Headquartered in Othello, Wash., with its biodiesel plant situated in nearby Creston, Columbia Bioenergy is the blossoming brainchild of two livestock farmers-Brad Lyons and John Graff. Neither Lyons, general manager, nor Graff, chief operating officer, really ever had the "dream" of building a biodiesel plant. They both stumbled into it during the first few months of 2005.

"Both of us were in the feed business," Graff says. "Feed is built on proteins and part of our business was protein-based. (Lyons) has always had an interest in alternative energy and I needed a way to get rid of excess oil. We always knew biodiesel would play a part of it, we just thought someone else would be doing this part of the business plan. When others wouldn't or couldn't, it just kind of morphed and evolved into our own biodiesel production."

Today, the two are not stumbling at all. In fact, they are just hitting their stride by constructing one of the first biodiesel plants in the northwestern United States. Columbia Bioenergy's plant sits in the growing biodiesel market of the Pacific Northwest, but boasts a healthy production volume of 8 MMgy to 10 MMgy of biodiesel. The company markets to the tri-state area of Washington, Oregon and Idaho, and could expand to its permitted capacity of 16 MMgy as the market catches up.

Lyons and Graff said they spent a great deal of time trying to construct the most efficient and productive plant design possible. In fact, they slept on cots at the plant for many nights during the initial construction phases. Needless to say, they met their share of hurdles.

"We started experimenting and trying new things along with doing the research," Lyons says. "(Graff's) background, and mine as well, is in farming. As a farmer, I've made a lot of my own equipment. Through the process of trial-and-error we set up a successful process. Each time we do a batch, we'd completely tear everything apart and then rearrange it, put it all back together and then do it again. So we probably had five or six different plant designs or flow systems."

Once they were sure that their process would work and be efficient enough to profitably produce biodiesel, the two approached some investors so that the plant could reach the next stage of development. Along with Lyons and Graff, Columbia Bioenergy is owned by Bob Boersma, and Gary and Micah Trautman. Boersma and the Trautmans bring unique skill sets to the group. With a background in transportation, Boersma handles all of the company's transportation and logistics duties, while the Trautmans handle the company's finances and risk management.

Properly Equipped
Columbia Bioenergy has grown through hard work and dedication. However, Lyons and Graff admit that they experienced some early struggles, but eventually succeeded with a little help from some key people and the right equipment.

"During that trial-and-error, one of the first obstacles we encountered was with pumps," Lyons says. "Biodiesel manufacturing is essentially a combination of pumps, tanks and pipes. Finding the right pumps was always a challenge."

After trying several types of pumps for different applications throughout the production process, the two eventually turned to an expert. Portland, Ore.-based Northwest Pump & Equipment has been a leader in that region for petroleum-related service, so the crossover to biodiesel production-related service was somewhat of a natural move. At its Spokane, Wash., branch office, Rick Fuqua has been working with biodiesel systems for some time and is considered a resident expert in that area.

"We've worked with Rick Fuqua at Northwest Pump from the beginning, trying to source and locate pumps and other components," Lyons says. "We'd call him for any little problem we had and he's truly been a great asset for us in perfecting our pumping systems."

Within the facility, Columbia Bioenergy relies on Blackmer XL and ProVane pumps for its most important applications and, as Lyons and Graff point out, the Blackmer pumps have performed above expectations. Headquartered in Grand Rapids, Mich., Blackmer is a manufacturer of positive displacement sliding vane and centrifugal pump technologies that are used by many producers of biodiesel throughout the world.

"We live and die by this Blackmer pump," Graff says. "One of the most difficult aspects in the production of biodiesel is the alcohol recovery. That's where we have Blackmer's pump in really what would be considered an unfavorable pumping environment. We tried other pumps for the alcohol recovery, but none stood up to the Blackmer ProVane's ability to perform under a vacuum and pressure."

Lyons adds, "Actually, everything in here is an unfavorable pumping environment. These pumps have to operate against high suction, then on the other side it's got to have some pressure to it. You have to handle low pH and high pH ingredients and a solvent, and just to make it all more difficult, you have high temperatures, as well. So there are very few difficult applications that you would not see a Blackmer pump in around here."

Columbia Bioenergy specs its pumps out for the correct elastomers so that the seals can properly contain biodiesel. Since this process has been in place, the company has not experienced any seal failures.

"The pump is the heart of every biodiesel operation, so another key reason we use Blackmer pumps is that they are easy to maintain," Graff says. "If a Blackmer pump happens to go down it won't affect us that much. Due to its ability to remain connected to the piping while being serviced, it only takes about 15 minutes or so to replace the vanes in a Blackmer pump and get them back on line. However, I must point out that these pumps aren't in need of too much attention as opposed to other pumps we've used in the past."

Leading the way
Columbia Bioenergy has ensured its product is exceeding industry standards. The company invested in a gas chromatograph in order to properly test its finished product. Results have shown that the total percent of glycerin (both free and bound) in its finished B100 is normally about 0.16 percent, even though approved B100 can have 0.24 percent.

Columbia Bioenergy has been working hand-in-hand with its local Department of Ecology office for the state of Washington. Since the company developed one of the first plants in the area, the Department of Ecology office has been learning how to regulate Columbia Bioenergy.

Columbia is not only pioneering its own biodiesel process, but also assisting with laying the groundwork for biodiesel regulations for the Northwestern United States.

"Since we're the first plant around, we want to set the bar pretty high," noted Lyons. "We have zero emissions here at the plant. We not only have full recovery of our own alcohol, but we also process other people's byproducts that they can't deal with. It's actually a profit stream for us as well."

Like many pioneers in the biodiesel industry, Columbia Bioenergy is looking forward to the day when the United States is less reliant on foreign oil.

"We're excited about our role in lessening the supplies of traditional fuels," Graff says. "The ability to supply those finite resources is changing things and one of the biggest things it's changing is public policy. We have the ability to do more domestically than importing more with the technology available today. But from our standpoint, for every gallon of biodiesel we can make here, we can keep those dollars here and that's what's important to me."

Darren Wight is a freelance writer based in Knoxville, Ill. For more information on Blackmer ProVane or XL pumps, contact Jim Becker at becker@blackmer.com or (616) 475-9390.

The claims and statements made in this article belong exclusively to the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of Biodiesel Magazine or its advertisers. All questions pertaining to this article should be directed to the author(s).