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WHO'S WHO IN CALIFORNIA BIODIESEL
Russell Teall
President and Founder, BIODICO (formerly Biodiesel Industries)
After reading an article about Brian Peterson's biodiesel-powered boat trip around the world, attorney and environmentalist Russ Teall called the 800-number listed in the article for the newly formed National Biodiesel Board (NBB). It was 1993, and Russ wanted to find out exactly what this mystery fuel was. When NBB staff asked Russ, then President of the National Boat Owners Association, what boat owners would think about biodiesel, he recommended that they send someone down to his area, the Florida Keys, to talk with boaters and that they do a study. Two months later they called and asked him to do the study, which he did with many engines, under many conditions, and with many different kinds of boats from commercial craft to private yachts.
The results were irrefutable. Convinced that biodiesel was viable and superior to petroleum diesel, Russ began consulting with biodiesel companies. But Russ had a vision, and by 1995 he had formed his first biodiesel R&D company with a focus on modular production plants and something he identified early on as a key element of stability - multiple feedstocks grown sustainably without impacting food production. Since then, Russ has also been around the world with biodesel. He has developed production facilities in California, Colorado, Nevada, Texas and Australia using his own patented innovations and has conducted feedstock and production feasibility studies and cooperative research for clients in the US, India, Bolivia, Haiti, Paraguay, Mexico, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Ghana and China.
When Russ started out in the business, the only biodiesel production plants available for purchase were European and very expensive, so he was forced to design and build his first plant on his own. This demo unit, built in Las Vegas on Chevron property in 1998, was later expanded into a commercial plant. During these early years, Russ was fortunate to participate in the development of the ASTM provisional standard for biodiesel and the relationship of the standards to production practices, important early lessons in the critical need for timely on-site laboratory testing for fuel quality.
Russ had identified the Navy, the largest user of diesel fuel in the world, as his target customer and soon had the very good fortune to meet Dr. Mike Sullivan, the Head of Technology Transfer for the western US at the Federal Laboratory Consortium for Technology Transfer (FLC) at a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) conference in 1999. Dr. Sullivan was based in Port Hueneme, California, a short distance from Santa Barbara where Russ' family had lived previously and where his daughter, serendipitously, had decided she wanted to go to high school instead of the Florida Keys.
Because, as Russ describes, the Navy wasn't always as green as it is now, it took 2 1/2 years to get approval for the public private partnership arrangement known as a CRADA (Cooperative Research and Development Agreement). In 2002, the CRADA launched the project at the Naval Base at Port Hueneme with the goal of designing, developing, and implementing modular and portable biodiesel production systems capable of processing the widest possible variety of feedstocks.
Three years ago, when aerospace and defense leader Aerojet wanted to get involved with biofuels, they called Russ. Aerojet's addition to the CRADA allowed for the development and demonstration of ARIES (Automated Remote Real-Time Integrated Energy System) and the development of the next generation of processing capabilities. Russ immediately put Aerojet's systems control capabilities to work, first figuring out how to do the GC test (measures the level of free glycerin plus any unreacted oil or fats) in real time to avoid the problem of testers allowing the reaction to go on longer than necessary (45 minutes). New advanced sensors were able to double and triple the capacity of the plant without an increase in cost. And because 90% of transesterification happens in the first 10 minutes, ARIES was developed to allow operators to see the inflection point, add more reactant and, based on a library of data built up over 10 years, proceed using automation.
Today the human-machine interface allows central command monitoring of hundreds of scalable locations with operators able to see all the key chemical and process parameters in real time. This has resulted in greater yields, quality, and personnel safety.
"The Navy loves ARIES," Russ says, "because the Navy wants to be omnivorous wherever they are, especially in a deployment situation with no infrastructure." He pointed out that this leads to an ideal system for local civilians living in areas with no electricity grid and is one important way to win local hearts and minds toward the goal creating the "best" wars (ones we don't have to fight). The ability of ARIES' Integrated Energy Systems to not only vertically integrated feedstock production but also to generate excess power for local communities holds great promise, especially for developing countries where Russ has done extensive work with biodiesel since 1997. After many years of genetic improvements and innovations, the latest of which includes looking at various hybrids with other plants so it can be harvested with machines, Russ' company BIODICO now maintains Jatropha curcas nurseries and orchard development programs in many countries.
Russ reports that BIODICO's Port Hueneme plant upgrade to 10 million gallons per year using the advanced ARIES system has all permits and approvals and is now under construction. Having done this 4 times before, he is confident that with 3 shifts working 24 hours a day, the plant will be online within 6 months. BIODICO's long-standing work with yellow grease and algae continues, thanks to a recent grant from the California Energy Commission. Under California's Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) the assumption for biodiesel is that all inputs are from fossil fuels. Russ is working to establish an even better CI (carbon index) score for the company's fuel through the use of an advanced algalculture process. This process takes the crude glycerine by-product and anaerobically digests it to produce methane and CO2, which drive micro turbines used to power the plant. The exhaust from the turbines is percolated through algae ponds, where the CO2 is absorbed.
Having served as Vice-Chairman of the NBB and Chairman of NBB's Legislative/Regulatory Committee, Russ currently sits on advisory panels for California's LCFS and the Office of the Chief Scientist of the CIA. As Vice-Chairman of the California Biodiesel Alliance since its inception in 2006, Russ has played a very important role in protecting and advancing the biodiesel industry in California.
Now California's biodiesel community has Russ to thank for what we expect will be a watershed moment for our industry, our first annual conference. His brainchild will come to fruition in San Francisco this January 16th as part of the Pacific West Biomass Conference. In his role as moderator, Russ brings an inestimable amount of knowledge and experience as one of California's most successful biodiesel pioneers whose career in the industry showcases a potent blend of business acumen and commitment to sustainability.
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