Geismar site for new Tyson biodiesel plant
Bob Moser
bmoser@theadvertiser.com
theadvertiser.com
The new biodiesel plant in Louisiana backed by Tyson Foods will be built in Geismar, where a package of state and Ascension Parish-tax incentives were lowered to beat a competing offer in Texas for the $126 million project.
Louisiana Economic Development publicized the plant's site late Wednesday afternoon after news that Louisiana got the plant was made public on Tuesday. The plant will employ 45 people with a payroll of $4 million, LED says.
Dynamic Fuels, a joint-venture between Tyson and Oklahoma-based Syntroleum Corp., chose Lion Copolymer's Geismer plant for its access to rail and barge transportation. But the most important attraction was a hydrogen line connected to the property.
"They have a unique method of processing (bio-diesel) that uses hydrogen," said Kelsey Short, director of agriculture, forestry and food industries for Louisiana Economic Development.
Construction of the 75 million gallon-per-year plant is expected to start in 2008, with production targeted for 2010. Biodiesel could be mixed into a petro-diesel supply at any amount, without harming diesel-burning vehicles that run on it.
Gov. Kathleen Blanco signed a state renewable fuels usage mandate in 2006 that would require a 2 percent mix of home-grown biodiesel or ethanol into the state's fuel supply, once benchmarks in production are reached. That mandate would kick in for biodiesel six months after a 15 million-gallon mark is passed by state producers.
That state benchmark for biodiesel production could already be met by Allegro Biodiesel, which has made the fuel from soybean oil in Pollock since 2006. Allegro will produce about 4 million gallons there this year.
President Darrell Dubroc said they've held off on producing more lately because soybean prices are rising so rapidly, because of rising food demand around the world, and Midwestern soy acreage being dominated by corn for ethanol.
Biodiesel made from non-food sources will lower the fuel's cost. Soybean oil costs 33 cents a pound, while chicken fat — the feedstock Dynamic Fuels will use — costs 19 cents, according to a January 2007 report by The Washington Post.
The Dynamic Fuels biodiesel may likely go to military aircraft instead of vehicles. Barksdale Air Force Base near Shreveport has been mentioned as a possible major customer, since the B-52 has been retrofitted to run on biodiesel.
"My understanding is they'd target both military and the trucking industry in the Gulf south," Short said. "The plant won't open until 2010."
The 75 million gallon-per-year production capacity of Dynamic Fuels could surpass the state benchmark and initiate cheap, green biodiesel into Louisiana's fuel supply. It depends on how much of Dynamic Fuels biodiesel will first go to military use, starting in 2010.
Maybe 10 percent to 15 percent of automobiles in the U.S. run on diesel, compared to as much as 40 percent in Europe, Dubroc said.
"More diesel cars are coming out though, like new Jeep Liberty, Mercedes, Diesel Beetle and Volkswagen, plus all the trucking transport fleets are interested in using it." |
