Biofuel facility opens in Salem
NEW INDUSTRY Facility will make 1 million gallons of fuel per year, enough to satisfy area needs MICHAEL ROSE Oregon's first biodiesel-production plant opened Thursday at an industrial site in southeast Salem. Salem Mayor Janet Taylor pushed a button at the grand opening, and a low hum emanated from a large steel tank. A private company developed the nondescript plant at 4725 Turner Road SE. The biodiesel plant will employ two operators and its capacity is small by industry standards, but many people hope it's the start of a new era of home-grown energy. "This is a big day for Oregon," said Gov. Ted Kulongoski, who spoke at the plant's opening.
Kulongoski and others have pushed legislation to promote alternative fuels in Oregon, including expanding the use of biodiesel. The fuel is a blend of diesel and vegetable oil, that can power diesel engines. It burns cleaner than petroleum diesel alone and results in lower emissions and improved air quality. The vegetable oil for biodiesel often is extracted from oil-seed crops, such as canola. Used cooking oil from food processors and restaurants also is used for biodiesel. The plant, operated by Oregon-based SeQuential Biofuels and Hawaii-based Pacific Biodiesel Inc., will begin production using used cooking oil for raw materials. Salem-based Kettle Foods, a maker of kettle-cooked potato chips, will supply a portion of the used cooking oil for biodiesel production. Cameron Healy, a founder of Kettle Foods, is a minority investor in the biodiesel plant. The Salem plant will produce 1 million gallons of biodiesel fuel per year -- enough to supply all of the biodiesel market in Oregon. In comparison, some biodiesel plants in the Midwest produce as much as 30 million gallons of biodiesel per year. The project's backers expect that the demand for biodiesel in Oregon will grow exponentially. "We anticipate that we're going to push the market a lot harder and create demand for more than 1 million gallons of biodiesel," said Tomas Endicott, a partner with SeQuential Biofuels. Government fleets, such as those owned by the state, are among the largest users of biodiesel fuel, he said. The joint venture also intends to build a plant in Portland that would produce as much as 4 million gallons of biodiesel annually. It originally had planned to start biodiesel production in Portland but later revised its plans when getting permits approved took longer than expected. Starting production at an existing industrial site in Salem allowed the joint venture to get its diesel on the market about six months sooner, Endicott said. When the Portland plant is operational, the joint venture will decide whether the equipment in Salem will stay or be relocated to Portland. "We think there is such a good market that we couldn't build plants fast enough," said John Miller, a Salem businessman who also is a minority investor in the project. Miller said he's optimistic that the Salem plant will remain open for the long term. Backers of the project say Oregon can't rely on used cooking oil alone to sustain biodiesel production. Eventually, the state will need to start growing oil-seed crops to supply vegetable oil. Growing crops for biofuels could become another source of income for Oregon farmers. But growing canola seed in the Willamette Valley is problematic. Canola can cross-pollinate with vegetable-seed crops, contaminating the vegetable-seed-grower's crop. Vegetable-seed growers are demanding restrictions on canola production. Country-western singer Willie Nelson also is among the minority investors in the Salem biodiesel plant. In a videotaped presentation, Nelson greeted Oregon's governor and Salem's mayor. A hat that was autographed by Nelson was presented to the governor.
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