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There exists, however, a substitute that doesn't pollute lungs, air, ground or water; a fuel that can be pumped directly into existing diesel engines without major modification. This fuel saves crude oil because it is produced using nonpetroleum raw materials found on farms and in fast-food restaurants. And its exhaust fumes smell like french fries or popcorn.

The fuel is biodiesel. And its been in use since Rudolph Diesel invented his namesake engine in the 1890s, using peanut oil as fuel.

Now, entrepreneur Richard C. Jackson and a group of Carnegie Mellon University scientists and technicians are close to introducing a system that produces biodiesel fuel that they say is faster, cheaper and safer than other processes now used.

The key to their process is the use of microwaves and a CMU-developed chemical catalyst to process nearly any plant oil, rendered animal fat, even used cooking oil into biodiesel. The CMU teams has applied for patents on some components of the process.

The first American plant utilizing Jackson's new biodiesel process will be constructed on Neville Island, in a former rendering plant once known for its offensive odors. Total project cost is an estimated at $10 million, with most of the funding provided by venture capital and low-interest state loans, Jackson said. The rendering plant's former owner also is putting in $2 million in cash and the facility.

"We are very much in favor of and supportive of this project," said Jim McGrath, a Neville commissioner. "We feel that it will be a boon for Neville Township."

Jackson said all agreements for the property will be completed within days and that biodiesel production at the state's first processing plant will be under way in 90 days.

The new process is timely because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to enforce new regulations next year that require a 97 percent reduction -- to 15 parts per million from 500 parts per million -- in the amount of sulphur in diesel fuel.

Biodiesel is virtually sulphur-free, eliminating what is considered a dangerous pullutant. Compared to conventional petroleum-based diesel, a diesel engine operating on 100 percent biodiesel would emit 30 percent fewer particulates, that are believed to be a health hazard. Also, carbon monoxide is reduced by 50 percent, and total unburned hydrocarbons, a contributor to smog, drops by 93 percent. Biodiesel also is biodegradable and when ingested is considered 10 times less toxic than table salt.

From a pollutant standpoint, biodiesel does emit more nitrous oxide than petroleum-based diesel, but proponents say the increase is not an insurmountable obstacle.

Cost-wise, the primary raw materials for biodiesel -- such as yellow grease or soybean oil -- cost between $1 and $2 a gallon. After being processed into biodiesel, the recent average wholesale price for a gallon of the fuel was $2.63, according to Jackson. Petroleum-based diesel was $2.234 a gallon last week, according to government figures. As new EPA rules take effect and production increases, the price difference is expected to narrow, he said.

"Initially, we are looking at 10-million-gallon capacity annually at Neville Island. We will expand capacity to meet demand," said Jackson, president of Capital Technologies International, his company that is licensing the biodiesel-producing process from Carnegie Mellon. Work on the process is being conducted at the CMU Center for Advanced Fuel Technology in the Pittsburgh Technology Center, Hazelwood.

"Biodiesel caught my imagination in the later part of 2000," said Marc A. Portnoff, manager of the Center for Advanced Fuel Technology. "It was a fuel product that was cleaner, home grown and sustainable. The more I learned, the more I thought there was room for improvement in the production process. Richard Jackson also saw the benefits of biodiesel and funded our work to improve the process."

The Capital Technologies' facility will be among the country's largest. When it reaches capacity, it will produce an amount equal to about one-third of all biodiesel produced nationwide in 2004. Last year, 32 plants produced 30 million gallons of fuel, the National Biodiesel Board reports.

Jackson is planning to expand the facility and says he has in hand a letter of intent from a large European fuels distributor that wants 100 million gallons of biodiesel annually, a deal worth about $300 million. But Jackson is busy trying to drum up local support for his product.

"We hope to sell into the local market. We will wholesale to distributors," Jackson said. "We also are talking with local trucking companies, to the Pennsylvania Turnpike Commission, local school districts, barge companies, municipalities."

Chuck Wichrowski, owner of Baum Blvd. Automotive in Shadyside, has been selling biodiesel for about 18 months. Right now it's available only in five-gallon containers, but he's trying to get a storage tank and pump installed. The idea of a Neville Island manufacturer has his attention.

"A Neville Island plant certainly would increase availability," Wichrowski said. "But it's like many things: legislation-driven. Once the tax credit hits, demand will increase."

Government is a big promoter of biodiesel. The federal government offers an excise tax credit to producers based on the percentage of biodiesel that is mixed with petroleum diesel. For example, a mix of 20 percent soybean oil-produced biodiesel with 80 percent petroleum diesel mix would give the company mixing the two products a 20-cent per gallon tax credit.

Experts nationwide are predicting the 100-plus-year-old fuel is poised to move quickly from the fringe to the mainstream.

"We feel very strongly that the time is right for biodiesel," said Paul McGarvey, a partner in Cybus Capital Markets LLC, Des Moines, Iowa, an investment banking firm that specializes in renewable energy. "The lessons learned in developing the ethanol market, the ability to tap into institutional investors sooner rather than later, and the greater breadth of biodiesel availability than ethanol will help the biodiesel market."

"There is a lot of enthusiasm for biodiesel; the biodiesel curve will ramp up pretty quickly due to the changing EPA regulations in 2006," said Randall Besecker, chief executive of consulting firm Besecker Associates, Lebanon, Ohio.

Capital Technologies' partner in the Neville Island plant is the property's former owner, Valley Proteins Inc., Winchester, Va. The company is supplying the land on which its former rendering plant sits and the plant itself. Valley also is investing $1 million in the project and is supplying much of the raw material animal fat for the conversion process.

"We've been following the biodiesel concept since about 1993," said Gerald F. Smith Jr., Valley Proteins president. "We have done a lot of looking at technology, and we think Rick's is probably the best out there. We're investing about $2 million total including cash and the facility. Plus we have the right to supply some of the plant's feedstock."

Three years ago, while working with Carnegie Mellon researchers on developing a better way to separate, or crack, crude oil into its various components, one of the researchers, CMU's Portnoff, broached the idea of using the petroleum separation process to manufacture biodiesel.

Currently, the most widely used process to produce biodiesel is called "transesterfication." It uses an oil and/or fat that reacts with an alcohol in the presence of a catalyst. The process produces biodiesel and glycerin, which is used to make soap.

"We found the transesterfication process to be rather slow and sloppy, and it uses more acids and caustics," Jackson said. "We ended up with a process that is faster, cheaper and safer."

The Capital Technologies-CMU process uses methanol and fats and/or oils in a two-step process, esterfication and transesterfication, resulting in biodiesel, glycerin and water. The process operates on a 1:1 ratio, which means that as much raw material put in comes out as finished product. And the system operates in a closed loop, meaning there is nothing released into the air.

"The process uses the same amount of power as a hairdryer," Jackson said.

Jackson's plan is to build his processor in modules, allowing quick construction of facilities and the ability to quickly ramp up production.

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