prior to the open of the terminal to educate retail distributors about how they can take advantage of the fuel from a business standpoint.
“I think that’s one of the biggest bridges we help them gap,” McCracken said. “We provide another distribution opportunity for blended gallons there and that certainly gives them the business case for moving their company into this next phase and committing the gallons towards it. We’ve got a number of distributors who’ve already started to pick up blended gallons both in contracts and in rack gallons. Being able to sell contracts in B2 and B10, as well as rack gallons, has given us some dynamics to be able to be more versatile and accommodate what they’re looking for.”
In October, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed legislation into law extending the state’s Refundable Clean Heating Fuel Tax Credit out to 2017. The personal tax credit, which allows residential Bioheat users to claim 1 cent per gallon for each percent of biodiesel up to a maximum of a B20 blend, was set to expire in December.
Upcoming Events
