Biodiesel Set to Gush in Keystone State

January 1, 2006 – Vol.10 No.41

BIODIESEL SET TO GUSH IN KEYSTONE STATE.

The state where the first oil was found in the U.S. may become a center of the biodiesel industry.

One company AGRA Biofuels has announced that it will build no less than 11 biodiesel plants in Pennsylvania in the next five years. Another company, Keystone Biofuels has a new plant there that’s nearly ready for operation. And, according to the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) four other companies have proposed biodiesel refineries in Pennsylvania.

AGRA alone expects to produce 200 million gallons of biodiesel each year.

The first AGRA production facility will open in Middletown, about 14 miles south of Harrisburg, the capital of the commonwealth. The Keystone Biofuels plant is in Shiremanstown, also near the capital.

Together, the opening of AGRA's eleven new facilities will create up to 3000 new jobs directly and indirectly involved in biodiesel production.

The AGRA announcement and opening of the first plant was welcomed by Governor Ed Rendell who has been actively promoting his American Energy Harvest model that would move the U.S. towards energy independence through the increased use of homegrown and renewable energies.

Keystone says its markets for biodiesel will be fuel distributors, diesel fleets and home heating.

It takes about 1.5 bushels of soybeans to yield one gallon of biodiesel. Visit AGRA at http://www.agrabiofuels.com/ (site under construction) and Keystone at http://www.keystonebiofuels.com/ .