Here in the Midwest, summer is too short to be taken for granted. 
 
 Our growing season is brief, and the construction season isn't much longer, so when warm weather rolls around in May, people simply get busy on projects they've been planning all winter. The biofuels industry is much the same way-activity picks up drastically during the summer months. 
 
 That is certainly the case in Minnesota, where the Minnesota Soybean Processors has broken ground on a 30-mmgy biodiesel plant near Brewster. The project will utilize a continuous process technology engineered by Minneapolis-based Crown Iron Works, the subject of this issue's cover story, "Crowning Achievements," page 12. Crown is a 125-year-old company with an approach to ag processing that is anything but old-fashioned. 
 
 Minnesota isn't the only place biodiesel projects are developing. There's a large-scale project in Illinois gaining momentum this summer, too. Biodiesel Systems LLC, of Madison, Wis., has plans to build in Pekin; the company recently signed a process technology licensing agreement with Agrar Technik of Germany, and has an ambitious plan to build multiple biodiesel plants throughout North America. "German Technology, American Fuel," page 17, will give you a glimpse inside this exciting new partnership.
 

 "Learning Curve," page 24, provides an in-depth look at James Madison University's Fuel Vehicle Program. With the help of program director Carolyn Oglesby, Biodiesel Magazine staff writer Jessica Williams provides an in-depth look at the innovative work they are doing in Virginia.
 
 Finally, California-based freelance writer Louisa Aronow returns again this month with an up-close look at biodiesel developments in Brazil. "Brazil: South America's Harvester of Renewables," page 28, shows us that biodiesel is rapidly being added to Brazil's smorgasbord of alternative fuels. It's the end of autumn down there, but with all the progress they're making, you'd think it were summer. Enjoy the reading.

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Editor's Note

Rymes Propane and Oils received its first biodiesel shipment at its storage facility in Stratford in early April, making it the state's first distribution terminal, according to The Associated Press. The company will sell it wholesale and at five retail fueling stations in Keene, Peterborough, Antrim, Greenfield and Loudon. Rymes Propane and Oils President Rick Fleming said the company sells approximately 4,000 gallons per month. Rymes Propane and Oils is the second company in New Hampshire to sell biodiesel retail. A Fleming Oil Co. station in Chesterfield was the first.

First distribution terminal comes to New Hampshire

The Florida Energy Office and Department of Energy are partnering in a pilot project that uses biodiesel fuel at Miami International Airport. Baggage handling and ground support equipment will fill up with the renewable fuel at Florida's busiest airport. The $54,000 project will assess the feasibility of replacing diesel with biodiesel and also assess the market potential for biodiesel, explore its compatibility with current systems, and test fuel quality, performance and storage requirements. Over the next two decades, projected growth in South Florida indicates a large increase in the airport's petroleum needs, which could be lowered with biodiesel use.

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Biodiesel to debut at Miami International

Maui-based Pacific Biodiesel has begun to refine fish oil for biodiesel production, according to The Maui News. More specifically, the fuel source is Bering Sea Pollack oil, the residue from processing fish into surimi, an imitation crabmeat.

Pacific Biodiesel uses fish oil for biodiesel

Two proposed plants, increased tax incentives and a new retailer are giving the United Kingdom (UK) a boost in the biodiesel industry.
 
 In April, two companies announced plans to construct biodiesel plants. Biofuels Corporation plans to raise GBP14 million (US$24.8 million) for a 250,000-metric-ton-per-year facility on the northeast coast of England, according to the Financial Times. The total project will cost GBP21 million (US$37.2 million). The project has a confirmed grant of GBP1.2 million (US$2.1 million) from One NorthEast, a regional development agency, and a loan of GBP17 million (US$30.1 million) from Barclays Bank after adequate equity has been raised.
 Production is set to start at the beginning of 2005. The plant would use vegetable oil crops, such as rapeseed oil, for feedstock. Biofuels 
 
 Corporation is planning a second similar plant for completion one year later.
 
 Meanwhile, Greenergy and partner Novaol have unveiled plans for a multi-feedstock biodiesel plant in the UK. The GBP10-million (US$17.7-million) facility will take in 100,000 metric tons per year of biodiesel, using rapeseed and waste oils for feedstock. If approval is received, Greenergy and Novaol plan to open the plant 18 months later.
 
 Greenergy is the UK's largest independent supplier of low-emission fuels and currently produces more than 1.5 million metric tons of fuel per year. In late April, UK gasoline retailer Tesco announced it would sell Greenergy's biodiesel at more than 20 of its pumps in southeast England after a successful two-month pilot project.
 
 According to Reuters, drivers can switch from their normal diesel to Greenergy's "GlobalDiesel" without engine modification. The B5 blend has five percent less carbon emissions and costs only slightly more than regular diesel fuel.
 

 Furthering the UK's biodiesel production market, the nation's government agreed to extend biodiesel tax incentives through 2007. The incentive will total 20 pence per liter of biodiesel, starting Jan. 1, 2005.

United Kingdom to advance biodiesel production, use

North Carolina's first biodiesel factory is the result of one man's vision of employing former prisoners.
 Human Kindness Foundation director Bo Lozoff said Carolina Biodiesel Inc. (CBI) is currently raising funds and canvassing other biodiesel plants to discover effective production techniques. He hopes to have the 3-mmgy to 5-mmgy factory operational within 12 months. The 10,000-square foot factory will use yellow grease as feedstock.
 
 All that remains is raising the needed money for start-up operations.
 
 "We have a factory sitting empty and waiting," Lozoff said.
 Lozoff plans on staffing the plant with former prisoners in need of work experience to become more employable. The plant will serve as a job-training program.
 
 CBI is also taking an unorthodox approach to fundraising. Lozoff is accepting donations and selling copies of his latest album online. He also held a sold-out benefit concert in mid-May in Chapel Hill, N.C.
 
 "It's beautiful poetic irony in that we're taking what some people consider waste grease and what some people consider waste people and making a useful product that helps the environment," Lozoff said.
 
 More information about Lozoff and CBI is available online at <a target="_blank" href="http://">www.humankindness.org.</a>

North Carolina biodiesel plant to train ex-convicts

Three U.S. states and one Canadian province have installed biodiesel pumps since the last issue of Biodiesel Magazine went to print. Here's the latest update:
 
 Following Topia Energy Inc.'s first biodiesel retail pump opening in Unionville, Ontario, in March, the Ottawa-based company opened two more B20 biodiesel pumps in Toronto. The ribbon cutting was held on May 13. Producers of "Go Further," a new film chronicling actor Woody Harrelson's journey down the Californian coast in a biodiesel-fueled bus, attended the ceremony along with various Toronto businesses, such as Toronto Hydro, Hempola Valley Farms and Motomedia.

 
 According to Govindh Jayaraman, president of Topia Energy, biodiesel fuel is so popular in Unionville that sales have increased by 600 percent since March. Jayaraman expects similar sales at the Toronto outlet.
 
 In the U.S.
 In Colorado, Blue Sun Biodiesel opened 10 biodiesel stations simultaneously in May. A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held in Denver at Offen Petroleum Inc., which will be the largest biodiesel-exclusive station in the country. Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and Blue Sun Biodiesel President and CEO Jeff Probst attended the ceremony, along with Offen Petroleum, Blue Sun Retail Network, and automobile and OEM representatives. All 10 stations will sell B20 blends.
 
 New Hampshire retailer Rymes Propane and Oils opened biodiesel pumps at five stations in early April, according to The Associated Press. New Hampshire air quality engineer Becky Ohler said companies and municipalities are consistently calling to inquire about biodiesel, despite the B20 blend costing up to 30 cents more than regular diesel.
 
 In Georgia, a family-owned fuel distribution company is providing biodiesel to its customers after Davis Oil Co.'s manager of alternative fuels attended the National Biodiesel Conference in Palm Springs, Calif. The company now supplies biodiesel to Massachusetts-based World Energy Alternatives LLC and Robins Air Force Base. It is also considering opening a retail outlet.

Biodiesel pumps spread across North America

A group of researchers at the Automotive Engineering Department at Minnesota State University, Mankato has begun a semester-long effort to establish an optimal blend of biodiesel by exploring its ignition characteristics and measuring its pollution emissions. Test results are expected to indicate the balance that assures biodiesel can be compared to conventional diesel by focusing on cetane, a compound found in diesel that indicates how easily the fuel will ignite. Ethanol's cetane number is low and biodiesel's cetane number is high. Researchers are trying to determine the blend of ethanol and biodiesel, also known as EB-diesel, that would best match diesel fuel properties. The Minnesota Corn Research & Promotion Council funded this project.

Mankato State researches biodiesel blends

The Boston City Council is investigating the feasibility of building a biodiesel production plant, according to the Weekly Dig, a Massachusetts newspaper. Council members will study potential costs of the project for six months. Eventually they would like the city's Public Works Department to use the renewable fuel in its fleet vehicles. A business plan will follow the feasibility study if the results are promising.

Boston to conduct feasibility study

Iowa State University's (ISU) first week-long biodiesel workshop at the Biomass Energy Conversion Facility (BECON) in Nevada, Iowa, was held March 22-26. As Biodiesel Magazine previously reported, the workshop includes training on production technology, analytical methods and business management, condensing what was previously offered in three separate workshops into a five-day format. It also included detailed tours of BECON's combined crusher and biodiesel pilot plant.
 
 "It is a great idea for anyone who wants to know it all but can't afford the luxuries of three trips to the Midwest and weeks away from work," said workshop participant Carolyn Oglesby, director of the Fuels Diversification Program in the Department of Integrated Science and Technology at James Madison University.
 
 The combined workshop attracted 26 attendees from the United States, Portugal, Singapore and Puerto Rico. Participants included engineers, chemists, retailers, international relief workers, academics, university students and entrepreneurs.
 
