BTC PTEC Biodiesel Workshop

August 7 – 8, 2006

BTC Pilot unit

BTC Biodiesel Pilot Plant

The Northwest Energy Technology Collaborative (NWETC), a division of the Washington Technology Center (WTC), was awarded a $70,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to conduct a one year demonstration project of a process that will provide fuel that will reduce diesel emissions. Matching funds of $280,000 were also raised to support this effort. NWETC procured four bio-diesel processors from BioDiesel Works. Two of these processors were installed at each of the participating colleges – Bellingham Technical College and British Columbia Institute of Technology. Student employees were trained to produce the bio-diesel as part of the colleges’ educational curricula.

BTC Biodiesel Pilot Plant• The small biodiesel production units are converting filtered fryer oil

from restaurants and food production into a cleaner bio-diesel fuel for commercial utility vehicles. The units will produce 144,000 gallons of bio-diesel fuel for the first year of operation.

• Puget Sound Energy (Washington) and BC Hydro (British Columbia) will operate utility trucks on the hybrid bio-diesel fuels. Each company will run a fleet of trucks that uses one of three blends of the bio-diesel product: B-5 (5 percent bio-diesel), B-20 (20 percent bio-diesel) or B-100 (100 percent bio-diesel).

Total bio-diesel usage will be 12,000 gallons per month. The utilities will purchase the bio-diesel at the traditional diesel fuel price.

• For more information go to the NWETC website and Washington Technology Center website

Process flow chart

Methanol recovery and settling

Overall unit

Feed material

Feed tank

Alkali mix tank and reactor

Reactor

Reactor heater and pump controls

Reactor and settling

tank

Methanol recovery

Methanol recovery

Product washer

Settler

Product