East Dublin Plant Makes Fuel From Chicken Fat

By S. Heather Duncan, The Macon Telegraph, Ga., The Macon Telegraph, Ga.

Dec. 31–EAST DUBLIN — A new biodiesel factory opening in East Dublin, one of the first in Georgia, will manufacture fuel from chicken fat rendered at Griffin Industries.

Dan Young, secretary of the newly formed Middle Georgia Biodiesel, said the company plans to start making test batches within a week if an awaited machinery part arrives. Full production of 7,500 to 10,000 gallons a day is expected to begin by Feb. 1 in converted farm buildings at a turf farm on East Dublin’s Dewey Warnock Road, he said.

The 2-acre factory complex is expected to cost between $3.5 million and $4.5 million and employ 10 to 15 people, Young said.

Middle Georgia Biodiesel, headed by two Laurens County brothers and a Jeffersonville man, is at the forefront of a growing interest in Georgia as a location for producing fuels made from animal and plant materials.

These include biodiesel — which can be made from a variety of sources including some native Georgia grasses, animal fats and pines — to ethanol made from corn. Biodiesel can replace diesel or be used as an additive in it. Ethanol is a gasoline additive or replacement. The most common alternative fuel/oil blends can be used without engine modifications.

“Everybody and their brother wants to bring in a processing plant,” said Jill Stuckey, alternative fuels director for the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority. “I’ve spoken with about 15 people in the last three months who are either trying to get a plant to come to their county or to start a plant.”

She said biodiesel and ethanol factories are often popular with farm communities because they create new markets for crops, adding agricultural jobs in a ripple effect.

Many entrepreneurs became more interested in alternative fuels after the price of oil topped $50 a barrel last year, Stuckey said.

“When the price went up, that made it economically feasible to produce biodiesel without government subsidies,” Young said. “In the biofuels industry, I think we’re where the computer industry was in 1980 — right on the edge of public acceptance and widespread use.”

During fall 2005, ethanol was about 30 cents cheaper per gallon than gasoline, and biodiesel cost the same as diesel or about 10 cents more per gallon. The U.S. Department of Energy is projecting gas prices to continue rising through 2006.

Georgia is viewed as an attractive location for alternative fuel production because it has both plenty of feedstock to create biodiesel and a healthy market for the commodity, Stuckey said.

And the central location of cities such as Macon and Dublin gives them a further advantage.

“Our goal is to say (to prospective alternative fuel companies): We’re in the middle of the state and we use it, so locate here,” said Charise Stephens, director of the Middle Georgia Clean Cities Coalition, a Macon-based nonprofit focused on increasing alternative fuel use.

Young said Laurens County is convenient because of its proximity to Savannah and Atlanta, with interstate and railroad access.

“The closer the plant is, the better the price of the fuel,” said Dennis Burnett, alternative fuels manager for Perry-based Davis Oil. Young has been talking with Burnett about becoming a supplier for Davis Oil, and he said two other Georgia distribution companies also are interested.

Middle Georgia Biodiesel also will sell directly to the public, including some local construction companies and large farms. Young said the company will blend biodiesel and oil-based diesel based on customer requests.

Georgia’s gluttony for diesel — it ranks seventh in the United States for use of the fuel — means it’s a good nearby market for any factory, Stuckey said. And she said she expects most gas stations to be blending ethanol by the end of 2006.

Within the next two months, Davis Oil plans to open Middle Georgia’s first commercial public gas station offering both regular fuel and biodiesel, Burnett said. He said the Shell station, which may also offer an ethanol blend, will be at the intersection of Gunn Road and Ga. 341 in Houston County.

Stephens said she is working with Robins Air Force Base, which already uses biodiesel, to start using ethanol, too. She also is trying to figure out how many “flex fuel vehicles” are already on the road in Middle Georgia by checking with local fleet managers, Department of Driver Services tag offices and auto dealerships. Many popular models, including the Ford Crown Victoria and Taurus, GMC Sonoma and Dodge Caravan, are flex fuel vehicles that can run on any blended gasoline/ethanol mix.

“Most people don’t even know that their vehicles are flex fuel,” Stephens said. “When people find out the price difference, ethanol could really grow in this area.”

Price at the pump isn’t the only thing making alternative fuels more attractive. Their use could help Bibb and Monroe counties attain federal air standards, reducing EPA restrictions on the region.

Alternative fuels pollute less, preventing heart and lung disease and reducing asthma cases. In particular, the health threat to children riding school buses has become a concern. In 2005, Davis Oil began supplying school systems with biodiesel in Bibb, Houston, Jones and Taylor counties.

Recent federal energy legislation is likely to make alternative fuels even more competitive with tax breaks for producers and distributors. Most fuel companies are starting to use ethanol instead of the carcinogenic MTBE additive, Stuckey said.

Unfortunately, many entrepreneurs who want to manufacture biofuels in Georgia don’t understand the industry, Stuckey said.

“You really have to know something about chemistry,” she said.

Young, who grew up on a Laurens County farm and has a degree in chemistry and physics, has been researching alternative fuel business opportunities for a decade.

Stuckey said a guaranteed supply of chicken fat, which Young says he has from Griffin Industries, is a high-quality feedstock. But there is not enough in Georgia to supply many factories. (Young said because Griffin will process the fat before it is refined into fuel, the biofuel factory should not have a smell.)

To contact S. Heather Duncan, call (478) 744-4225 or e-mail hduncan@macontel.com [mailto:hduncan@macontel.com].

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Copyright (c) 2005, The Macon Telegraph, Ga.

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