 "New ideas abounded after a day or two in an atmosphere of curiosity and professional congeniality, and despite the long hours, most attendees chose to chill together after class, sharing information pubside and at dinner," Oglesby said. "By the time it was all over, many of us felt as much like friends as colleagues and business connections." 

 
 Developed by a team of five extraordinary professionals and funded by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and the Iowa Energy Center, the workshop takes on everything needed to responsibly produce, promote and market biodiesel. Workshop leaders include ISU mechanical engineering professor Jon Van Gerpen, retired professor-turned-biodiesel entrepreneur L. Davis Clements, U.S. Department of Agriculture chemist Gerhard Knothe, chemical engineer and business manager Rudy Pruszko, and ISU chemical engineering professor and catalysis expert Brent Shanks. 
 
 "Our group was especially fortunate to have K. Shaine Tyson of NREL present, not only to evaluate the workshop but also to contribute knowledge gained by years of experience supporting and reviewing various biodiesel technologies and research efforts for the U.S. Department of Energy," Oglesby told Biodiesel Magazine. "Classroom presentations were stippled with opportunities to network during hands-on lab work and during the meals."
 
 Because it's deceptively easy chemistry, biodiesel production looks simple on the surface, but there are pitfalls, permits, regulations, registrations, issues with soaps, standards, safety, storage, stability, water and waste to consider. The workshop tackled all those issues. 
 "There is so much that many would-be producers would not know until they've been through this workshop," Oglesby said. "The materials that one takes away are worth the registration price alone and a comfort to have on the shelf since retaining all the information during this intense week is simply not possible."
 
 The next ISU Biodiesel Workshop is scheduled for October. More information is available online at www.me.iastate.edu/biodiesel.

The participants of Iowa State University's biodiesel workshop gather for a photo at BECON.

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Biodiesel Workshop draws 26 to BECON

The state's first biodiesel plant has begun construction. Gov. Tim Pawlenty visited the Minnesota Soybean Processors (MnSP) groundbreaking ceremony, which took place next to MnSP's soybean crushing facility on March 19.
 
 "I am proud to be the governor of the unquestioned [state] leader of renewable fuels," Pawlenty said. "This is of tremendous importance to the economy."
 
 The 30-mmgy biodiesel plant will cost $15 million with $7.2 million coming from farmer equity. If all goes well, it will come on line by July 2005.
 
 Minnesota uses approximately 800 mmgy of diesel fuel. By July 2005, state legislators may mandate a B2 biodiesel blend, which totals 16 mmgy of biodiesel fuel. State biodiesel producers hope to be able to meet at least half of that demand.
 
 Two other biodiesel projects are moving forward in Minnesota. Near Redwood, Central Byproducts is in the engineering and installation phase through July. The 3-mmgy plant will start using vegetable oil as a feedstock and then switch to an economical feedstock after winter. The facility, to be designed by Lurgi PSI, is scheduled to come on line in October. SoyMor, near Albert Lee, is in the final stages of fundraising. In May, the Freeborn County Board voted to give the project JOBZ tax exemption totaling up to $5 million over the next 12 years. Renewable Energy Group will design and build the 30-mmgy facility, scheduled to open in May 2005. It will use soybean oil as a feedstock.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty speaks to the crowd at Minnesota Soybean Processors.

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Pawlenty also took part in the groundbreaking ceremony.

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Minnesota plant breaks ground

In an environment where whales, orcas, seals, sea lions and other marine wildlife abound, it simply made sense to Patrick Pillsbury to use an environment-friendly fuel.

 
 Pillsbury is captain of the Bon Accord, a whale-watching tour boat out of Friday Harbor, Wash. He told Biodiesel Magazine he started using B100 to fuel his 30-foot trawler in March. He fills up every 10 days with 100 gallons of biodiesel, which totals approximately 300 gallons per month. The Bon Accord is the only boat in the area to use B100.
 
 "[Customers] thought it was the coolest thing in the world," Pillsbury said. "The biggest surprise is the amount of people who don't know what it is. Once they find out about it, they are excited to be on a boat running on a vegetable-based product."
 Other boats in the area are hesitant to use B100 because they think biodiesel may cause engine problems. Pillsbury hasn't had any trouble.
 For more information about Bon Accord tours, visit <a target="_blank" href="http://">www.bonaccord.com</a>.

Whale-watching boat uses B100

The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) conducted a survey of 53 fleets representing more than 50,000 diesel-powered vehicles, and the results in May showed 91 percent of fleets are in favor of using biodiesel. With such a high approval rating, it's no surprise that a growing number of fleets are switching to the renewable fuel.
 
 In Union County, Ky., the Fiscal Court voted unanimously to use funds from a grant to purchase a B20 blend for county equipment, which uses approximately 12,000 gallons of diesel fuel per year.
 
 In Scott County, Iowa, biodiesel fuel has become the warm-weather fuel of choice for the Secondary Roads Department. The county plans to use B10 during the summer but switch back to diesel in the winter to avoid cold-weather jelling problems.
 
 
 The Blount County, Tenn., Highway Department, along with the cities of Maryville and Alcoa, have begun to use B20 in some of their truck fleets in order to comply with federal clean air standards. The biodiesel use is part of a pilot program to see how the fuel performs before the whole fleet uses it.
 
 In Windsor, Calif., garbage trucks will be refueling with B100, which costs more than diesel but will be funded by a seven percent increase in garbage pick-up for customers. Town officials figured being environmentally friendly was worth the additional cost.

 In Denver, 60 city vehicles began using B20 as part of a pilot project unveiled on Earth Day, according to the Rocky Mountain News. Mayor 
 
 John Hickenlooper said he expects the city to use approximately 50,000 gallons of the blend by 2005. During the project, the fuel will be evaluated for emissions, vehicle performance and mileage. The cost of the program totaled $15,000.
 
 A resort in New Hampshire has decided to implement biodiesel into its snow-grooming machines. Cranmore Mountain Resort, near North Conway, collaborated with the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services and the Granite State Clean Cities Coalition in the endeavor. The fuel is being provided by World Energy of Chelsea, Mass. Cranmore is the first winter resort to adopt biodiesel on the East Coast, according to SnowJournal.com.
 
 In Toledo, Ohio, city bus fleets, trucks, off-road vehicles and school buses are experimenting with different biodiesel blends up to B50. 
 In Minnesota, Bernard Bus Service Inc., which runs in Plainview, Chatfield and Rushford school districts, and the Fillmore-Mower Soybean Growers Association have teamed up to fill buses with B20. Since the renewable fuel costs slightly more than regular diesel, the Fillmore-Mower County Soybean Growers Association offered to cover the difference in cost at least until the end of the school year, giving the company a chance to try out the environmentally-friendly fuel.
 
 Universities and colleges across the United States have started putting biodiesel in their fleets as well. Harvard University in Massachusetts is using B20 in 25 shuttle and maintenance vehicles. Purdue University in Indiana is using B2 to fuel its transportation fleet, including buses, ambulances, semi-trucks and the university's mascot, the Boilermaker Special. Penn State has begun to put B20 in its 200 trucks, tractors and agricultural equipment, and in Montreal, Quebec, Concordia University put B2 in its five shuttle buses.
 
 St. Johns Public Schools recently reported saving $1,750 each of the past two years by using biodiesel fuel for 31 school buses and approximately 10 maintenance vehicles. Although biodiesel is a more expensive fuel, the school district is saving money because of fewer oil changes and engine problems, lower maintenance costs and more miles

Biodiesel use favorable in fleet vehicles

A California bill that would have established specific standards for biodiesel blends at the pump and set up a voluntary carbon dioxide content labeling program reportedly died in committee in late May. 
 
 Kent Bullard, maintenance supervisor at Channel Islands National Park, had been closely following the legislation and told Biodiesel Magazine on May 27 that the bill was "caught up in appropriations" and had "died in committee." 
 
 "Unless it gets attached to something else, it doesn't look hopeful that it will pass this year," Bullard said. "Maybe it will be brought up again in the fall session. There's still a lot of support for the bill." 
 

 The bill, which was in many ways a reaction to the California Division of Measurement Standards' proposed fuel specifications and pump labeling requirements for biodiesel and biodiesel-blended fuel, would have provided standards that many biodiesel proponents find favorable. For example, the bill called for biodiesel blends of B6 to B20 to meet the specifications of ASTM D-6751 and allowed for a 10 degree Fahrenheit increase in distillation temperature. 
 
 "Perhaps most importantly, the bill defined what biodiesel is," Bullard said.
 
 For now, Californians will have to live with the requirements outlined by the state, which call for all finished biodiesel blends to meet ASTM D975 specifications and requires retailers to "caution" consumers that biodiesel blends may not be suitable for use in all diesel engines, something the National Biodiesel Board calls misleading.

California biodiesel bill stuck in committee

The National Biodiesel Board (NBB) and farm equipment giant New Holland have announced the winners of a recruiting contest in which the individual who recruited the most Biodiesel Alliance members received a one-year use of a New Holland compact tractor.
 
 Wisconsin Agriculture Spokesperson Natalie Parmentier was the top recruiter, drawing in 63 new entities. Michigan farmers Thomas and Gail Frahm were runners-up and also received the one-year use of a tractor.
 
 Anne Tazewell of Triangle J Council of Governments in Durham, N.C., and Linda Graham of the Puget Sound Clean Cities Coalition in Seattle, Wash., tied for third place. They received 55-gallon drums of B100, courtesy of Ag Environmental Products, American Biofuels, Biodiesel Industries, Griffin Industries, Imperial Western Products and West Central Soy.
 The recruiting contest doubled the Biodiesel Alliance membership, which now totals more than 700 organizations and individuals.

Biodiesel Alliance announces contest winners

Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) has released a biodiesel publication, "Biodiesel Questions and Answers," a pamphlet that discusses the benefits and uses of the fuel.
 Over 5,000 copies had been distributed by mid-May to various interest groups and stakeholders. For more information on biodiesel and what the Government of Canada is doing, visit <a target="_blank" href="http://">oee.nrcan.gc.ca/vehiclefuel</a>

Canadian organization releases biodiesel pamphlet

Promotions for the first annual Iowa Soy Biodiesel Week literally rolled across the state May 17-18. 
 
