Increasing the Utilization of Biodiesel Fuels in the North Carolina Agricultural Community
A Leadership Role, and a Positive Impact

It’s rapidly building interest among the general public – and, if it already hasn’t, will be coming soon to a vehicle near you. It’s biodiesel, and it’s now being used, thanks to funding from the North Carolina Tobacco Trust Fund Commission, on agricultural research farms across the state.

The North Carolina Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services manages 18 agricultural research facilities that operate through a partnership with NC State University’s College of Agriculture & Life Sciences and NC A&T State University. These agricultural stations are today using biodiesel in their diesel-powered vehicles and machinery – which makes some pretty good sense, because biodiesel comes from what’s found on the farm.

Biodiesel is a processed fuel derived from biological sources that can be used in unmodified diesel engines. It produces less carbon dioxide than petroleum-based diesel and is biodegradable. According to the National Biodiesel Board, “Biodiesel is the only alternative fuel to have fully completed the health effects testing requirements of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments.”

Dr. Sandra Maddox, director of the NCDA&CS’s Research Stations Division, explains why her department adopted this project:

“It gave us the opportunity to take leadership in an area that will have a positive impact on our agricultural community.

“We looked at it really for two reasons: environmental responsibility – which I think we in research should be leaders in – and then for the potential positive impacts it could have for ag producers.”

Processing it in-house

The biodiesel project was funded and initiated in 2005, and, says Maddox, “I think it’s gone great. We’ve transitioned all of our stations from using strictly diesel to some blend of biodiesel, from B2 [two percent biodiesel and 98 percent petroleum] to B100 [one hundred percent biodiesel]. So that’s been a great success.”

In its final report, submitted in April 2007, the project team stated that the five locations using B2 were ready to move to B5 with their next fuel purchase. The three locations using B5 remain at that level to maintain the warranties on newer equipment.

A bioprocessing unit has been built at the Piedmont Research Station in Salisbury, and is now fully operational. The Piedmont station has two trucks that are exclusively operated with the fuel that’s generated there onsite.

“We also have two tractors and a generator that are running off B20 that we make here,” says Piedmont superintendent Joe Hampton “and then all our other diesel engines are operating on B5.”

The Piedmont station isn’t producing B5 onsite because, with the rising popularity of biodiesel, they’re finding it hard to secure enough of the used cooking oil they’ve been using to make the B5.

“But if we can find a better source of raw material,” says Hampton, “it’s our intention to produce not only everything for this station but for the six stations that surround us.”

Another bioprocessing unit, to be located at the Cherry Research Farm in Goldsboro, is in the design phase.

“We’re moving forward there,” says Maddox. “We’re working very closely with Piedmont Biofuels as an advisory group to us.”

The Pittsboro-based Piedmont Biofuels will be providing assistance with the design and permitting of the bioprocessing unit and will also provide guidance and training in biodiesel production once the unit has been constructed.

It’s anticipated that once both bioprocessing facilities are operational, all stations will be in a position to move to higher blends.

Running like a charm

As for performance, Hampton says that, according to the driver of the truck that’s been running on biodiesel for sometime now, performance is every bit as good as it was with petroleum-based diesel.

Reached by phone, Hampton said, “As a matter of fact, the gentleman that drives that vehicle is sitting in my office right now, and he says he can’t tell the difference. Now, that’s not a scientific [observation], but if he can’t tell the difference …”

Science is good stuff – experience better still.

“It’s the same way on our tractors that are running B20,” Hampton continues, “they’ve been running B20 for four months now, and we can’t tell any difference in those vehicles.

“We’re soon going to have five trucks here on the station operating on B100. We’re doing it in stages, to make sure that our engines are not being affected adversely.

“We also have a generator at our poultry unit that’s diesel generated, and it’s been running on B20.”

The Cherry station in Goldsboro is currently using B20. “Anything here that’s using diesel is using biodiesel,” says station superintendent Eddie Pitzer. “That’s 20-some tractors and all of our big trucks, as well as several pickups.

“Speculation was that it was going to cause some problems with fuel filters and other things, but we haven’t had those problems.”

Creating a model

In fact, the only problem that’s been encountered at the research stations thus far is the aforementioned one of supply.

“The only issue has been getting enough of the raw material,” Hampton says. “And that’s because other folks have an interest; it’s catching on and gathering momentum. We’re primarily using used cooking oil here; that’s how we’re set up. Eight months ago, it was readily available; today, local restaurants have entered into long-term contracts with somebody to pick that material up.”

Of finding it harder it secure this raw material because of burgeoning interest in biodiesel among the general public, Hampton says:  “These are all good things. Whenever I say that that’s our limiting factor, you have to understand that while it affects us here … long-term, that’s a great thing.”

When completed, the bioprocessing unit at the Cherry station is expected to have twice the capacity of the Piedmont unit and will provide biodiesel for the majority of the other research stations. It also will serve as a research and demonstration model. It will have wet and dry wash capabilities, a solar heat source, pretreatment of waste oil products to improve quality and reduce processing time and a methanol recovery system.

In order to help keep these units churning, the possibility of using fryer oil from both the State Fair and the Mountain State Fair is being investigated.

“We’re meeting with them and looking at trying to set up some specs so that their waste oil will be in a form that we can use,” says Maddox.

“We’re also looking at trying to see if we can utilize some information we have on high oil-content soybeans – some of the breeders breed soybeans for high oil content – and if we can afford to get a crusher, we’re going to think about crushing those and extracting the pure soybean oil and utilizing it.

“We’d then be showing that you can take something directly out of the field, crush it, extract the oil and use that for gas.”

‘It’s a good thing’

The Research Stations Division anticipates using in excess of 15,000 gallons of biodiesel annually. It also intends to hold field days and offer other opportunities to educate the public.

“I’m very pleased,” says Maddox. “Even though we’ve used our funding, we’re going to move in a positive direction with it by increasing our blends where we can.”

As far as what that TTFC funding has meant, she says, “I can’t even say, because we would have never been where we are without it.”

“This isn’t going to stop,” says Joe Hampton. “We’re going to do this from now on. It’s going to change the way we operate here.

“It’s a good thing.”