Arkansas: 29,000 gallons of biodiesel per day from chicken fat

[HoosierRon]

From Chicken Fat to B100 Diesel Fuel: The Pinnacle Biofuels Plant

It takes six days for a blend of chicken fat and soybean oil to emerge from the reactors as B100 biodiesel, but the process is such at Pinnacle Biofuels in Crossett that the company produces 29,000 gallons of diesel per day, or 20 gallons per minute.

The company began production on May 12 and is now operating at 29,000 gallons per day, a little above the projected full output. The biodiesel produced at the plant in the Crossett Industrial Park is sold in Houston, Texas, but, according to Steve Bolin, the company president, Pinnacle is negotiating with blenders to offer the biodiesel locally in the near future.
...
Bolin said that the company initially projected it would take eight weeks of operation to reach their goal of 28,000 gallons per day. Instead, it only took ten days to reach that level, and as of this past week, the daily production is about 1,000 gallons per day over the initial goal.
...
The Biodiesel Board said that as an example, the process involves the addition of ten pounds of a short chain alcohol such as methanol or ethanol to each 100 pounds of fat or soybean or other oils. A catalyst such as sodium or potassium hydroxide is added, often in the alcohol. The mixture is then heated to about 150 degrees under 20 pounds of pressure in the reaction vessel. The end result is the creation of 100 pounds of biodiesel and about 10 pounds of glycerine and fertilizer for each 110 pounds of raw materials and alcohol added. At the end of the process, the alcohol is recovered and evaporated for reuse.

[jorgesalazar521@msn.com]

why doesn't every town in america have a plant.--- Maybe a local renewable resource, every day i read about a new way to make fuel. this is great.-- oil ---keep going up!!! your about to be replaced---5-8 years we will have cheap fuel again

[camaro_freak]

this is great news and finally something to get excited about in the doom-and-gloom days of high gas prices.

Turning of waste products into fuel in a really cool concept and should be greatly expanded!

[FBODYRULES]

Originally Posted by jorgesalazar521@msn.com

why doesn't every town in america have a plant.--- Maybe a local renewable resource, every day i read about a new way to make fuel. this is great.-- oil ---keep going up!!! your about to be replaced---5-8 years we will have cheap fuel again

in 5-8 years time everyone will be used to paying high prices for gas, so when it does get replaced maybe the new fuels will be half the price (at best!) of gas at that time,
so it will still be way more expensive than gas is right now.
I think people will be too greedy to let it go for any less

[mgescuro]

http://www.sfgreasecycle.org/

1.5M gallons of biofuels generated annually.

[BBDOS CV8]

Fifth Gear in England ran a 1980's Mercedes from Land's End to John O'Groats across Britain and Scotland on chip fat - sourced from takeaway fish and chip shops enroute. They consulted a petrochemical engineer who said the only thing that needed to happen was for contaminants to be filtered and anti-freeze added for winter.

They noted the further the car went, the better it idled and ran, and even the exhaust smelled sweeter. At the conclusion of the trip it still had the same healthy compression as when it started, and the fuel economy was better than claimed.

I remember running a diesel Megane on biodiesel in England, which is made mostly of Canola - the smell of the exhaust was a bitter, acrid unpleasant smell, and it lingered for a week on my shoe when I refilled and stepped in a couple of drops. Maybe this will be better?

Maybe we can all be like Homer Simpson in the future and drive along thinking, 'MMMM, chicken fat!'.

[Ming]

So nasty when you think of the poor fellows processing it in the first stage (ever make the mistake of throwing raw chicken waste in your trash can under the sink?)...but waste not, want not!

[kmacleod]

I can see it now...."Dont' be a dumb cluck, Run your rig on Tyson Bio Diesel"

Ken

[Slack]

My post was going to read, "[Exclamation], a story about Arkansas. I wonder if this is how mgescuro feels when he reads stories about San Francisco?"

Alas, I was too late, he already blew the SF horn. The article doesn't say how much they can produce per year, but if they operate 24/7 at their current capacity, thats 10.3M gallons a year. The article also mentions another plant that produces 24M/g/y and two more this year that will produce a combined 48M/g/y.

[mrbig]

Wouldn't it be nice if every town converted it's emergency services vehicles to biodiesel and just went around collecting the cooking oil from every restaurant to power the vehicles in exchange for a little tax break? Just a thought.

[benroethig]

I think KFC has a new marketing campaign there.

[WishIhadatruck]

This is another great story. We really need bio-diesel to take off otherwise I fear the price gap between diesel and gas will only rise. Especially if diesel cars become more popular in the US.

[Geotpf]

Google's targeted ad thing sometimes fails amusingly. It found "fat" and "San Francisco" in this thread, and gave me an ad for www.gaychubbydating.com (which I'm sure is not safe for work, or for thin straight people).

[steinravnik]

Originally Posted by Geotpf

Google's targeted ad thing sometimes fails amusingly. It found "fat" and "San Francisco" in this thread, and gave me an ad for www.gaychubbydating.com (which I'm sure is not safe for work, or for thin straight people).

LOL, I got that ad too. It's all Mgescuro's fault

[mgescuro]

Originally Posted by steinravnik

LOL, I got that ad too. It's all Mgescuro's fault

WTF? It's always my fault!!