 Members of the United Soybean Board (USB), the Iowa Soybean Promotion Board (ISPB), Iowa Soybean Association farmer-directors and a member of the National Biodiesel Board participated in a two-day, six-city bus trek with the objective of increasing soy biodiesel awareness.
 
 The group held a press conference and West Central Cooperative of Ralson donated a 50-gallon drum of B100 to each city the biodiesel-powered bus visited. The bus also stopped at two grade schools to award $50 savings bonds to the winners of an essay contest. Event coordinator and ISPB Marketing Assistant Sarah Van Gorp said she was surprised at the fourth-graders' biodiesel knowledge. Essay topics included environmental concerns, B20 prices and the amount of biodiesel a bushel of soybeans produces.

 
 "They definitely did their research," Van Gorp said.
 
 The state currently has three biodiesel fuel producers and marketers, 16 biodiesel retail-fueling sites and more than 215 biodiesel distributors.

Biodiesel Week rolls through Iowa

Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) announced Mark Zenuk has been named senior vice president of North American and European vegetable oil operations. He is responsible for biodiesel, refined and specialty oils and fats.
 
 Zenuk joined ADM in 2000 and previously served as vice president and general manager of North American and European vegetable oil operations. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural economics from the University of Saskatchewan.

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Zenuk becomes senior VP

Mark Palmer, former National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) director of public policy, has joined Gordley Associates as an American Soybean Association (ASA) biodiesel lobbyist. The change was effective March 22.
 
 At Gordley Associates, Palmer will lobby on behalf of biodiesel, bio-based products, conservation and transportation issues. With the NCGA, Palmer worked on ethanol issues, including the Energy Policy Act, the Clean Air Act and the Renewable Fuels Standard.

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Palmer leaves NCGA, joins ASA

The Canadian Renewable Fuels Association (CRFA) appointed Kory Teneycke as executive director in April.
 Teneycke also serves as a senior policy advisor to the Ontario Premier.
 
 He was formerly a senior consultant for Prospectus Associates, an Ottawa-based public affairs and public relations firm, and a political aide to Reform/Alliance leader Preston Manning.
 
 The CRFA is a non-profit organization with a mission to promote renewable fuels for automotive transportation through consumer awareness and government liaison activities.

CRFA names new director

It would be perfectly logical to assume that Crown Iron Works builds biodiesel plants. 
 
 The Twin Cities-based company has a rich history in iron casting and steel fabrication. It provided some of the structural steel for the tallest building in Minneapolis, the IDS Tower, along with the city's downtown walkways and the Metrodome, home of the Minnesota Twins and the Minnesota Vikings. Couple this portfolio of work with 60-plus years of experience in oilseed processing, and this industrious 125-year-old company would seem perfectly capable of building just about anything. 
 
 But it generally doesn't.

 
 Crown Iron Works is today a full-service engineering firm that provides process technology and equipment designs for oil and oilseed processing. Biodiesel process technology and production equipment is just one facet of the company's burgeoning Oleochemical Division, and an area Crown has heavily invested itself in. 
 
 In the biodiesel industry, Crown is probably best known for providing the process design and equipment for one of the nation's largest continuous-process biodiesel plants, West Central Cooperative, a 12-mmgy plant in Ralston, Iowa, built in 2001. Crown is now providing its biodiesel process design for two large-scale plants being built in Minnesota, the under construction 30-mmgy Minnesota Soybean Processors plant in Brewster, and the proposed 30-mmgy SoyMor plant in Albert Lea. 
 
 So how does an oilseed extraction and refining equipment supplier leap into biodiesel production in just a few short years? The simple answer is synergies-mutually beneficial commonalities between two similar processes-and working with clients that have access to oil and oilseed crushing facilities. 
 
 "The company's biodiesel work progressed out of its Oleochemical Division, which it acquired in 1988," said Jeff Scott, vice president of sales and marketing for Crown, and a 38 year veteran of the oilseed processing business. "It's fatty acids that you are dealing with, and methyl ester processing fell in line with what we were already doing." 
 
 Furthermore, Scott told Biodiesel Magazine, the growth of the U.S. biodiesel industry is being driven by companies with access to oilseeds, recycled vegetable oil and animal fats. 
 
 "When you have clients that are already crushing oilseeds for the same type of oil being used for biodiesel production, it sometimes makes sense to take that extra step," he said. 
 
 Ultimately, it's that "extra step" approach-and the willingness to adapt to change-that's kept Crown in business since 1878. In fact, the company has such an interesting history that a book was published about it in recent years. Among other things, the book chronicles the company's century-spanning metamorphosis from a Midwest steel casting company that served the needs of turn-of-the-century lumber mills, to a supplier of ornamental iron work, a provider of structural steel and, finally, an oilseed processing technology and equipment engineering firm. 
 
 The Metrodome was, in fact, Crown's last big structural steel job, completed over 20 years ago. Like a lot of U.S. steel product manufacturers, the company exited the structural steel fabrication business in the 1980s as Japanese steel and off-shore manufacturing became infamously tough to compete with. 
 

 Getting out of structural steel was not a drain on the company though. The decision allowed Crown to focus exclusively on the oilseed processing work it had been developing since the mid-1940s. 
 
 With a new, stronger focus on oilseed processing technology, the division grew rapidly, and the company's capabilities multiplied. 
 Mergers, expansions and international acquisitions over two decades built and diversified Crown into seven interconnected U.S. divisions, along with a wholly-owned subsidiary in England with joint ventures and other offices in Brazil, India, China, Mexico, Argentina, Russia, Ukraine and Honduras.
 
 "Today, we operate in just about every country that has major oilseeds and edible oils to be processed," said Derek Masterson, a Crown sales engineer. "So, yes, you could say oilseed processing technology and equipment became our bread and butter." 
 
 Crown's seven divisions now include Preparation, Solvent Extraction, Oil Processing, Specialty (non-commodity oilseed extraction), Customer Service, R&D and Oleochemical. Biodiesel, of course, falls under the Oleochemical Division, and a talented team of engineers, scientists and sales people are dedicated to its development. 
 
 "Our philosophy is that it's their baby," Scott said about the team that developed the company's process technology. "The Crown team is very committed to the development and application of its biodiesel technology-from start to finish. We believe that there's a real need for it." 
 The company made its initial entrance into the biodiesel industry in the mid-1990s by focusing on methyl ester research and development. 
 "We made efforts to improve the technology, working closely with a major Midwest university," Masterson said, adding that Crown had designed several methyl ester plants for the detergent industry in the last decade for companies that were not necessarily interested in producing biodiesel for fuel use. 
 
 In the late 1990s, Crown was approached by West Central Cooperative, then a soybean processing facility that had built a small batch biodiesel plant in 1995.

 
 "They came to us to find out how we could help them make their small plant run better," Scott said. "Instead of improving what they had, we suggested that they build a much larger facility-a continuous state-of-the-art plant."
 
 Because West Central had an existing soybean crushing facility and a small-scale biodiesel plant, they were a hands-on customer with a strong idea of what they wanted from Crown.
 
 "There was significant input on their side," Scott said. "We essentially took our methyl ester production technology and adapted it to their needs. The process we offered was modified based on a joint effort between our company and theirs." 
 
 West Central's 12-mmgy plant was built by Todd & Sargent with the cooperative acting as general contractor. After the plant was built, the companies formed an alliance, Renewable Energy Group (REG), to capitalize on the development, construction, operating and management experience they had gained through the project. The alliance now offers everything from assistance in site selection to construction oversight, safety training and management of biodiesel plants. Crown is not a partner in the alliance but is the group's process technology provider of choice and works closely with West Central on process improvements. Scott said the companies are "tight but not exclusively linked." 
 
 "REG really has everything it takes," Scott said. "They have the operations experience, the construction experience, the lab personnel, the quality control systems and the marketing capabilities to take a project from concept to reality.
 
 He continued, "REG was instrumental in selling the 30-million-gallon biodiesel plant to SoyMor. REG was able to furnish the entire turnkey package SoyMor required." 
 
 Crown and REG find it mutually beneficial to use the West Central plant as a sort of testing ground to perfect the biodiesel production process.
 
 "It is not uncommon for us to make changes at their request," Scott said. "Together, we have made alterations that have lowered their operating cost." 

 
 The Crown process features a fully continuous operation to obtain high yields in each phase of production and reduce emulsion losses, efficient recovery of excess alcohol and water to reduce emissions, and a glycerin treatment step to produce a standard crude glycerin. According to Masterson, the company's procedure pays strict attention to process safety when handling flammable solvents such as methanol.
 
 The company differentiates its process from others in two ways. First, Crown differentiates itself from providers of batch production technology, which Scott claims is less cost effective than continuous process technology.
 
 "Properly designed continuous plants are much less likely to produce material that is off spec," he said, adding, "There is nothing wrong with batch processing in general." 
 
 In differentiating itself from other providers of large-scale continuous process biodiesel technology, Crown touts its rich history in oilseed processing, its large investment in biodiesel research and development, its expertise and resources and its top-notch understanding of process safety. 
 
 "Our experience and track record with material handling and process safety really stands out," Scott said. "Crown's biodiesel plants are designed for maximum efficiency and safety. That's very important to both us and our clients."
 
 He added, "Our experience reduces risk … that is another thing that sets us apart. We have worked with a very large portion of the oilseed processing plants in the country. In fact, there are very few plants that we have not worked with-our reputation is well known." 
 	
 With dozens of oilseed processing plant projects worldwide and two biodiesel plants in Minnesota preparing to utilize the Crown process technology, the company is as busy as ever this summer. Still, Crown is constantly seeking out new clients and looking around the corner for new opportunities for its Oleochemical Division. 
 	
