3 biodiesel projects land Rural Energy for America Program funds
This week the USDA announced funding for 450 projects under the Rural Energy for America Program totaling nearly $7.4 million, and at least three of these are biodiesel-related.
Louisiana-based Aegis Systems LLC was awarded $7,500. According to Zee Miller, CEO, the funding will help pay for a biodiesel feasibility study. Miller told Biodiesel Magazine that with all of the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale oil and gas drilling in the state, she and her company wanted to go in a different direction by establishing a new biodiesel production facility. “A lot of parishes in Louisiana are focused on oil and gas,” she said. “That’s why we’re doing this. We don’t want to compete—we want to move away from that.” She said Aegis Systems was “about to close on 20 acres” in Washington Parish. The project is looking at using waste vegetable oil (WVO) as biodiesel feedstock.
S.J. Bates Ltd. based out of Idaho received $22,500 for an unspecified biodiesel project. A telephone number for the company found on the Web was not in order.
Pleasant Valley Biofuels LLC, a 5.5 MMgy biodiesel production facility in American Falls, Idaho, also received $22,500 from the REAP program. The plant utilizes WVO collected throughout the western U.S., according to its website, and can also use tallow. A call to Pleasant Valley Biofuels was not returned.
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