Maine has always done a good job at highlighting abundant natural resources. It’s not hard to sell people on the buttery merits of a freshly steamed lobster — and just try to keep those leaf-peepers from pouring across the border to get a glimpse of our fall colors — but Portland’s most abundant resource lacks the same postcard appeal.
It’s a brownish-yellow sludge, greasy, smelly, and can be found bubbling in many of the city’s favorite eateries.
But one local start-up aims to turn Portland’s abundant source of waste vegetable oil into a sustainable fuel for the future.
While any alternative to petroleum-based fuel is bound to garner some attention in ecologically-conscious Portland, recent federal reusable fuel standards hit other alternative energy start-ups hard, causing them to lose government subsidies or even go bust.
Luckily for Maine Bio-Fuel Inc, they did it right the first time.
By developing a biodiesel production plant that runs on its own product – high-grade biodiesel recycled from waste vegetable oil – the Portland-based company estimates its 1.5-million-gallon-a-year operation is 80 percent carbon neutral.?
The company explains that its fuel’s high percentage of carbon neutrality – achieved by offsetting the plant’s carbon emissions through the integration of sustainable methods of heating and electricity – assures the continuing tax incentives that many biodiesel startups lost when the new government standards on reusable fuel were passed on July 1, requiring at least 50 percent carbon neutrality.
“Biofuels are wonderful sources of energy provided you don’t use a lot of energy to create that fuel source,” explained Maine Bio-Fuel’s Dean Sgouros.
To cut down on their energy usage and guarantee an eco-friendly product, Maine Bio-Fuel produces their blend of B100 – a grade of biodiesel produced using 100 percent cooking oil, free of any other additives – using only recycled waste oil.
The waste oil is transported to Maine Bio-Fuel’s plant off Riverside Street, where it undergoes a two-stage process of transesterification – a chemical reaction between an alcohol and the triglyceride oils found in waste fats that, when heated, produce fatty acid alkyl esters – also known as biodiesel.
The plant gets its waste oil from the greasy goldmine of area restaurants, as opposed to the “virgin oil” derived from the country’s corn crop, which creates its own deep carbon footprint on it’s way from farm to fuel station.
“The product we use has gone through its life cycle, it’s already been used and ready to be discarded,” said Sgouros, who adds, “we are a recycler first, and a manufacturer second.”
The company, which operates a B100 pump at 51 Ingersoll Drive, is planning a grand opening for the second week in October, where they hope they can entice Gov. John Baldacci – currently on a European trade mission focusing on wind power – to preside at a ribbon cutting, ushering in a new choice in home heating and automotive fuel.
While frigid winter temps mean that B100 can only work effectively in the warmer summer months (although the 20 percent blend of B20 is still effective), Maine Bio-Fuel has already piqued the interest of some New England heating oil companies worried about federal standards of their own.
In Massachusetts, a coming mandate, set to take effect in mid-2010, will require heating oil companies to blend one percent biodiesel into the mix, a figure that translates into 24-25 million gallons of biodiesel according to Sgouros’ estimate.
“That puts us in a very good position for the winter months” said Sgouros.
Maine Bio-Fuel also hopes to capture a sector of the market left wide open when the petroleum industry, in an effort to counteract the growing popularity of alternative fuels, removed sulfur from their diesel fuel. The sulfur acts as a lubricant, keeping the engine running smoothly.
“Short term data has said a higher percentage of biodiesel will increase the potential life expectancy of machinery,” said Sgouros, who notes that topping off a tank of standard diesel with just 1.8 percent biodiesel can “bring the lubricity standard back up.”
While Sgouros recognizes that Maine Bio-Fuel must “walk before it can run”, it doesn’t stop the grease guru from pike-dreaming.
“We would love to get blendable pumps (where customers can choose what percent biodiesel they want added to their fuel) up on I-95. This is starting to happen on the west coast already, and people out there say it works fantastic.” Said Sgouros.
While certainly more eco-friendly, Maine Bio-Fuel’s model is not without its drawbacks. Using recycled product throws a host of variables into the process, creating a far more labor-intensive means of creating biodiesel than the virgin oil method.
“With all the different oils we end up using – from canola and soy to fat and grease – our model is a very difficult one to implement on a large scale with any consistency,” said Sgouros.
While Maine Bio-Fuel hopes to gain most of its profits from contracting with the city to supply municipal trucks and school buses, the average diesel-driving consumer is also very much on their radar.
“This community is very much aware of recycling and fuel economy,” said Sgouros, noting that there is a high percentage of Mainers driving older, diesel-powered vehicles – which average ten mpg better than their gasoline counterparts. “Those are the ones who dove into this craze and really embraced it,” he adds.
“We are pretty close to having zero discharge system here, and we won’t be emitting any secondary waste stream,” said Sgouros, who envisions one day being able to take the whole operation off the grid by running the plant off their own product, and even possibly selling excess energy to other companies in their business park.
With their pump price for Maine Bio-Fuel’s B100 currently holding steady at $2.80 per gallon – a figure Sgouros comes to by adding five cents to the daily price of diesel listed by AAA – the company hopes to entice local diesel owners will the assurance that their fuel is locally sourced, and sustainably produced.