 Typically, Crown would consider projects that are 8 mmgy and above. 

 
 "Eight million gallons a year is about as small as we like to go," Masterson told Biodiesel Magazine. "Think of an 8-million-gallon-per-year ethanol plant being built today in an industry that is building 100 million gallon facilities. If you build too small, you will be at a cost disadvantage." 
 
 In fact, most of Crown's potential client inquiries are related to proposed biodiesel plants in the range of 10 to 30 mmgy. The timeframe for delivery of the design and equipment fabrication depends largely on the significance of the job.
 
 "For a greenfield 30-million-gallon plant, it would take 12 to 14 months to build," Scott said. "It would take us five to six months to deliver the equipment. For an existing oilseed processing plant that already has some of the infrastructure, the time frame could be faster." 
 While virgin soybean oil is the most common biodiesel feedstock in the United States, Scott said any neutral, relatively clean oil will work well in the company's process. 
 
 "Whether you're using rapeseed, palm or tallow, the technology does not change," Scott explained. "We will provide an up front pretreatment if the feedstock does not meet certain specifications."
 
 Crown offers a complete line of glycerin recovery equipment capable of producing a 99.7 percent pure product. 
 "Coproducts are very important to the bottom line of a plant and we do not ignore the non-biodiesel side of production," Masterson said. "We design plants that will produce the best quality coproducts based on our clients needs." 
 
 Crown is an ardent supporter of the biodiesel industry and a proud member of the National Biodiesel Board (NBB). 
 "We are an associate member of the NBB," Masterson said. "We make an effort to know everything we can about the industry. We have taken an active role with the association and developing product standards." 
 
 Looking into the future, Scott said, Crown is planning for significant growth in the biodiesel industry fueled by the construction of large-scale continuous plants. 

 
 "Just look at the ethanol industry," he said. "Look at the giant dry mills they are building now. The same thing will happen with biodiesel." 
 And Crown will be ready, Scott said. 
 
 "We think it is important to continually improve upon our existing process-to allow the process to evolve," he said. "Sometimes things are worth changing. We are constantly trying to improve our technology in order to stay ahead of the competition." 
 One thing that will not change is the company's dedication to seeing the biodiesel industry grow. Internationally, Crown is paying close attention to emerging markets for biodiesel. The United States, Asia and South America appear to be the most likely places for new development. Each market will offer unique opportunities and challenges. 
 
 "Petroleum and crude soybean oil prices are both at historic highs," Masterson said. "It would be nice to have high fuel prices and low soy prices to get the U.S. industry jumpstarted." 
 
 For now, the industry will have to continually explore new markets and low-cost feedstocks.
 "I think you will see the industry increasingly turn to non-vegetable oil feedstocks," Scott said. "You have to consider the lowest-cost raw materials for production, so tallow and alternative oilseeds will likely stay in the mix."

3D computer rendering of West Central interior.

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Minneapolis-based Crown Iron Works is dedicated to continually improving its biodiesel process technology.

Crowning Achievements

It was an international business deal with a distinct American touch. 
 
 A Midwest venture capital firm reaches an agreement with a German engineering company in early April; the deal involves a long-term plan that could potentially encompass the construction of several large-scale biodiesel plants in North America. Just weeks after the deal is struck, the German team arrives in Pekin, Ill., for an imperative meeting with their American counterparts. 
 
 The first matter at hand? A night at the ballpark, of course. 
 "We're all going to the Peoria Chiefs' home opener," said Biodiesel Systems LLC President and CEO Bruce Davis, speaking with Biodiesel Magazine just days after his company inked a major licensing agreement with western Germany's Agrar Technik (AT). 

 
 Davis is spearheading the limited liability corporation's plans to eventually build several plants nationwide. The CEO is as ambitious as he is optimistic about the burgeoning U.S. biodiesel market. He is a straight-talking entrepreneur-and a guy especially eager to get a biodiesel plant built. At a time when some project developers are waiting on the outcome of pending U.S. energy legislation, Biodiesel Systems is getting in the game as soon as it can. Financing a project is the company's last big hurdle, and Davis is relentlessly trying to make that happen. 
 
 "We're not waiting for any signals," he said. "We're launching a proven technology that will work under current circumstances [in the United States]. In business, you have to live in the now."
 
 Living in the now means Biodiesel Systems will build its first biodiesel plant with or without favorable federal incentives. Davis and his financial partners believe there is a growing need for clean, renewable fuel in America, and they're betting millions that consumers will turn to biodiesel. The Madison, Wis.-based company has assembled an experienced management and development team, while garnering a great deal of private and public support. The company has partnered with one of Europe's leading process technology providers in AT, which has provided the process technology for more than a dozen plants in Germany, Poland and Spain.
 
 Biodiesel Systems was formed two years ago by a group of venture capitalists based in Madison, whose core strategy is to hunt for new and emerging technologies to invest in. The firm has had its sights set on biodiesel for a couple of years. 
 
 "Biodiesel production was an opportunity that we've been eyeing for some time," Davis said. "We saw the success European companies were having with it. We investigated it thoroughly. We explored the feasibility of production and, after much consideration, we ultimately sought out what we believe is the best biodiesel process technology in the world."
 
 Davis, of course, is referring to his company's licensing agreement with AT, the parent company of German-based Campa Biodiesel, which, with its subsidiaries, represents Europe's second largest biodiesel producer. AT and Campa are respectively run by Hans Joachim Gaede and Moritz Gaede, the latter of which also heads the European Biodiesel Board. 
 
 "Believe me, we looked around," Davis said. "We performed our due diligence, and we feel fortunate to have been introduced to Agrar Technik." 
 
 Why is Davis excited about the AT process? As he explained, AT has a proven technology with demonstrated reliability, flexibility and "scalability" that Biodiesel Systems finds attractive. 
 

 "Look, I'm a little bit of an older guy," he said. "I have experience with what works and what doesn't work. This works." 
 Davis said his company's plan is simple: take a proven European biodiesel production technology and, over a period of several years, build multiple plants. How will they get it all done? By assembling what he calls "the best team possible." The kicker-no one else in the United States will be using the AT process. 
 
 "I believe we have the world's premiere process technology," Davis said. 
 
 Gaede's feelings about Biodiesel Systems are mutual. 
 
 The German company entered into the partnership because it was seeking to broaden the use of its technology and expand into markets outside Europe, especially in the United States. The company wanted an American partner willing to make a long-term commitment. AT was also looking for a company that would work on the enhancement of its process technology while developing new applications for it. Perhaps most importantly, AT wanted a partner that was able and willing to build multiple plants over time. 
 
 According to Hans Joachim Gaede, Biodiesel Systems was a perfect match. Gaede, an experienced and cordial company leader, told Biodiesel Magazine that it has been "a great honor" to enter into an agreement with the American firm. 
 In early April, Davis and his team took a trip (one of many over the last few years) to Germany to meet with AT before finalizing the licensing agreement.
 
 "Our agreement actually developed far in advance of the trip, but we finalized the paperwork while we were there," Davis explained. 
 Over the course of two years, Davis and his team have toured biodiesel plants in Europe on multiple occasions, seeing both new, highly-integrated facilities and older plants. The opportunity to see both new and old plants gave them an idea of how AT designs hold up, and how the technology evolves, over time. 
 
 "It was valuable to see the design in an older condition," he said. "We saw the whole spectrum, from early to mature. These plants mature well. They actually gain efficiencies over time as the technology advances." 
 

 With a commitment from AT, Biodiesel System's next big challenge was securing a site for its first plant. After an analysis of several locations, an 18-acre tract in Pekin's Riverway Business Park was its top pick. Davis and his team are excited about the site. 
 
 "It's just a darn good location," Davis said. "It's got the availability of raw materials, and the infrastructure we need. In addition, the community has embraced us. They have ethanol [plant] neighbors already, and they know we will be an excellent addition to the park."
 A group of about 70 individual investors own shares in the project, which will eventually be known as Illinois Biodiesel Company-Pekin LLC, a subsidiary of Biodiesel Systems. The investor group includes soybean growers representing over 40,000 acres of cultivated land (mostly in Illinois). Most of its investors are Wisconsin and Illinois residents, Davis said, but investors from several other states are also involved. 
 "Pekin is a great location given the city's support for this development, its proximity to soybean crushing facilities, its access to a multi-modal transportation network, and various state incentives that focus on biodiesel development," said David Anderson, government relations director for Ruder Ware, the Wausau, Wis.-based law firm representing the project. 
 
 In fact, the site offers multiple input and output options. It is adjacent to a new rail spur, has excellent highway access and is in close proximity to a five-lane beltline freeway being built around Pekin. 
 
 "In terms of transportation infrastructure the site is nearly perfect," Davis said, adding that the site is one-half mile southeast of the Illinois River. "Using the river is a possibility for us. And it was an option we wanted to have." 
 
 The site is designed to be well landscaped and "visually attractive." That's important to Davis and his team. "We believe that it's important to perpetuate the same image with your property and facility that you are creating with biodiesel-clean fuel being produced at a clean, nicely designed plant. That way, it's really a company the community can be proud of." 
 
 In fact, the city of Pekin is enthusiastically supporting the project. 
 
 "This area went through tough times," said Dennis Kief, Pekin city manager. "We had a high unemployment rate for some time. Today, however, it's been developed through grants; the ethanol plants here have been a big part of our success. We have two [ethanol] plants that are both good neighbors, and compared to ethanol production, a biodiesel plant would be a piece of the cake. It's a perfect fit. Not to mention that it would be a godsend to the soybean growers in the area. I think it's simply a win-win situation for everybody."
 If built, the plant would be located in "the heart of soybean country." Soybean oil is, in fact, Biodiesel System's feedstock of choice, although the AT process technology is multi-feedstock oriented. 
 

