CFCC faculty, students are excited about making their own biodiesel

Cape Fear Community College is revving up to become a player in the region's local biodiesel manufacturing movement.

As proof, faculty and students from the chemical technology and diesel engine repair programs came together to produce and test B100 fuel - made from pure vegetable oil. They tested the biodiesel for the public on a large boat engine Wednesday.

The engine roared to life with the fuel that smelled a little like paint thinner, drowning out instructors' voices. Biodiesel runs in diesel - not gas - engines.

The roughly three-month process of producing the biodiesel has two goals: priming students to work for incoming local biofuel manufacturers and mass-production of the fuel for its trucking program.

"What got us excited was knowing biodiesel was coming to this area," said Shawn Russell, engineering department chairman.

The college is training potential employees for companies such as Kreido Wilmington, a subsidiary of Kreido Biofuels of Camarillo, Calif., and another facility, Leland Organic Corp.

"They're going to need people who are familiar with that technology,"

Russell said.

Kreido Wilmington - which hopes to build a facility on the far north end of the N.C. State Port to turn vegetable oils and other feedstocks into biodiesel fuel - plans a $15 million plant capable of producing 30 million gallons of biodiesel a year.

Leland Organic, which is in the permitting process, wants to produce the same amount, Russell said.

Also, for the community college, switching to biodiesel from diesel in the trucking program is expected to be more cost-effective as well as better for the environment.

Last year, the community college spent nearly $38,000 on diesel fuel for its 16-truck fleet, said spokesman David Hardin.

"Diesel fuel is full of chemicals," said Cal Geary, heavy equipment and transport technology lead instructor. "It burns a little dirty."

Biofuel, he said, is cleaner burning. "It's a better, all-around fuel to use in our system."

Russell said, "The goal is to refine this process. We know we can do it."

Veronica Gonzalez: 343-2008

veronica.gonzalez@starnewsonline.com