News Item
Whole Energy & Pacifica CA Awarded CARB Grant - 06/08/07
Pacifica, California May 25, 2007- Whole Energy Fuels Corporation and the City of Pacifica have been awarded a grant of $620,000 by the California Air Resources Board to construct a biodiesel plant at the City of Pacifica's Calera Creek water recycling plant. The biodiesel will be produced from used cooking oil collected in San Mateo and adjacent counties. Part of the fuel produced will operate a generator to provide electric power to the biodiesel facility and the water recycling plant.
The City of Pacifica and Whole Energy have partnered with Pacifica's Livability Project to address local energy concerns and discover areas where localization of power generation can be achieved. This is an innovative, collaborative endeavor that seeks to remove problematic waste cooking oil from the waste water stream, combine it with local commercially available waste oil and process it into clean-burning biodiesel. The renewable fuel will then be used in stand-by diesel generators to offset peak electricity used to run the water treatment plant, thereby saving the city considerable monthly energy costs. Pacifica has designed bio-remediation processes that will scrub emissions from these generators.
With a design capacity of 3 million gallons per year, the plant can run sustainably at half that volume allowing for manageable growth in waste oil collection and production. The City is supporting the permitting process, facilitated through co-location with the waste water plant. The plant is projected to be completed in the first quarter of 2008.
"The Pacifica plant is an excellent example of the sustainable, locally integrated facilities Whole Energy develops in conjunction with client communities," says Atul Deshmane, President of Whole Energy, "where biodiesel plants use locally sourced feedstock for local consumption."
A blend of biodiesel/petroleum diesel known as B20 will be used in Pacifica's fleet of diesel vehicles, be made available to other regional municipal fleets and also be made available to both individual and commercial local users.
Whole Energy Fuels has been providing biodiesel to commercial fleets and retail fueling stations throughout Pacific Northwest since 2004. Whole Energy also provides advanced process solutions to the biodiesel industry including the design, building and commissioning of production plants across the country for the purpose of producing and marketing consistently high quality ASTM certified biodiesel.
Back to News