 "It's a process that provides us with flexibility," Davis told Biodiesel Magazine. 
 Financing for the project is still in the negotiation stage, but the company is hoping to break ground on the plant this summer. The plant is also eligible for several types of financial assistance and would benefit from the state's biofuels tax incentives approved last year. The plant would be located in a state Enterprise Zone, an economic tool that is applied for by the community. 
 
 Because the plant would not include a bean-crushing facility, it would employ just 20 individuals, including plant operators and laboratory staff. 
 
 "However, that does not include the substantial amount of indirect jobs that would be created by the construction and operation of the plant," Davis said.
 
 The fuel would be marketed much the same way biodiesel is marketed at many biodiesel plants in Europe, utilizing both in-house marketers and outside firms. Currently, Illinois has one biodiesel manufacturer, Joliet's Stepan Biodiesel, which purchases soy oil on the open market from a variety of sources. 
 
 AT would help startup and training but would not manage the facility. The German company would, however, have ultimate oversight on the design and construction of the plant. "They will also help us select and train the right people to run the plant," Davis said. "Anything we can do together on this project, we will attempt." 
 
 As soon as financing is secured, AT will help Biodiesel Systems transition the German technology to U.S. standards and local codes. 
 With financing efforts still underway, Davis and the others are remaining optimistic that they will have the plant on line in 2005. 
 "We are confident and perfectly positioned," he said. "The ball is rolling."

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Tank truck loading at an AT designed plant

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Gaede (center) fields questions in the plant

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Madison, Wisconsin-based Biodiesel Systems LLC has landed a process technology licensing agreement with Germany's Agrar Technik. With a long-term approach, this partnership is poised to accomplish big things.

German Technology, American Fuel

As biodiesel production increases worldwide, U.S. producers are becoming aware of cost-effective production choices already being used in Europe, where production efficiencies can be significant, depending on the plant capacity. 
 
 Commercial production of biodiesel in Europe grew to more than 224 million gallons in 2003, where solid catalysts, such as sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, and alkoxide catalysts in solution can both be used to produce standard-specification biodiesel from rapeseed oil. Each process results in biodiesel that meets Euronorm (EN 14 214), which sets parameters for the fuel's properties in Europe. When we take into account the entire manufacturing process, including handling of raw materials and the technical expenditure for producing biodiesel and glycerol, alkoxide solutions can be an economical alternative for commercial-scale production where annual capacity exceeds 5 million gallons. In fact, alkoxide catalyst solutions are used at most large-scale biodiesel plants in Europe. 
 

 Here's why this catalyst is an economical choice. 
 
 The production process
 Rapeseed oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil or yellow grease is reacted with methanol in the presence of an alkaline catalyst to produce the desired methyl ester. A byproduct of this process is glycerol, which is usually sold for use in the cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and food industries, and adds significantly to the cost-effectiveness of the production process. On a commercial scale, solid products, such as sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, and solutions, such as sodium methylate in methanol, are both used as catalysts. They are neutralized with acids when the reaction is over.
 
 Solid catalysts
 Sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide are supplied as flakes. Because they can't be used in this form, normally they must first be dissolved in methanol. Separate plant units are required for this process. Cooling systems must also be part of the system in case they are needed to control the heat released during this process (exothermal reaction). A blanket of nitrogen is also recommended, since the temperature can exceed the boiling point of methanol (64.8° C/148.64° F).
 
 Large quantities of solid catalysts are deliverable in bulk tanker trucks. However, mid-sized and small producers of biodiesel most often acquire these products in sacks or "Big Bags," which must be thrown away or recycled. This equals more time and effort-and ultimately more expense.
 
 The sodium hydroxide used is more than 99 percent pure. Currently, four biodiesel producers in Europe use these catalysts in their transesterification plants. But potassium hydroxide is used more broadly, mainly in smaller plants with an annual capacity below 5.9 million gallons. Potassium hydroxide has an active content of 90 percent to 92 percent and contains about 8 percent to 10 percent crystalline water. After the reaction is over, it returns to the glycerol phase.
 
 Because potassium hydroxide feeds water into the reaction mixture, it is preferred for processing unrefined, economical oils or used cooking oils. Since these oils normally contain free fatty acids, they (a) require more catalysts to process. If the free fatty acid content is 3 percent, roughly twice the amount of catalyst will be needed, and (b) generate more byproducts, such as soaps, which also concentrate in the glycerol phase. The raw glycerol produced in this manner is about 50 percent pure. Even though present-day separating and decanting technology offers opportunities to purify the raw glycerol, the equipment required is relatively expensive.
 
 By contrast, using potassium hydroxide as a catalyst and subsequently neutralizing it with sulfuric acid produces potassium sulfate as a byproduct, which can be used as an agricultural fertilizer. Because of its crystalline structure, it is relatively easy to isolate from the glycerol phase.

 
 Alkoxide catalysts
 While solid catalysts are used in plants with annual capacities of up to about 8.9 million gallons, alkoxide catalyst solutions are currently used mainly in large-scale plants in Europe and the United States with annual capacities up to 29.9 million gallons. Plants with annual capacities as small as 5 million gallons may also use these alkoxide catalysts, which are marketed as solutions in methanol. Either a 30 percent sodium methylate solution in methanol or a 32 percent potassium methylate solution in methanol is most often used. The process calls for ready-to-use solutions that can be delivered directly from the storage tank to the production process and are therefore easy to handle. 
 
 Since alkoxides are hygroscopic, they can react with moisture in the air. To prevent this, they are usually blanketed with an inert gas like nitrogen during transport and storage to protect them from external influences. Tanks, pumps and pipelines must be made of stainless steel (e.g., 1.4572). Also, since alkoxide catalysts are strongly alkaline, they should be delivered for safety reasons in a closed-circuit system. Another advantage of the closed circuit is that it doesn't contaminate the air in the workplace and eliminates the need to wear respirators to protect against dust.
 
 Due to their hygroscopic properties, alkoxide catalysts are especially suitable for water-free processes. If the oils used as raw materials are high enough quality (water and free fatty acid content less than 0.1 percent), the process will not only produce biodiesel but also high-quality raw glycerol with a purity of at least 80 percent.
 
 This is why, on the whole, processes based on alkoxide catalysts are more economical than processes catalyzed by sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide. Even though alkoxide catalysts cost more than sodium hydroxide and potassium hydroxide catalysts, this is compensated by the high added value of the glycerol byproduct and the considerably lower handling costs for the catalyst.
 
 Summary
 Solid catalysts, such as sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, and alkoxide solutions can both be used to produce biodiesel from soybean or rapeseed oil (with solid catalysts being preferred for used cooking oils and waste fats). The biodiesel produced using this catalyst meets EN 14 214. Despite the higher handling costs for the catalyst, solid catalysts are economically feasible for plants with a capacity of up to about 8.9 million gallons per year, since relatively inexpensive components can be used as raw materials. Recovery of the glycerol, however, is more expensive due to the undesired byproducts of the process. The byproduct potassium sulfate can be sold.
 
 By contrast, ready-to-use solutions in the form of alkoxide catalysts-a 30 percent sodium methylate solution in methanol or a 32 percent potassium methylate solution in methanol-are more economical for processing soybean, rapeseed or sunflower oils in plants whose capacities exceed 5 million gallons. Handling is easier and, therefore, more cost-effective. Additionally, the glycerol produced as a byproduct of biodiesel production is relatively pure, which simplifies its recovery as a marketable product. This is why about two-thirds of the large-scale biodiesel plants in Europe are designed for these catalysts. 
 

 Michael Markolwitz is a business unit manager for Degussa AG, an international specialty chemicals company. For more information on Degussa's alkoxide catalysts for biodiesel, please contact Bernard Murphy, Degussa Building Blocks. E-mail: bernard.murphy@degussa.com. Additional information can be found online at <a target="_blank" href="http://">www.degussa-biodiesel.com</a>.

Alkoxide catalysts-a sodium methylate or potassium methylate solution in methanol-can be an economical alternative for commercial-scale biodiesel production where annual capacity exceeds 5 million gallons. The majority of large-scale biodiesel plants in Europe can't be wrong.

Consider Europe's Most Popular Catalyst

Some may say the future of renewable fuels starts with education. If that is true, the students and faculty in the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Program (AFV) at James Madison University (JMU) in Harrisonburg, Va., are making promising strides toward energy independence.
 	
 According to director Carolyn Oglesby, biodiesel is a very popular alternative fuel with students in the program. Currently, students are working on biodiesel projects ranging from fuel production, infrastructure building, market conditioning and educational outreach to designing and creating biodiesel-electric hybrid vehicles.
 
 "We strive to continue learning about biodiesel and hone our technical expertise at every opportunity so that we can act as a resource in the 
 community that understands the need to support clean, renewable, domestic fuels," Oglesby said. 
 
 The AFV Program began in 1996 with the donation of an electric passenger car from Dominion Power and an agreement between the JMU's Integrated Science and Technology Department (ISAT) and Facilities Management to support student projects in alternative fuels.
 Jamie Winebrake, formerly of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and now with the Rochester Institute of Technology, directed the first AFV Program. Students under Winebrake's direction dealt primarily with electric vehicles (EV), energy efficiency and automobile emissions. 
 
 By 2002, the JMU AFV fleet had grown to include cars and light trucks that run on ethanol, compressed natural gas and biodiesel. That's when Oglesby, a former researcher at Bell Labs, took over Winebrake's position and switched the focus from vehicles to fuels. The program recently changed its name from the Alternative Fuel Vehicle Program to the Fuels Diversification Program. It now includes the Auxiliary Power Unit (APU) Lab, directed by Dr. C.J. Brodrick, as well as the AFV Lab. The AFV Lab is a two-bay garage and fully appointed machine shop where the students do their hands-on projects under the direction of Randy Poag, mechanic and student mentor.
 
