Green Earth Fuels' Facility Goes Beyond Two Million Gallons

On Thursday, Green Earth Fuels announced that to date its new Galena Park facility on Houston's Ship Channel, which opened for operations on July 24th of this year, has produced 2.4 million gallons of biodiesel fuel, with all of the fuel meeting the rigorous quality control requirements of ASTM specifications D6751.
Green Earth Fuel's first process line, capable of producing 45 million gallons per year (mmgpy) of quality biodiesel produced its first two batches of biodiesel from Soybean oil, and these met the national ASTM (American Society of Testing and Materials) specifications. This first of two planned trains was, according to the company, completed on schedule and on budget.

Biodiesel is the fastest-growing fuel in the U.S. according to the Department of Energy. Biodiesel is a renewable fuel derived from natural sources such as vegetable oils and animal fats which can be blended seamlessly into diesel fuel. U.S. biodiesel production last year reached an estimated 225 million gallons. The federal government wants biodiesel to account for five percent, or an estimated 3 billion gallons, of all fuel produced in the U.S by 2015.

Critics say that we have a long way to go toward refining and making cost-effective biofuels such as biodiesel. A study published last year by Oregon State University backs up this critical stance. The study shows that industry has yet to develop biofuels that are as energy efficient as the gasoline we make from petroleum. Energy efficiency is the measure of how much usable energy for a given purpose is derived from a certain amount of input energy.

The OSU study discovered corn-derived ethanol to be only 20% energy efficient. Biodiesel fuel was found to have 69% energy efficiency. Gasoline made from petroleum has an energy efficiency of 75%.

Critics also are concerned that putting too much emphasis on biofuels will result in too little space for food-purpose agriculture, disrupting the environment and sharply driving up food prices.
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