Tyson Foods and ConocoPhillips to Produce Diesel Fuel From Animal Fat

NY Times ^ | April 17, 2007 | CLIFFORD KRAUSS

[neverdem]

HOUSTON, April 16 — Tyson Foods and ConocoPhillips have cooked up a new recipe for your pickup truck.

The two companies announced Monday that they were forming an alliance to produce and market diesel fuel made from pork, poultry and beef fat. It was another sign that farmers and agribusinesses, which are now producing corn for ethanol, will be playing an increasingly large part in the country’s energy future. The new brew should be available at the neighborhood filling station by the end of the year.

The companies said that the diesel, which will be shipped and distributed through existing pipelines from ConocoPhillips refineries, would burn cleaner than conventional diesel. Much of the feedstock for the fuel will come from several Tyson rendering plants.

“This strategic alliance is a big win for the entire agricultural sector because it paves the way for great participation of fats and oils in renewable fuels,” said Richard L. Bond, Tyson’s president and chief executive.

ConocoPhillips, the third-largest American oil company, began producing some diesel from soybean oil last year at a plant in Cork, Ireland. The processing technology for the fat-based diesel was developed and successfully tested at the Irish plant.

The oil company’s alliance with Tyson indicates an even greater interest in pursuing biofuels; several other companies including Chevron and BP have expressed similar interests recently.

Efforts to reprocess animal fat will begin at some Tyson plants by the end of the year, and production is expected to reach 175 million gallons a year by 2009. That represents about 3 percent of the diesel produced by ConocoPhillips in the United States.

A total of 250 million gallons of biodiesel was produced in the United States last year, a minuscule percentage of the total American diesel market. But biodiesel production is expected to grow...

[Red Badger]

It will go up regardless!......just not as fast............

[Elsie]

Rosie!!!

Run and hide!!

Hide WELL, my pretty!

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[Elsie]

GMTA

[Elsie]

(Was that a bio-diesel exhaust; or did I just fart?)

[Red Badger]

I’m sorry. I don’t know what GMTA is.......

[P-40]

The military has been doing some test flights, but I don’t know if those particular craft were used.

[reformedliberal]

Wouldn’t the ability to utilize what was formerly just waste, delay price rises? Each carcass will now generate more revenue. Since Tyson had to pay for waste removal prior to this and are now selling it to Conoco, Tyson is saving money, earning revenue from the former waste and Conoco has a new, lower cost source for its final product.

Will this market bring back the fat hog? Those animals, which used to be raised for lard, could be fed on anything and usually were. I know the ones that were raised by the former owners of our farm were fed on stale Fanny May candy, which the farmer got for next to nothing, since both he and he wife worked for Fanny May.

I don’t think this sort of innovation is economically zero-sum. Meat isn't being used for biodiesel. Anyone concerned about the scarcity of meat animals for food could also think about raising some.

OTOH, everything goes up, over time.

[neverdem]

Thanks for the link.

[AdmSmith]

This 1.5 MB pdf-file is informative http://www.climatechange.ca.gov/events/2006-06-27+28_symposium/presentations/CalHodge_handout_NESTE_OIL.PDF

[neverdem]

Thanks for the link.

[Elsie]

Great minds think alike

[insider_uk]

A symbol used to identify 'Vegetarian safe' products.
I assumed it was used worldwide.

[Red Badger]

I’ve not seen it before.......I thought it was a symbol for “green” tech automobiles...........