In The Media - Environmentally friendly fueling: Fresno food distributors commit to using less-polluting biodiesel

Location: Blogs In The Media
Posted by: Community Fuels	6/27/2007
The Fresno Bee, Fresno, California. Starting this week, the tanks in Fresno-based OK Produce's 35 tractor trailers will be filled with biodiesel. The food distributor is one of the first in the area to switch its fleet to the fuel, which is made from vegetable oil or animal fat. Mark Crosse / The Fresno Bee By Bethany Clough / The Fresno Bee (Updated Tuesday, June 27, 2006, 4:53 AM) Backed by everyone from Willie Nelson to President Bush, biodiesel is gaining popularity as a less-polluting, renewable alternative to diesel fuel and its skyrocketing prices. Another Fresno company, food distributor Saladino's Inc., has committed to switching to biodiesel, while other businesses in the region are pondering the change and considering banding together to make biodiesel cheaper and easier to get. OK Produce uses about 400,000 gallons of diesel fuel a year to ship bananas, tomatoes and other produce up and down the state. Fleet and transportation manager Scott Bauer first brought the idea of using biodiesel to his company. "It's cheaper. It's cleaner and it's ultimately less expensive," he said. The "cleaner" part hit a nerve. The blend of biodiesel OK Produce plans to use reduces emissions of pollutants such as carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, sulfates and particulates, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Supporters also tout the fuel as renewable because it's made from natural products, and they say it reduces the country's dependence on foreign oil. OK Produce has already installed 35,000 square feet of solar panels on the roof of its headquarters, and its sales representatives drive hybrid vehicles. "Being environmentally sound and ecologically sound is important to me," general manager Brady Matoian said. The company plans to buy biodiesel from Nature's Fuel, which ships it to California from refineries in the Midwest and the southeastern United States. Nature's Fuel will deliver it to a gas station next door to OK Produce, which is a major customer. This particular fuel is made from canola, safflower and rapeseed oils, said Pete Peterson, business development officer for Nature's Fuel. Unlike converted vegetable oil, biodiesel is refined so that it doesn't need to be heated or use any petroleum diesel. A blend of 20% biodiesel and 80% petroleum diesel is the most commonly used form of biodiesel, but OK Produce will put more than 99% biodiesel into its tanks. Matoian said the biodiesel costs the company about 20 cents less a gallon than the current price of regular diesel. A federal 50-cent tax credit helps keep the price down. Diesel could still drop in price, making biodiesel more expensive, but Matoian said he's sticking with it. "If it doesn't go well, we're not going to give up," he said. "Worst-case scenario, we go to B20 [20% biodiesel]," he said. "That's 20% better than most people are doing." Saladino's, a Fresno food distributor that runs 75 trucks from Boise, Idaho, to the Mexican border, plans to start testing biodiesel within 30 days. Officials are not sure whether it will be cheaper than regular diesel, but that's not the main motivation, said President Craig Saladino. "Sometimes we get a bid, and it's less. And sometimes we get a bid, and it's more," he said, referring to the cost of biodiesel. "Being located in the Central Valley, it is our job to help the air quality here. Because we run so many trucks, we really need to be a leader in that." The diesel engine was invented in 1895 and originally designed to run on peanut oil. Biodiesel acts as a solvent and will quickly sweep out gunk accumulated in engines run on diesel that can clog fuel filters when switched to the alternative fuel. But OK Produce is prepared with extra fuel filters and wrenches. There are drawbacks to using biodiesel. Some soybean and other plant-based biodiesel can begin to cloud up and crystallize in mid-30 degree temperatures. That can plug filters and eventually shut down an engine if not heated, said Doug Haugh, chief operating officer of FuelQuest, a Houston-based company that sells software that allows companies, including Wal-Mart, to track their use of all kinds of fuel. While 30-degree temperatures aren't a problem in the Central Valley, they may be for a truck leaving Fresno and driving to Tahoe, he said. Haugh said studies conflict on whether biodiesel increases emissions of nitrogen oxides, but the California Air Resources Board and the federal government say it does. Nitrogen oxides are a precursor to ozone, a main ingredient in smog. Some engine manufacturers won't honor warranties if engines are run on biodiesel, said Karen Caesar, Air Resources Board information officer. Biodiesel is just getting started when it comes to the infrastructure needed to produce, refine and ship it. The nation produced 60 million gallons of it last year, compared with 4 billion gallons of ethanol, a corn-based fuel, Haugh said. "It's still in its infancy, which means that everything costs more," he said, including shipping. "That should all improve, with time and with volume." That's one reason Saladino and others attended a meeting held by Dennis Collins of BiRite Foodservice in the Bay Area. The company will switch to biodiesel in the next few months, but saw an opportunity for a co-operative or other investment that would make biodiesel easier and cheaper to get, he said. "You can set up a biodiesel refinery relatively simple, which would allow us to control our costs even more," he said. Several local growers are also looking into the possibilities, Collins said. At least one University of California at Davis representative has said growing crops for biodiesel isn't practical — soybeans, for example, don't thrive here — or profitable. But California State University, Fresno, is experimenting with growing canola on soil saturated with selenium, a naturally occurring chemical element linked to deformities in waterfowl. For now, the nation is "many, many years away from having [biodiesel] be a primary source of fuel for transportation," said Haugh of FuelQuest. But on a smaller level, infrastructure for biodiesel can be developed smoothly and rapidly, he said. That's exactly what Matoian is hoping for as he waits for the first shipment of biodiesel to hit the filling station. "Ultimately, you'd love to have a refinery in California, in Fresno," he said. "It's a little bit of a leap of faith, but the downside is very minimal. … We're not going to give up. Let the industry grow. Let the industry have a chance." The reporter can be reached at bclough@fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6431.

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