 Student projects

 All students in ISAT have to do a senior project and then present it to their peers, sponsors and faculty. Most projects take a whole year and, at the very least, results in a lengthy research paper. Oglesby shared with Biodiesel Magazine a broad range of topics and projects that former and current students have been working on.
 
 For example, Lucian Reynolds, Brannon Balsley and Justin Miller have been designing and building a 15-gallon biodiesel factory that will transform waste vegetable oil into biodiesel to heat a local community center. This pilot production plant will be evaluated by JMU Recycling to establish whether it would be feasible to transform the university's waste oil from on-campus food services into fuel for heating or transportation. The factory will be installed in a trailer, making it a mobile demonstration piece for educational and outreach purposes.
 Reynolds, Balsley and Miller are also transforming a retired golf cart into a biodiesel-electric series hybrid all-terrain vehicle for use in nearby Shenandoah National Park. This powerful ATV with reinforced suspension and a low center of gravity will charge its batteries using an on-board biodiesel generator, which will also be available for powering tools in remote regions of the park. Depending on how far the vehicle must travel, charging the batteries fully before starting out gives rangers the potential to drive a quiet, unobtrusive vehicle to work sites in the park without disturbing wildlife or visitors. 
 
 In another project, Chelsea Jenkins, Corinne Melville and Meghan Gemma are studying solutions to diesel transportation in Malta, an island south of Italy. In conjunction with JMU's summer abroad program, they will work with other agencies that are implementing biodiesel programs for the small, geographically isolated, diesel-dependent country in the Mediterranean Sea. This group will develop a biodiesel implementation plan, biodiesel availability maps and a biodiesel curriculum. The biodiesel curriculum will be designed so that it can be taught in segments in the schools or presented as a one-day workshop for adults. When Jenkins returns in the fall, she will continue to develop her senior honors thesis on the project.
 
 Ashley Nguyen is another honors student with an interest in chemistry who is beginning her senior thesis on biodiesel. While most of the students attracted to biodiesel projects are concentrating in energy or environment, Nguyen is dual concentrating in energy and biotech. This fall, during wine-making season, Nguyen will investigate whether wine yeasts might make possible feedstock sources for biodiesel production.
 In 2003, Rich McNiesh graduated with an award-winning thesis after he, with Poag's help, restored a small discarded diesel engine, put it on a frame with wheels and developed an electronic control system for it. This clean-burning diesel engine is available for demonstration in the AFV Lab to students and to people interested in using, making or selling biodiesel fuel. For his work, McNiesh won the ISAT senior thesis award in the instrumentation and measurements sector.
 
 ISAT's biodiesel work with students has expanded to a local high school as well. One student, Deena Hannoun from Spotswood High School, who worked with Oglesby last fall and winter, recently won second prize at the regional science fair for her biodiesel-related project. Hannoun, a senior planning to study chemistry at the University of Virginia, explored how to make glycerin soaps from biodiesel production waste. She also analyzed ISAT's glycerin and compared it to commercially available purified glycerin using high-pressure liquid chromatography. 
 
 The Fuels Diversification Program is part of JMU's Integrated Science and Technology Department, where students enter a broad-based, four-year program of study that includes basic science, policy, business and ethics, and "concentrates" rather than "majors" in areas of applied science that present opportunities to solve contemporary problems. Students can graduate with concentrations in energy, environment, information and knowledge management, telecommunications, manufacturing, health systems, instrumentation and measurement, biotechnology or, if they're especially motivated and can attract faculty to work with them, a concentration that is tailored to their own interests, for example, transportation. Oglesby and Brodrick are designing courses and a program to make transportation an official concentration in ISAT.
 
 Oglesby said the purpose of ISAT is to create well-rounded, scientifically literate students who can think like systems engineers and become professionals in project management, business and policy-making.
 
 "We hope to be seeding the business world and government with people who will, in a decade or so, be informed and positioned to make a substantial difference in American business practices and quality of life," Oglesby said.

 
 Biodiesel use spreads across campus
 Oglesby, Poag and Brodrick didn't leave all the biodiesel work up to the students. Along with JMU Transportation Manager Mike Kauffman, the group convinced Facilities Management and the JMU administration to implement biodiesel in its fleet vehicles. In the spring of 2003, a pilot program was initiated to run three campus recycling trucks on B20. The test run was successful, and in April, JMU agreed to run all its campus vehicles-23 road vehicles and 28 landscape equipment vehicles-on B2 and its five recycling trucks and three garbage compactors with B20. Oglesby hopes that blend will increase over time. The university is working on siting another B20 tank in order to use the renewable fuel in lawn mowers and other landscaping equipment. JMU currently has a 250-gallon B20 tank and a 2,500-gallon B2 tank.
 
 Brodrick and Oglesby continue to work with local transit directors with in the hope that the decision will be made to introduce biodiesel into city and campus transit buses, as well as county and city school buses. 
 
 Oglesby also helped to incorporate a non-profit agency called Blue Ridge Clean Fuels Inc. With support from the Hampton Roads Clean Cities coalition, the only designated Clean City in Virginia, she identified an executive director, Chad Freckman, to mount a new Clean Cities Program in the Harrisonburg/Charlottesville area. The organization's goal is to acquire DOE Clean Cities designation and further the implementation of biofuels in the area. With support from the Virginia State DOE, the organization is hosting a quarterly statewide Biofuels 
 
 Forum, which concentrates on biodiesel and ethanol implementation. 
 
 Oglesby also recently wrote a Request for Proposals for the Shenandoah Resource Conservation and Development organization that will solicit a feasibility study on the prospects for implementing a soybean crusher and biodiesel plant in Shenandoah Valley. Facilitating this effort is Holtzman Oil Corporation, the Valley's principal petroleum products distributor. In the last year, Holtzman Oil has made B2 available for retail sale at seven of its Liberty filling stations. 
 
 "Everyone in the program works very hard to promote biofuels awareness and to bring more biofuels into the region," Oglesby said. "We haven't turned down an invitation to speak yet."
 
 Last winter, Oglesby and Brodrick represented biofuels and fuel cells on a local television talk show. Brodrick and Poag have promoted biodiesel in middle schools and the local Technical Training School. Last spring, Oglesby presented to the Optimist Club and the Virginia Soybean Association, and accepted invitations to discuss biomass energy for geography and anthropology classes, in addition to a renewable energy class. 
 

 Statewide biodiesel projects 
 Oglesby knows of two other Virginia biodiesel projects outside of JMU's campus. Valley Proteins is in the permit stage for building a biodiesel plant north of Harrisonburg that will use waste animal products and used vegetable oil feedstock. Near Norfolk, Noblett Oil has built the first soybean biodiesel production facility in the state with the help of the Virginia Soybean Association. Noblett Oil has been distributing biodiesel for the past four years, according to company spokesman Doug Faulkner, who said the purpose of the facility was to meet demand and to reverse the economic flow of money out of the country.
 
 "It provides an energy payback that dwarfs petroleum diesel's and at the same time helps engines burn cleaner and more efficiently," Faulkner said.
 
 Faulkner and Oglesby are currently working together to employ JMU students as biodiesel interns.
 "From our perspective in Virginia, it seems that biodiesel is an idea whose time has come," Oglesby said. 
 
 Check out additional information on JMU's biodiesel program at <a target="_blank" href="http://">www.cisat.jmu.edu/biodiesel</a>. The Fuels Diversification Program at JMU gratefully acknowledges support from the University National Park Energy Partnership Project, from JMU Facilities Management and from the Department of Integrated Science and Technology at JMU.

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Rich McNiesh's biodiesel engine is now a demonstration piece for the APV lab.

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James Madison University Fuels Diversification Program graduates brilliant biodiesel minds

Learning Curve

here are oil wells erupting in Brazil, but they're not spouting fossil fuels. Biodiesel is being added to Brazil's smorgasbord of alternative fuels, with support from the academic world, government and private industries.
 
 "Before 2010, Brazil will be the world shopping place for biodiesel," claims José Domingos Fontana, coordinator for the biodiesel program at Paraná State Institute of Technology. "Brazil is cropping more than 120 tons of grain yearly. Crop growth rate, year following year, has been increasing."
 
 A boom in soy production has been a catalyst for growth in the private sector, although many other oils are also abundant in Brazil's varied geography. Brazil will be producing more than 55 million metric tons (over 60 U.S. tons) of soy in 2003-2004, along with enough sugar cane to produce 13 billion liters (3.5 million U.S. gallons) of ethanol, thus inspiring Coamo, Latin America's largest soy cooperative, to start planning a large biodiesel plant.
 

 Currently Ecologica Mato Grosso (ECOMAT) is the largest biodiesel plant in Brazil. Located in Cuaibá, the capital of the state of Mato Grosso, the plant was inaugurated four years ago. The current capacity is 40 metric tons per day, with plans to double or triple capacity within two years.
 
 ECOMAT's products could be totally consumed by the railroad. America Latina Logistica has been testing B20 and B100 in its cargo trains in southern Brazil and Argentina, and the results look promising. The trains will need 35 million liters (9.3 million gallons) of biodiesel per year to run on B20-enough to keep one biodiesel plant quite busy.
 
 Sunflower seeds are the feedstock of choice at the new Eco Öleo plants in states of Paraná and Goiás. Hugo Olivar Betio, director of the plants, explained that a small farmer can sell 60 kilograms of soy for about US$12, and a 60-kilogram bag of sunflower for $10. But soy can produce 15 percent oil, compared to 32 percent to 35 percent from sunflower. "That's why only sunflowers can convince producers to make biodiesel," Olivar Betio said.
 
 Convincing the small farmers to sell their products to the biodiesel plant is another step. "First I have to convince the farmers that sunflower is economically feasible," he said. "Then I can convince the farmer that it's better ecologically."
 
 Sunflowers are a winter crop in Paraná, so farmers can grow it in rotation with soy or other crops. Small farmers sign contracts with large corporations to sell 80 percent to 90 percent of their crop, but they can bring the remaining 10 percent to 20 percent to Eco Öleo and get a fair price. 
 
