The major market for soybeans in Maryland is now the poultry industry. Farmers sell their beans to Perdue Farms, which crushes them into meal, for chicken feed. A byproduct is soybean oil, most of which is sold to the food industry, said Perdue spokeswoman Julie DeYoung, but a small but growing portion is sold to two biodiesel plants. Hot oil can be blended with ethanol and potash to make glycerin and biodiesel.
That is the basic recipe that James Warren, owner of the Cropper Oil Co. in Berlin, Md., on the Eastern Shore, plans to use in a biodiesel plant for which construction is to begin in January. Warren has been helped by federal tax incentives that lessen the cost of producing biodiesel, and the Worcester County Commissioners voted this month to change county zoning to allow such an operation. He plans initially to produce between 500,000 and 1 million gallons a year.
"The more demand for biodiesel, the more demand for soybeans, and that's going to help the profit off the beans," said Warren, who is also a soybean farmer. "I heard a lot of farmers talking about biodiesel . . . when the prices [of regular diesel] were going up so high and they were tired of it, and they were saying, 'I'd rather see somebody here get paid than some foreigner.' "
The biodiesel industry, in its nascent stage, still must overcome obstacles -- including but not limited to the higher cost -- before it attains widespread use. The average driver can purchase biodiesel at only a couple dozen gas stations in the region, for instance.
In colder temperatures, it can become thick and sludge-like, especially the pure biodiesel. It also has solvent properties that, while capable of cleaning an engine, can result in plugged filters, Warren said.
"It's just taking off. I think it's going to be a niche product," said Michael Besche, president of Waldorf-based Besche Oil, which distributes diesel to about 50 service stations in Maryland and is considering distributing biodiesel. "When you start talking about billions and billions of gallons of diesel, and the amount of soybeans that would have to be grown to produce it, there are limits."
Still, Besche said, with mandates from such large institutions as the Navy to use alternative fuels, there may be a good market in the area. Also, since the permissible sulfur content of regular diesel is set to be massively reduced next year, biodiesel -- with no sulfur -- could be attractive as a blend, he said.
It was the sulfur smell that first led Paul Waxman, an employee at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station in St. Mary's County, to search for alternatives for his turbo-diesel Jetta. He has been driving on 100 percent biodiesel for four years now and said he much prefers the deep-fried smell of soybean oil. He said nothing needed to be done to get his car ready for the new fuel.
Waxman said a friend of his in Calvert County drives 80 miles to buy 200 gallons of biodiesel from a service station in New Windsor, Md., in Carroll County, and a small group shares the fuel.
"I don't remember the last time I went to a gas station," he said.
