Post by
fredski on Nov 08, 2010 7:17am
Factory Turns Chicken Fat to Diesel !!!!
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Agricultural giant Tyson Foods Inc. and fuel developer Syntroleum Corp.will announce Monday that they have successfully opened a plant thatmakes diesel from chicken fat and leftover food grease.
But they say their new venture won't survive unless Congress gives them ahefty tax break, an argument that many other alternative energyprojects are also making.
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Tyson Foods
A raw-materials check at the Tyson-Syntroleum alternative-diesel plant.
.Tyson and Syntroleum say they've begun in recent weeks to make dieseland jet fuel from chicken fat, beef tallow and a range of greases andoils at a plant they've built in Geismar, La., south of Baton Rouge. Theraw materials are leftovers from Tyson's meat-processing plants andother food-processing factories and restaurants.
The Louisiana refinery has the capacity to produce 75 million gallons offat-based fuel annually—making it tiny by oil-industry standards butamong the bigger alternative-fuel plants in the U.S.
Buyers include oil companies mandated by federal law to mix renewablefuel into their conventional diesel, the companies say, though theywouldn't identify the purchasers, citing confidentiality agreements. TheU.S. Air Force confirmed that it has contracted to buy about 40,000gallons for testing the fuel for potential use in planes.
The companies contend that the fuel won't be economically viable unlessCongress restores a $1-a-gallon federal tax credit that used to go tocompanies that mixed alternative fuels into petroleum-based diesel. Thatbreak expired at the end of last year, when the $170 million Louisianaplant was under construction.
Had Syntroleum known Congress would let the break lapse, the companyprobably wouldn't have built the plant, said Jeff Bigger, a companysenior vice president.
Jeff Webster, a Tyson group vice president, said that if the tax breakisn't extended, "The whole green-fuels industry in the U.S. is going togo down."
The alternative-diesel credit is among several tax breaks that havelapsed or will soon do so. The Obama administration and Congress will bediscussing in coming weeks whether to continue the breaks amid concernsover the federal deficit.
Similarly, a 45-cent-a-gallon tax break for companies that blend ethanolinto gasoline is due to expire at the end of this year. Makers of thecorn-based fuel are lobbying Congress to extend it.
Several U.S. biodiesel plants have shut down recently, some citing theexpiration of the $1-a-gallon tax credit for alternative diesel.Biodiesel—made from grease or oil mixed with chemicals in vats—was allthe rage a few years ago, when the tax break existed.
Tyson and Syntroleum aren't making biodiesel. They use heat to changethe molecular structure of fats and oils and then refine them into fuel.They say their brew behaves more like conventional diesel and jet fuelthan biodiesel does—meaning it could be used in large quantities inexisting pipelines, gas stations, cars, trucks and planes.
Their fuel is registered with the Environmental Protection Agency foruse in cars and trucks. It hasn't been certified for use in planes.