 Another promising feedstock is forage turnip, with an oil content of about 30 percent, using the cold press process. It's a winter crop that's easy to grow in parts of Brazil.
 
 "I would like to say a little about jatropa," Olivar Betio added. "It can be planted in infertile ground, and it's a perennial [it can last up to forty year]). It produces year-round and generates jobs in the harvest. The seed has a high oil content [around 60 percent] and if it's not cultivated for seed production, it can be part of the forest land in agricultural areas. We have approximately 9,000 seedlings growing now."
 Supporting small farmers and creating more jobs are part of the Brazilian government's policy of "social inclusion." Fontana described social inclusion as the policy that "wealth is not just for big corporations. We have the responsibility to include poor people in the benefits … It's not an easy prospect but it's quite possible." 
 
 Babassu (a palmacae) is a promising, labor-intensive feedstock source that is being developed by Paraná State Institute of Technology in the states of Ceará and Piauí. "It produces saturated stable fatty acids and grows naturally in the interior of the country," Fontana said. "The oil is contained inside a very hard nut." 	
 

 The Brazilian petroleum company Petrobras has been developing castor bean oil (mamona) in the northeast. This oleaginous Brazilian native supports small farmers and grows well in that region, including the borders of the Atlantic rainforest where deforestation has made the land minimally arable.
 
 In populous Rio de Janeiro, researchers at the federal university are harvesting the world's most ubiquitous feedstock source: fryer oil from McDonald's. The objectives of the RioBiodiesel Program are to conclude testing within two years, while using biodiesel in vehicles associated with the program. Eventually they hope to use B5 in all government vehicles in accordance with a federal law, which would reduce the country's need to import diesel fuel by 2 billion liters (529 million gallons) per year. 
 
 Six identical city trash collection trucks have been the test vehicles since February 2003. They run similar routes and use the following mixtures: two trucks with B5 from soy oil, two trucks with B5 from McDonald's and two trucks with diesel. No problems have been noted in any of the vehicles.
 
 Starting in April, three city buses using B10 were added to the RioBiodiesel Program, also utilizing recycled McDonald's oil.
 A university van picks up the used fryer oil in barrels and takes it to the laboratory. There the gleaming processors and mixers, made from recycled food production equipment, currently produce around 2,000 liters (529 gallons) per week. The fuel is not only used in the vehicles, but also in the lab to refine the esterification process towards the goal of a perfect fuel for widespread use.
 
 Another bountiful source of oil in this urban area is the waste treatment plant. Luiz Guilherme, a researcher at the International Virtual Institute on Global Change, explained that the waste treatment "foam" is actually a cleaner feedstock source than most vegetable oils. "The foam doesn't produce glycerol," he claimed. "The esterification process uses up all the free fatty acids." 
 
 Guilherme explained why the process is not that complicated. "Every home has fats going down the drain, and soap residue from washing hands," he said. "The solids are removed and the liquid portion goes in a tank. The liquids separate and the oil goes to the top. It's heated to remove bacteria. Using waste to make fuel gets rid of a disposal problem, and makes jobs where there was nothing." 
 A consortium of international groups is planning two projects: using oil retrieved from Rio International Airport to make 12,000 liters (3,170 gallons) per month to be used by airport fleets, and using oil from Rio's waste treatment plant to make 3,000 liters (793 gallons) per month to be used in city sanitation vehicles.
 
 Anyone who has tried breathing in Rio can understand the urgent need for alternative fuels in the city. Older municipal buses are a common form of transportation, and they belch copious amounts of unregulated diesel fumes into the air. According to World Health Organization statistics for 1995, the air in Rio had over 16 times the sulfur dioxide level of Los Angeles. Reducing dependence on diesel fuel is essential not only for Brazil's economy, but air quality as well.
 
 Municipal buses running on biodiesel are being tested in the city of Curitiba. The American Soybean Association helped the project get up and running in 1998 by providing fuel, but now homegrown biodiesel is provided by ECOMAT. For the last five years, 40 buses have been using B20 successfully, and in 2000 50 buses started using MAD-8, a mixture of 8 percent ethanol, 2.6 percent biodiesel, and 89.6 percent diesel. Hopefully the Curitiba experiment will encourage other municipalities to include biodiesel in their fuel for buses.

 
 The biodiesel boom in Brazil may face fierce opposition from environmentalists if the dependence on soybeans for feedstock continues. According to The Associated Press correspondent Michael Astor, soybean plantations are advancing into the rainforest at an alarming rate, increasing the rate of deforestation when combined with the devastation caused by cattle ranching. 
 In the Querencia area, Indians are concerned that destruction of the rainforest will dry the rivers and poison the fish with chemical run-off. 
 
 The governor of the state of Mato Grosso, Blairo Maggi (of the multinational Maggi corporation), hopes to more than quadruple the state's soybean harvest in the next three years. The federal environment minister, Marina Silva, claims that soybeans can be planted in areas that have already been deforested, without making inroads in the rainforest. Environmentalists claim that uncleared land is so inexpensive that illegal land sales are expanding these soy plantations rapidly.
 
 The increased use of genetically modified soybeans is, of course, another barrier to support from environmentalists. Although Brazil officially has a "no-GMO" policy, the use of transgenic seeds is prevalent. "Lula (Brazil's president) wants Paraná to be free of transgenic soy. The export business is hampered by transgenic soy ... Paraná exports to France," said Fontana. 
 
 "But there's a special decree by the president protecting (transgenic soy in) Rio Grande del Sur to avoid loss for the next two years. The state of Rio Grande del Sur is a great soy producer, with over 75 percent "Round Up Ready" transgenic soy, that migrated naturally from Argentina."
 
 There is no doubt that Brazil's agricultural diversity has much to offer to the livelihood of Brazilians, along with an abundance to share worldwide. As Hugo Olivar Betio stated, "In our slogan we say 'BIODIESEL-Economically viable, ecologically correct.' We are trying to achieve the first one ... and the second is our obligation to humanity." 
 
 Louisa Aronow is a freelance writer living in California.

José Fontana sharing his thoughts at the National Biodiesel Conference in Palm Springs, Calif.

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Luiz Guilherme da Costa Marques, chemical engineer and researcher, inspecting an empty reactor

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The world's top ethanol producing nation has joined the biodiesel revolution.

Brazil: South America's Harvester of Renewables

June 14-17, 2004
 Westin Harbour Castle
 Toronto, Ontario
 For more than two decades, the Windsor Workshop has brought together leaders in the transportation energy field to discuss and shape the future direction of advanced automotive fuels and technologies. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Transport Canada, Environment Canada and the International Energy Agency (IEA), this year's workshop presents a veritable global picture of the transportation industry. It is divided into three streams: 1) Vehicle and Engine Technologies, 2) Fuels, Production, Storage and Infrastructure, and 3) Policies, Programs, and Socio-Economic and Implementation Issues.
 (613) 947-9824 . <a href="mailto:www.windsorworkshop.ca">www.windsorworkshop.ca</a>

The Windsor Workshop

June 22-25, 2004 

 Monona Terrace Convention Center
 Madison, Wisconsin
 Held in conjunction with the International Fuel Ethanol Workshop, this introductory workshop will start with the basics but include up-to-date information for those with a technical background. The workshop will cover biodiesel markets and benefits, production technologies, quality control, distribution and storage issues, experiences of fleet operators and fuel users, tips on organizing a biodiesel project, updates on state and federal incentives and future industry developments. This year's event is being held in partnership with Biodiesel Magazine. 
 (719) 942-4353 . <a target="_blank" href="http://">www.bbibiofuels.com/few</a>

Biodiesel 101 / 20th Annual International Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Trade Show

June 24-25, 2004
 Hyatt Regency Crystal City
 Arlington, Virginia 
 This is the first comprehensive examination of agriculture's energy role in a decade, and Farm Foundation and the USDA's Office of Energy Policy and New Uses sponsor it. The conference will provide baseline data on energy use and production by agriculture, providing the USDA with information to improve administration of energy-related programs, and provide a technology roadmap for agricultural energy consumption and production. The conference will feature commissioned survey papers, selected papers, industry panels and opportunities for collaborative discussion among industry experts and government leaders.
 (630) 571-9393 . <a target="_blank" href="http://">www.farmfoundation.org</a>

Agriculture as a Producer and Consumer of Energy

July 20-22, 2004
 Jacob K. Javits Convention Center
 New York City, New York

 The Federal Fleet Policy Council, the U.S. General Services Administration's Office of Government-wide Policy and GSA Fleet sponsor this fourth annual event. Organizers bill the conference as a massive annual training opportunity centered on the essential topics related to the management and operation of the entire federal motor vehicle fleet of almost 580,000 vehicles.
 <a target="_blank" href="http://">www.fedfleet.org/generalinformation.asp</a>

FedFleet 2004

August 28-September 3, 2004
 Denver Marriott City Center
 Denver, Colorado
 The World Renewable Energy Congress (WREC) is the premier forum for networking between suppliers, consumers, governments, industry, academia and financial institutions that will address the source and nature of energy, the security of supply and the equity of distribution, the environmental impact of energy production and utilization. The Congress is co-located with the Energy Technology Expo and Conference at the Colorado Convention Center on Aug. 31-Sept. 1.
 <a target="_blank" href="http://">www.nrel.gov/wrec/</a>

World Renewable Energy Congress VIII

September 5-9, 2004
 Sydney Convention Centre
 Sydney, Australia
 The 19th World Energy Congress and Expo is an international Energy Industry event, attended by of thousands of participants from a hundred different countries. In Sydney, you will enjoy an up-to-date technical program, which will explore key issues furthering the ability of the energy industry; an exhibition providing first hand access to the service and equipment providers; a partners program to ensure that partners enjoy all that Sydney has to offer; and a social program to give participants a chance to get "up close and personal" with the Australian character. 
 <a target="_blank" href="http://">www.worldenergy.org/wec-geis/news_events/</a>
 19th_congress/19th_congress.asp

19th World Energy Congress and Expo

October 11-14, 2004
 The Fairmont Hotel
 Chicago, Illinois
 This conference will focus on advances being made in the development and commercialization of sustainable, nontraditional emerging technologies and applications utilizing renewable raw materials. The technical program will feature five plenary sessions with 25 invited experts from the industry giving oral presentations to be supplemented with volunteer poster presentations highlighting the latest technologies. An exhibition will also be an integral part of the conference, where companies will present the latest advances.

