Biodiesel project begins in Arkansas

The Arkansas county, US community of Dewitt was the location for the launch of the first Farm to Fuel project in October, which aims to bring jobs and energy independence to the Arkansas Delta region.

The Advanced Energy Foundation (AAEF), which promotes public understanding of advanced energy in Arkansas, and Alt Consulting, a non-profit community economic development organisation, sponsored a gathering of stakeholders from across the Delta to mark production of the first gallon of biodiesel from local feedstocks at a mini-biorefinery.

The launch event also introduced camelina as a new winter energy crop, as well as the technology required to turn it into biofuel. The mini-biorefinery, operated by local entrepreneur Johnny Davis, uses technology developed by Springboard Diesel to produce small batches of biofuel at an annual capacity of 80,000 gallons per year.

It is understood Dewitt, as demand increases, will obtain a larger micro-biorefinery, developed at the Marion Berry Renewable Energy Research Centre, which will have production capacity of between 200,000 and 1 million gallons a year.

AAEF says the project will also use waste vegetable oil as a feedstock and, once processed to ASTM standards, the biodiesel will be sold locally to power municipal trucks and equipment, school buses, farm vehicles and other private vehicles. Any excess fuel will be sold to fuel blenders in Arkansas and Memphis.

According to data from Alt Consulting, the projected economic impact of the project should generate over $2 million (€1.4 million) per year in new economic activity once the micro-refinery is at full capacity.

‘Dewitt is the first community in the Delta to use this technology, and we look forward to the day we have enough feedstock to enable the introduction of the micro-biorefinery to then pass the mini-biorefinery on to the next town,’ says mayor Ralph Relyea.