WVO brings DC Biofuels, Tri-State Biodiesel subsidiary together
January 31, 2013
BY DC Biofuels LLC
Two East Coast biodiesel development companies this week announced a strategic partnership agreement to provide the Washington, D.C., metro area with clean-burning biodiesel fuel made from locally collected waste vegetable oil (WVO). Because this renewable fuel will be produced in Washington, D.C., from locally collected WVO, it will not only boost the local economy and create local jobs, but also, will have the lowest pollution footprint of any transportation fuel available.
The companies, DC Biofuels LLC and Beltway Biodiesel LLC, are launching a combined and expanded WVO collection, outreach and marketing effort that targets the region’s restaurants, large food service institutions, and others in the area. Beltway Biodiesel, and its industry-leading parent company Tri-State Biodiesel LLC, have been in the WVO collection business for almost a decade, collecting biodiesel feedstock from the Washington area to New England, but with the DCB partnership, now has a local outlet for that biodiesel feedstock, lowering transportation costs and creating sustainability by keeping supply local.
DCB’s facility will be a 7.5 MMgy state-of-the-art biodiesel production facility capable of producing ASTM D 6751-grade biodiesel from a wide range of feedstocks and being certified as a BQ-9000 facility, a rigorous standard set by the industry and recognized by its customer base. DCB will be able to blend biodiesel with ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel at all blend levels from B2 to B20 for fleet customers on its premises and also supply home heating oil to area residents in winter months. This plant will be operational in late 2013.
Advertisement
This new partnership will generate millions of dollars in new, sustainable economic activity in the region surrounding the nation’s capital, provide scores of “green collar” jobs and training for next-generation employment, while reducing harmful waste streams flowing into the city’s sewer system and sharply cutting greenhouse gas emissions from diesel-powered equipment operated by government and private fleets across the region.
As the U.S. EPA and the U.S. DOE’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory have determined, biodiesel made from WVO reduces net GHG emissions by at least 80 percent when compared to the ULSD it displaces, and that reduction is even higher when the fuel is produced from local feedstocks and consumed locally, as the DCB-TSB plan envisions. No other transportation fuel available in today’s market, “advanced” or otherwise, can make that claim.
Advertisement
“Working with a well-established and successful company like TSB and its subsidiary Beltway Biodiesel, we believe we’ve developed an outstanding business model for the [Washington, D.C. metro area], but is a model for other cities we seek to serve,” said Wendell Jenkins, president and CEO of DCB. “With the support of private sector interests, [local and state] governments, and evolving national policy favoring new, sustainable urban-based energy sources, DCB enters the market at precisely the right time.”
Jenkins’s thoughts were echoed by industry veteran Brent Baker, CEO of TSB. “We are delighted to have been able to form this strategic partnership with DCB, whose world view is quite synergistic with ours, which is that one can do well by doing good,” Baker said. “They enable TSB to further build our WVO recycling program, directing 100 percent of the WVO collected into the production of biodiesel fuel as opposed to going into the waste stream or potentially harmful animal feed byproducts. DCB provides us a solid client base, and ensures that as they expand, we can expand with them, and vice versa. It’s a great relationship.”
Currently, both Beltway Biodiesel and DCB are actively engaged in establishing contacts and working relationships with restaurants, schools, hospitals and others throughout the metropolitan area for the collection of WVO.
Upcoming Events