 <a target="_blank" href="http://">www.aocs.org/meetings/ia</a>

Industrial Applications of Renewable Resources

October 25-27, 2004
 Hyatt Regency Sacramento
 Sacramento, California
 This dynamic new conference is modeled after the influential and successful International Fuel Ethanol Workshop & Trade Show. In its first year, the event will focus on regional technical and policy issues concerning commercial-scale biodiesel and ethanol production, market development and policy drivers. Attendees will have access to current producers, design/build engineers, industry vendors, marketers, feedstock producers, policy makers, researchers, as well as other industry experts and stakeholders. 
 (719) 942-4353 . <a target="_blank" href="http://">www.bbibiofuels.com/biofuelsworkshop</a>

Biofuels Workshop & Trade Show Western & Pacific Region

Start with a business plan. It doesn't need to be elaborate, but the plan should address the basics: feedstock procurement, processing costs and product sales, and how difficult it will be to penetrate the market.
 
 Your plan needs to identify costs to produce the products and operating costs-including equipment, land, construction permitting, labor, inputs and financing, utilities and financial projections. It is important that financial analyses contained within business plans are verified by third parties in order to ensure that assumptions reflect current market conditions. With biodiesel projects, projections should contain some contingency analysis projections that include and exclude anticipated federal and state programs.
 

 Project developers should concentrate on financing options-both debt and equity-based upon the business plan. Depending on the financing structure, most new biodiesel production facilities are likely to require 40 percent to 60 percent investor equity. Each project will be evaluated separately by potential lenders who will indicate the amount of equity needed to support the debt financing.
 
 Before a project can raise either equity or debt, it needs to become a legal entity. Which entity is best? Corporation? Limited liability company? A cooperative? Here are some significant aspects to consider for each entity.
 
 Limitation of liabilities: Most owners of businesses that sell products in the stream of commerce want to protect personal assets from business debts or obligations. Limited liability companies and "C" corporations shield an entity's owners from personal liability of the debts and obligations of the entity; general partnerships do not. As a partner (owner) in a general partnership, each partner is subject to joint and several partnership liability obligations.
 
 Number and type of owners: If the business intends to have more than 75 owners, it cannot be conducted as an S-corporation because of restrictions on S-corporations. S-corporations generally allow only individual owners, and thus aren't an option if the ownership group includes corporations, LLCs or certain trusts.
 
 Types and classes of equity: C-corporations, LLCs and cooperatives usually can have numerous stock classifications. In C-corporations and cooperatives, however, state law generally requires that holders of the same class be treated equally with respect to allocations, voting, etc. But LLCs are treated as partnerships for tax purposes and have greater flexibility in allocating the business income and losses. Indeed, owners of LLCs can allocate income, gains, losses, deductions, credits and other items among the members by almost any method desired, if the allocation has "substantial economic effect."
 
 Transferability of interests: A key consideration to any potential investor is the liquidity of ownership interest in the entity. In cooperatives and LLCs, transferability of interests is generally subject to greater restriction than shares in a C-corporation. In a cooperative, shares of stock or membership interests are transferable only with consent of the board of directors. LLCs intended to be taxed as partnerships usually have restrictions on the transferability of interests. State LLC laws often require member approval before ownership is transferred. Ownership interests in C-corporations, however, are generally freely transferable. While C-corporations may agree on transfer restrictions in a shareholder agreement, state corporation laws typically have no transferability restrictions.
 
 Once an entity is organized and prepared to raise equity capital, it must also comply with federal and state security laws. With limited exceptions, the offer and sale of any equity interest will be considered the offer/sale of a "security" that must be registered with state and/or federal securities regulators, or offered and sold subject to a legal exemption from registration. The entity and its organizers are subject to liability for omitting or misstating material facts about the project in offering the security.
 
 Competent legal advice early in the project will save time and money in entity selection, legal issues affecting the business plan, and offering securities and disclosing risks. 
 	
 Mark Hanson and Todd Guerrero are members of the agribusiness and alternative energy practice group of Lindquist & Vennum PLLP, a leading provider of legal assistance on bioenergy projects throughout the country. They can be reached at (612) 371-3211.

Legal Perspective

Most of us understand the importance of standards and quality control. We don't need to be convinced that saving a few cents per gallon is pointless when compared to the cost of damage, downtime and repair to expensive equipment. For this reason, fleet managers and biodiesel users around the world have embraced the American Society for Testing and Measurement's Standard for BioDiesel (ASTM D6751). 

 
 What is less obvious, however, is the manner in which fleet managers should regulate whether or not the fuel they are receiving actually meets this standard. In fact, it is more likely for fleet managers and purchasers of biodiesel to operate on faith alone and simply assume that the product they are purchasing from fuel distributors is indeed high-quality biodiesel.
 
 The reason behind this faith is largely based on the fact that fuel distributors have a long history of selling petroleum products, and these products are subject to significant long-term testing to ensure that the fuel being delivered is on-specification (although, even then, occasional problems occur and sub-grade fuel can make its way into the marketplace). 
 
 In the case of biodiesel however, most purchasers acquire fuel from organizations that have done little to no testing of the fuel. Many organizations that distribute biodiesel have only a rudimentary understanding of the value of Chain of Custody tracking and Materials Handling Specifications. Furthermore, most distributors and producers are not mindful of the key fact that biodiesel can be produced on specification and yet be delivered off specification. 
 
 This is where quality control programs like BQ-9000 and Certified: BioDiesel Driven come into play. Both programs were unveiled over the last year, and both are designed to ensure that only high-quality biodiesel finds its way into the marketplace. But which one should you use? Which of these programs is worth including in the upcoming drafting of a tender call?
 
 First of all, it is important to understand that BQ-9000 does not certify that the fuel conforms to ASTM D6751. Rather the program verifies and confirms by ways of independent audit that the organization involved in biodiesel distribution is indeed measuring the quality of the fuel in their distribution network and is taking care to ensure only high-quality fuel makes it to market.
 
 Certified: BioDiesel Driven confirms that biodiesel producers, marketers, distributors and agents are distributing fuel that adheres to the specifications of the ASTM D6751. This is accomplished by random and independent testing of the biodiesel fuel being distributed by the company in question. This threat of random testing without warning increases the level of vigilance toward product quality by Certified: BioDiesel Driven partners.
 
 Under the Certified: BioDiesel Driven program, fuel purchasers are assured of the highest quality product. The program includes strict Materials Handling Specifications such as moisture and contaminant mitigation, additive regimens, transportation guidelines and cold-weather handling protocols. Additionally, the fuel is delivered under the care and protection of a Chain of Custody program by agents that are highly trained in the particular issues of biodiesel fuel delivery.
 
 The Certified: BioDiesel Driven helps to ensure that bad biodiesel never reaches a vehicle's tank.
 

 Certified: BioDiesel Driven status is difficult to reach, requiring three levels of testing over six months in a pre-certification phase and monthly random testing thereafter. Certification requires a significant commitment to quality from biodiesel producers, marketers and distributors. Becoming certified under the BioDiesel Driven program may be more easily achieved by companies already conforming to BQ-9000; however, BQ-9000 accreditation does not guarantee that the fuel will pass Certified: BioDiesel Driven qualification standards.
 
 There is no question that fleet managers seeking to protect their investments would be well served to ensure that they only accept Certified: BioDiesel Driven fuel. Producers, marketers and distributors seeking to distribute high-quality fuel to standards-savvy clients would be in a good position to gain Certified: BioDiesel Driven status if they are already BQ-9000 accredited. 
 
 It's clear that Certified: BioDiesel Driven and BQ-9000 programs compliment one another in ensuring that only high-quality biodiesel reaches the marketplace. By accepting nothing less, we will be helping to protect the burgeoning biodiesel industry and its greatest advocates-the customers. 
 
 Govindh Jayaraman is president of Topia Energy Inc. and The Green Incubator Inc., the company administering Certified: BioDiesel Driven. The company is based in Ottawa, Ontario. Jayaraman can be reached at <a href="mailto:govindh@topiaenergy.com. ">govindh@topiaenergy.com. </a>

Jayaraman (left) with Markham, Ontario Deputy Mayor Frank Scarpitti

May/June 2004

Business Briefs

Biodiesel Alliance announces contest winners

Canadian organization releases biodiesel pamphlet

Biodiesel Week rolls through Iowa

Zenuk becomes senior VP

Palmer leaves NCGA, joins ASA

CRFA names new director

Columns

Editor's Note

Legal Perspective

Talking Ploint

Featured

Crowning Achievements

German Technology, American Fuel

Consider Europe's Most Popular Catalyst

Learning Curve

Brazil: South America's Harvester of Renewables

May/June 2004.css-7jxktu{position:absolute;bottom:0px;left:0px;right:0px;height:3px;border-radius:3px;background-color:var(--chakra-colors-brandBlack);}

Business Briefs

Biodiesel Alliance announces contest winners

Canadian organization releases biodiesel pamphlet

Biodiesel Week rolls through Iowa

Zenuk becomes senior VP

Palmer leaves NCGA, joins ASA

CRFA names new director

Columns

Editor's Note

Legal Perspective

Talking Ploint

Featured

Crowning Achievements

German Technology, American Fuel

Consider Europe's Most Popular Catalyst

Learning Curve

Brazil: South America's Harvester of Renewables

May/June 2004