Milan, MI biodiesel plant to start up within 2 weeks
Michigan's third biodiesel plant should start producing fuel within the next two weeks in Milan, just south of Ann Arbor. The plant has been in the planning and construction phases for fifteen months and will produce 10,000 to 20,000 gallons a day of biodiesel. Milan biodiesel will initially employ twelve people and sell fuel only to distributors. The owners saved money by buying used and auctioned equipment and got up and running for only $700,000. This plant will be focused on recycling waste vegetable oil which is generally higher grade than oil produced from soy beans since it's primarily canola.
Milan Biodiesel is also affiliated with the Michigan Biodiesel Co-op and some of the fuel will be available for sale locally in the Ann Arbor area, although initially most will be exported to Europe. Co-owner John Bolz has some other interesting related projects in the works that ABG will be following up on in the coming weeks. We'll also visit the plant, once they're up and running.
[Source: Ann Arbor News]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
uncle john 10:11AM (12/31/2006)
I think this is great: Recycling and alternative fuel
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TX CHL Instructor 11:14AM (1/01/2007)
Great for now, anyway. I wonder what contingency plans Milan has for the future possibilities of:
1) WVO becomes scarce as lot of people 'discover' it, and the price goes up, or...
2) Big Oil succeeds in getting its hired help in Congress to make small-scale biodiesel production illegal.
#1 is highly likely, because there just isn't enough WVO to supply more than a tiny fraction of potential biodiesel demand, so manufacturers will need to find a larger and more dependable feedstock (algae, probably).
#2 is not out of the question. Already, 'regulators' in Texas (the best that money can buy) have 'discovered' problems with biodiesel (from a single study not confirmed elsewhere). I expect that they will soon 'discover' that only Big Oil can 'properly' manufacture biodiesel.
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