Keystone BioFuels starts production in Pennsylvania
January 1, 2006
The first time Race Miner came across biodiesel was three years ago while living in Colorado, when he saw a local bus company using it. The more he talked with the bus drivers, the more he became interested in the fuel. Later this month, Miner will start production in his very own biodiesel plant in Shiremanstown, Pa.
"The tank farm is installed, feedstock is lined up and a wholesaler has been landed," said Miner, Keystone BioFuels founder, president and CEO. "We are ready to go and couldn't be more excited." Keystone will be producing more than 1 MMgy from virgin soy oil. The plant will also have over 70,000 gallons of bulk storage at its disposal. Miner has been involved with the project for over two years and has solely funded the project himself. "When all is said and done, we will be only 3 percent over initial budget," he said.
The plant is located in a section of an old Quaker Oats Co. facility, and the plant will be housed completely indoors. The facility used to produce cereal products until the late 1990s. "We are leasing a portion of the [Quaker Oats] facility, which provided us with many advantages versus plowing over a field somewhere," Miner said. Keystone chose the facility for its existing piping, easy truck access and because it was already properly zoned. "There is a lot of infrastructure already in place here, and we didn't have to deal with all the permitting processes," Miner said.
Miner is already considering expanding the Pacific Biodiesel Inc.-built plant. "I am talking with Pacific Biodiesel about tripling my plant in the near future," Miner told Biodiesel Magazine. Miner said he is very close to signing an agreement with a local biodiesel distributor, Independence Biofuels, to market its biodiesel. "We actually have a neat package here," Miner said. "Our feedstock comes for the crushing plant only 15 miles away, and our distributor will only be seven miles away. We couldn't ask for anything better."
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