|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Tales from the Plant
| June 2010
|
Greetings!
 It appears we are running out of June. But not out of news.
Rachel gave birth to Linus, so there is a new baby in the mix. We think the fact that he has a "weird "L" name bodes well for his future on our project. People sometimes call the Control Room and say, "I forget who I was talking to. Some guy with a weird name that started with "L."
To which we say, "Lyle?" "Nope." "Leif?" "Nope." "Must have been "Link."
We think "Linus" will fit right in.
Mother and child are doing fine--but for now you won't see either one of them around town. We kinda have to go to them.
Our Design-Build department shipped another one of their legendary cavitational reactor units to Middletown Biofuels, and finished a degumming skid for a farm in western North Carolina. Crude soybean oil needs to be de-gummed before it can be used for either food, or biodiesel.
Chris Jude takes a tour shift with students from NC State  | June has been a big month for tours at the plant. We hosted a group of interns from the Center for Environmental Farm Systems, and an Engineering camp from NC State University, a group of science teachers from NC A+T, and of course, we were crushed by TrkFest. We were flattered by a write up they did at Guilford College after their "Trip Down Lorax Lane."
Our Research and Analytics business has it nose to the grindstone, preparing for next month's launch of America's first enzymatic biodiesel pilot plant.
Fuel production crept up in June, thanks to increased collections from Moya and our restaurant partners, and opportunistic feedstock acquisition by Leif. Jeremy and Link have kept the plant spinning, meeting the needs of both our oil company customers and the demands of the B100 Community Trail.
It's June. It's hot. And the banana trees at the plant have started to fruit. We hope you enjoy issue #4.
Before we sign off, we should note that we are perpetually inspired by the signatory lines used on the newsletters from the Abundance Foundation. They tend to say things like "Queen Anne's Lace and Blueberries," or "Carrots and Mardi Gras Beads." We don't like being outdone by them, so we have decided to enter the sign off verbiage fray:
Cavitators and triglycerides,
Piedmont Biofuels
|
|
|
|
|
|
TRKFest is a Smash Hit
 On June 26 our campus was crushed by the third annual "TRKFest," put on by the good folks at Trekky Records.
They had a bunch of bands on two stages. They catered with local food by Angelina's Kitchen and Only Burger. And they served locally brewed beer by Carolina Brewery. It was a festival that could not be beat. Thanks go to our sister non-profit Abundance Foundation and to our lead party organizer, Chris Jude.
Zafer and Camille paint logos on the wall to prepare for TRKFest. As always, the work is a little off center, but beautiful just the same.  | One of the many alignments Piedmont shares with Trekky is that neither organization is powered by greed. As a record label they invited non-Trekky acts to perform. It seems they are more interested in the community around the local music scene than they are in lining their pockets with silver.
Tents went up, they installed their "custom cooling system," a garden hose with misters, volunteers converged from all over, and a festival emerged. They liken it to a "field day" in public school combined with a birthday party. The cake walk, the musical chairs, and "dance-off, pants off" are festival favorites. For them it is an afternoon party.
For us it is a little more like hosting Woodstock.
We were delighted to collaborate with such a fine group of cool people. |
Piedmont Spins Fuel for the EPA
The EPA has long been a fan of biodiesel from an emissions perspective. All of the commercial biodiesel makers in the United States register with the EPA before they can legally sell fuel for onroad use.
The question before them now is to calculate the emissions differences between biodiesel derived from different feedstocks. The EPA has taken up this question, and they have hired Piedmont's Research and Analytics group to make fuel from virgin soybean oil, poultry fat, virgin canola oil, and used cooking oil. Piedmont will deliver the fuel to their Research Triangle Park facility, and they will set about analyzing the emissions from each type of fuel.
One of the interesting sidebars that emerged from this contract is an EPA's toxicologist's interest in taking blood, urine, and hair samples from our members and comparing it to the public at large. Many of us who have been running around exclusively on B100 for many years report headaches when exposed to petroleum. Interesting...
|
Cavitational Reactors Continue to Ship
David and Joe prepare to "shrink wrap" a cavitational reactor skid before embarking on the long drive to Pennsylvania to deliver and install. This unit is capable of 2MGPY on a continuous flow basis. We wish we had one...
|
Building a Life Raft
 Richard Heinberg introduced us to the notion of "Life Boats," in his book on peak oil entitled Power Down. Sometimes at Piedmont it feels as if we are doing exactly that.
The work is hard, the hours are long, the pay is mediocre, the future is uncertain, but we are still standing. Still afloat. Right now we are experiencing a "Membership Crush," which we think is due in large part to the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico right now.
We think there are other "life boats" in our community, and we think you might be able to identify them by the signature lines on their newsletters. Check out Pickard's Mountain Eco Institute, who signs off with "Blessings of warm juicy strawberries and baby chicks."
Who knows? We don't. We know that we like strawberries. And baby chicks. And Queen Anne's lace. And we know that the job that lies before us is to keep on paddling...
|
|
|
Grease Appreciation
Dinner!
Tuesday, July 13th at Carolina Brewery in Pittsboro
Our Pittsboro Tank sells more fuel than any of the others we service--which we think is sort of strange. We do collect some grease in Pittsboro--from places like Al's Diner, and Angelina's Kitchen, and Carolina Brewery. We are always hungry for more used cooking oil, and we always have a blast on Grease Appreciation Night. Join us if you can. Dinner starts at 6:30.  |
Keepin' it Greasy with the Grease Goddess...
Moya, our Grease Goddess, and her team of oil collectors procure
used cooking from restaurants, country clubs, universities and schools around the Triad and Triangle.
She is working
hard to expand Piedmont's Oil
Collection business and would love to take any and all of your
waste vegetable oil. Already on board? Spread the word.
Moya can be reached at greasegoddess[at]biofuels.coop |
Partners in Sustainability
|
Piedmont's Partners in Sustainability program is our
way of thanking the restaurants and kitchens that support us. We want to
highlight the collaborative efforts we all make demonstrating a more sustainable future for North Carolina.
We
are currently growing our Partners in Sustainability program so that it
may better serve and distinguish our fellow partners. This program
provides each partner with a listing on our website. We also feature
our partners in this newsletter and we stage Grease Appreciate Dinners at partner locations. Our partners are an integral part of our
sustainability team when we travel to our educational and civic
engagements, as they are
featured in our promotional materials.
Here's the thing. Not
everyone runs around on locally made biodiesel. But everyone eats. We
have plenty of members who support what we are doing but have not yet
made it to our fuel. They are supporters of a cause. If you are a
restaurant or a food service organization you will find that by
becoming a Piedmont Partner in Sustainability you will gain new
customers who value your commitment to sustaining human life on this
garden planet.
|
|
| Contact Information |
Membership Services
Rachel Burton and Lyle Estill
919-321-8260
|
|
|
|
|
