ÒThis county is ideal for canola,Ó said Don Bubar, an investor in a new biodiesel plant. Photo by Dr. Brent Bean, Texas Cooperative Extension

Last Wednesday, May 16, Don Bubar, of South Boardman, Bill Koucky of Traverse City and other investors received the keys to the former Bach Oil Field Services building on US-131 south of Thomas Road in Boardman Township.

"We are building a sustainable future for northern Michigan by growing our own fuel, putting farmers back to work, and producing a high quality protein meal for animal feed," Bubar said.

According to the company's executive summary, NMB will produce biodiesel on the scale of five million gallons per year, initially produced from various feedstocks but with the primary goal of using locally grown canola and sunflower oil, along with soy bean oil.

It is the intent of NMB to have the ability to increase production to 10 million gallons immediately upon demand. The company will develop in two separate phases that will occur simultaneously. The first track is the biodiesel plant itself. The second phase is to build a canola crush plant to process raw oil seed into viable biodiesel feedstock, according to the statement.

"All of us (investors) have been making biodiesel for some time," Bubar said. "My main interest is in having canola and sunflower plants grown in this area for feedstock," he said.

Bubar said he has been working with farmers and the Michigan Department of Agriculture.

"I started in this is 1980," Bubar said. "We had our warning in the Ô70s and ignored it."

Biodiesel is a biomass fuel equivalent to petrodiesel. The fuel itself is made from either vegetable oil or animal fats, is biodegradable, non-toxic, produces about 75 percent less carbon dioxide than conventional fossil fuels. And unlike fossil fuel, it is a renewable fuel source. It also is much safer, as it has a much higher flash point than that of petrodiesel.

Biodiesel is also the only alternative fuel currently existing that meets the health effects requirements of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. Some vehicle manufacturers are very enthusiastic about biodiesel, saying that it causes less engine wear. Biodiesel is also a better solvent, meaning that it cleans the engine better than standard diesel. This could lead to blockage in the fuel injector, but that can be solved by changing the fuel filter every few months.

Biodiesel can be used in unmodified diesel engines, but modifications may be required for use of pure biodiesel.

Generally five percent biodiesel, which is five percent biodiesel and 95 percent petrodiesel, is the mix used in engines. It has been found that 20 percent and 30 percent biodiesel mixtures can be used in engines with no modification, and tests are being run on 50 percent biodiesel. With the 20 percent mixture alone carbo dioxide emission can be cut by 15 percent.

Biodiesel can also be used in both commercial and domestic boilers, though the boiler may require some conversion. This conversion is thought to be fairly simple process though.

The use and production of biodiesel is rapidly increasing. In Germany pure biodiesel is sold along side petrodiesel.

Fuel stations are making biodiesel available globally. Many transport fleets are now using it as an additive for the vehicles.

Though the price of biodiesel is higher than petrodiesel, the difference in price may fall as petrodiesel becomes more expensive, and biodiesel is more widely used. Already in Germany it is cheaper than petrodiesel.

Rudolph Diesel originally designed his engine to run on biomass fuels, like biodiesel. In the 1970s, manufacturers of the diesel engine modified it to run on petrodiesel, as the petroleum industry made its way into the fuel industry with cheaper prices than the bio mass fuels.

This shift practically knocked out biodiesel, and only now is it beginning to make its come back. With the fuels ability to replace petroleum fuels, the country could easily reduce its dependence on foreign oil imports, and bolster our economy.

According to Bubar, corn is the poorest quality product for biodiesel. It produces 200 gallons per acre. He said soy beans produce 400 gallons per acre; canola produces 750 gallons per acre and sunflower produces close to 1,000 gallons per acre.

"This county is ideal for canola," Bubar said. "You'll see a bunch of yellow fields if this all gels right."

Initially, NMB will crush soy beans grown in Michigan and as the capacity for canola grows in the state, NMB will incorporate the canola. "We are hoping to sell it (biodiesel) locally. It can be used by farmers, truckers and for heating oil," Bubar said. "There are virtually no emissions. Diesel vehicles will run better on biodiesel. It burns clean."

Initially, NMB will open a scale plant to initiate production and the licensing procedures, while continuing fund raising for the larger facility. The initial plant will be a 500 gallon batch-reacted plant for use with multiple feedstocks capable of production on the order of 500,000 to one million gallons per year.

The initial investment is for the plant with the addition of a complete lab necessary for the larger scale plant, according to NMB's executive summary.

This will allow time for the difficult training in quality control to begin immediately and to allow for a fully-trained laboratory staff to be on hand during initial start-up of the larger plant and the crush facility.

The scale reactor is in construction. The larger scale plant will be constructed as soon as possible, the company said.

NMB plans on breaking ground for the larger facility this summer, with first production coming online in the fall of this year.

According to the Michigan State University Product Center, Michigan uses about one billion gallons of diesel each year in transportation fleets. NMB investors will be pursuing that industry, as well as the home and business heating oil industry and the marine industry.

"The industry is wide open and untapped in northern Michigan," the NMB summary states. Sources used for this article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/biodiesel http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/altfuel/bio_benefits.html?print http://www.biodiesel.org/recources/biodiesel_basics/default.shtm.