Biodiesel Finds a New Home with Hastings Tractor Fleet
Written by Tom Nordlie
On the sustainable energy front, the University of Florida's Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is best known for its groundbreaking research on cellulosic ethanol.
But for the past year, another innovation has quietly taken place at the Florida Partnership for Water, Agriculture and Community Sustainability at Hastings. It's a research and demonstration facility serving Northeast Florida's tri-county agricultural area—Flagler, Putnam and St. Johns counties.
A fleet of tractors used at the partnership's research and demonstration farms have been running on biodiesel, a fuel made by processing organic material such as animal fat or vegetable oil.
Advocates say biodiesel has several advantages over traditional petroleum-based diesel, including greatly reduced carbon emissions and the fact that biodiesel can be produced domestically.
Those claims sounded appealing to Scott Taylor, director of operations at the partnership. So, with the blessing of IFAS administrators, he put them to the test.
Beginning in January, seven tractors were operated with a fuel blend containing biodiesel and standard petroleum-based diesel fuel. The yearlong trial run began with B-20, which contains 20 percent biodiesel. When it proved successful, later fuel orders were put in for blends containing 40, 60 and finally 99 percent biodiesel.
The switch from pure diesel fuel to biodiesel blends required no modification of the tractors, and had no adverse effect on their performance, he said.
"The really interesting thing about this is, as petroleum fuel prices have gone up, the cost of biodiesel has decreased relative to diesel," Taylor said.
As of November, standard diesel fuel for the tractors cost about $2.95 per gallon, while B-99 – the blend containing 99 percent biodiesel and 1 percent diesel – was 20 to 25 cents less.
"So not only are we reducing dependence on foreign oil, we're reducing our carbon footprint and we're also spending a little less money," he said.
In 2008, the fleet will continue using biodiesel blends. During the eight or nine warmer months, B-99 will be the fuel of choice. When winter arrives, Taylor plans to use B-60, which contains 60 percent biodiesel and is better for cold-weather performance.
"We can reduce our petroleum consumption by 75 to 80 percent over the course of the year," he said. The fleet uses 4,000 to 5,000 gallons of fuel per year, which means they'll save anywhere from 3,000 to 4,000 gallons of petroleum.
Taylor plans to collaborate with a UF agricultural engineering researcher to make a more in-depth evaluation of the overall fuel use, performance and economy involved with biodiesel. Once the facts are in, he'll tell the partnership's stakeholders – including potato, cabbage and sod farmers – what to expect if they try the alternative fuel.
"It's important for us to lead by example, not to just say ‘this is something you can do,' but be able to tell our clients ‘here's what we did and here are the results we got,'" he said.
Economics will likely dictate whether local producers adopt biodiesel, but Taylor says the price picture can change over time, depending on such factors as the supply of biodiesel feedstock and the price of oil.
As with oil, world events can play a role in biodiesel prices, and sometimes those events don't have an obvious connection to fuel, said John Magwood, president and CEO of First Coast Biofuels, a Jacksonville-based company that currently provides the partnership's biodiesel.
For example, biodiesel prices rose this year as the holiday season got under way. Why? Look to the dinner table for an answer.
Some biodiesel refineries, including First Coast's supplier, use chicken fat as a feedstock. When the holidays roll around, U.S. chicken consumption drops as consumers purchase more turkey and ham. Chicken producers scale back their production accordingly, which means there's less chicken fat available, driving up prices for the feedstock. The result—higher biodiesel prices.
"Anytime there's a squeeze on demand, prices go up," Magwood said.
Taylor says despite the challenges, he's glad to be exploring the world of alternative fuels.
"We want the solutions we provide to be long-range sustainable solutions, we are very, very committed to that," he said. "You can figure out how to fix a flat tire and get your car back on the highway. Or you can figure out how to prevent a flat tire from happening in the first place, which is a better way to go. That's the kind of view we take."