Biodiesel fuel grows in popularity with Mid- Valley drivers

Biodiesel fuel grows in popularity with Mid- Valley drivers

BETH CASPER
Statesman Journal
September 20, 2005

Sydney Levin happily spent $43.40 to fill her car's gas tank recently. Because she didn't use gasoline, the price was well worth it.

Levin, 26, of Salem runs her 1985 Mercedes station wagon on biodiesel, a fuel made from vegetable oil which is touted as an environmentally friendly way to reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil.

In addition to Levin's wagon, biodiesel has found its way into many more vehicles on Oregon roads this year. "In the state of Oregon, we used about one million gallons (of biodiesel) on roads last year," said Tyson Keever, a managing partner for biodiesel distributor SeQuential Biofuels. "This year, we are scheduled to double, if not triple it."

Salem is adding fuel to this new trend.

Two stations and a production facility opened in Salem this year, making the Capitol one of the most biofuel-friendly communities in Oregon.

Biodiesel is any liquid biofuel suitable as a diesel fuel substitute or diesel fuel additive and it is typically made from oils such as soybeans, rapeseed, or sunflowers, according to the federal Department of Energy.

"Until (this station opened), I was going up to Portland with four 5-gallon tanks and filling up every three to four weeks," Levin said while filling her tank at Marc Nelson Oil Products in Salem. "Now I can just come here."

Marc Nelson Oil Products on Claxter Road NE opened the biodiesel fuel station in June, and the first Salem biodiesel cooperative, where members join to have access to the 275- gallon biodiesel tank, opened in August.

SeQuential Biofuels and Pacific Biodiesel opened a joint refinery in South Salem to process used cooking oil for running diesel- fueled cars.

"It is a little bit of a trend with the price of fuel going up and (biofuels) being environmentally friendly," said Peter Nelson of Marc Nelson Oil Products. "There is a niche market for it."

Straight biodiesel can reduce particulate emissions -- linked to asthma and other respiratory diseases -- by 50 percent compared with regular diesel. Carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons also are reduced with the use of biodiesel, said Kevin Downing of the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.

Although actual tailpipe emissions of carbon dioxide increase with biodiesel, petroleum products such as gasoline and diesel put more carbon into the atmosphere because they otherwise would be stored in the earth, Downing said.

Marc Nelson Oil Products sells both 20 percent biodiesel and 99 percent biodiesel.

Right now, it is only a small fraction of their total sales; in two months, MNOP sold about 12,000 gallons of biodiesel compared with 3 million gallons of other fuels in one month.

Biodiesel in Oregon is also a small percentage of total diesel fuel. In 2003, 126 million gallons of diesel fuel was consumed in the state compared with less than one million gallons of biodiesel.

But for those in the biodiesel business, the future looks bright. Diesel costs about $2.98 a gallon and biodiesel is about $3.25, so people are noticing the vegetable-based fuel more. And experts say that biodiesel lubricates engine parts, extending the life of vehicles.

"In the last six months, we've seen a dramatic upswing in the number of users of biodiesel," said Ian Hill of SeQuential Biofuels, which added 11 biodiesel fuel pumps this year to the two it had in the state last year.

Todd Trautner of Salem drives a 1983 Mercedes wagon. He made a simple conversion so that he could run his car on biodiesel; he replaced the natural rubber fuel hoses with synthetic hoses.

"Oregon has a reputation nationally that we are an environmental state," he said. "This is a perfect way to continue to be viewed that way. I want to continue to do things that will give people in other states the understanding that we care about our land."

Newer cars that run on diesel don't need any conversion to switch to biodiesel.

It's a choice that makes a statement, Trautner said.

"Do we want to see fossil fuels continue to be pulled from the earth? Or oil wells off the coast?" asked Trautner. "Or do we want to chart our own future and have agriculture be what we rely on?"

Right now, SeQuential Biofuels uses a range of vegetable oils, such as waste oil from Kettle Chips making potato chips. But biofuels enthusiasts hope to also grow crops, such as canola or mustard seed, that can be crushed into biodiesel.