Doug Smith

R&D/QA Director, Baker Commodities

Doug Smith started working at Chemol Company, the Oleo Chemicals Division at Carolina By-Products, in 1987 in the quality lab. He worked his way up to plant supervisor and then went on to become manager of the Chemol Corporate Lab for both Chemol and Carolina By-Products in Greensboro, North Carolina. Beginning around 1990, Doug started making batches of methyl ethers out of soy at the instruction of Fred Wellons, his boss and General Manager of Chemol, who was working to diversify the company's product line and customer base. Doug recalls that because of biodiesel's biodegradable characteristic, Fred successfully targeted boaters as well as other soy-based biodiesel users. The biodiesel made in Doug's lab at that time was some of the first ever to be sold on the East Coast.

Doug, who holds a B.S. in Chemistry, a B.A.S. in Business Management, and an A.A.S. in Industrial Management, said, "At the time I was somewhat skeptical of biodiesel because I thought it was always going to be a small niche market." He added, "I enjoyed the hands-on process of making biodiesel, though not the greasy part, and looking back I realize that those were memorable times and that's when I got my biodiesel education." 

Those very early batches had to reach just a few purity specs, mainly cloud point, to get the fuel to stay clear and keep it from setting up. But even then, Doug remembers, the process was all about trying to improve the product. Fred brought in a variety of different oils and fats, and Doug learned how to make methyl ethers from different sources and in batches ranging in size from 500 milliliters to 10,000 gallons. In 1992, the lab got a copy of what was known then as the Kristina Plank test method form the Kristina Plank Institute in Graz, Austria. They started running free glycerin, mono-, di-, and triglyceride levels to calculate the total glycerin in the biodiesel produced. 

Doug says that Chemol was extremely fortunate to be one of the companies invited to do some of the first round robins for Williams Pipe Line Company (now Magellan Pipeline Company) and became increasingly involved in working to set standards. "Although, we didn't submit many samples our experience in processing was valued, Doug said." In the early days, Chuck Haber of Williams took the lead in this testing, and eventually wrote up the protocols and authored the original of the ASTM method we have today.

Chemol was sold to a textile products company in 1996, which Doug says was a good thing at the time. Unfortunately, in later years, the chemical division resorted to layoffs to deal with the resulting tight financial situation. Fred Wellons was already working as a private consultant, and in May of 2001, Doug became a consultant, as well, focusing his work on a variety of biodiesel plants.

In January 2002, Baker Commodities, one of the nation's leading providers of rendering and grease removal services, had a plan to produce biodiesel and a joint venture in place. Fred Wellons had become their R&D manager and brought Doug in as special projects manager to run the corporate lab and oversee rendering and biodiesel projects in 2003. Baker purchased a biodiesel process and design engineering firm, which they still have in Minneapolis, where Doug is also the General Manager of Superior Process Technologies. The biodiesel plant designs have gone through a number of changes over the years. Doug explains that the owner of Baker is still interested in building, but the projects are on hold until the economics improve and meet the companies ROI requirements.

When asked about the most important issues facing the California biodiesel industry now, Doug says that even though we have made progress, such as with underground storage tank regulations, there are still quite a few other obstacles, including slow approval processes and emissions regulations uncertainty. He describes what he sees as a throwing the baby out with the bathwater situation when it comes to regulatory processes that inhibit clean industry in California with the result that both pollution and American jobs get exported. "We need a middle-ground so that we can keep jobs here instead of overseas and still protect the environment," he said.

In his speech at the California Biodiesel and Renewable Diesel Conference this January, Doug made the point that the industry needs a new name for what is now erroneously called "waste cooking oil," a title that suggests a lack of value. He offers a possible new title - "recyclable cooking oils." In fact, recyclable vegetable oils have become so valuable that Baker Commodities suffered a loss of over one million dollars last year in grease theft alone at the hands of thieves who are using increasingly destructive methods. A bit more attention has been paid to grease theft in the last few years, but much more needs to be done. 

Doug works to address the problem of grease theft with the Pacific Coast Renderers Association and the only enforcing agency that has this issue on their radar, the USDA. Doug reports that the USDA can only do so much and penalties are not high enough to be a real deterrent. Most police agencies are beginning to recognize the thefts and make arrests, but many District Attorneys decline to prosecute as they think it does not present any real community danger or serious damage. So far, Baker's best strategy to combat this problem has been to put locking collection tanks inside their client businesses, a more expensive system. Doug brought this issue up at the recent CBA member meeting and it is on the agenda for further discussion.

Doug, now R&D/QA Director at Baker, praises the company's top-down culture of honesty and ethical practices, which he sums up simply as, "You gotta do business right." Doug has been doing just that for 25 years, bringing his vast rendering and oleochemicals industry experience and knowledge of production, R&D, analytical testing, and safety and hazardous materials management to these volunteer industry positions:

• Governing Board Member, National BIodiesel Board
• Commissioner, BQ-9000 National Biodiesel Accreditation
• Member, National Biodiesel Board Sustainability Task Force (in recess)
• ASTM member for Cold Flow Properties in D02
• Secretary and co-founding member, California Biodiesel Alliance
• National Renderers Association (NRA) in the Fats and Protein Research
• Pacific Coast Renderers Association
• Foundation (FPRF) and the Animal Co-Products Research and Education Center (ACREC) at Clemson University on the Research Committee
• Clean Water and Environment Association (CWEA) in California, working with water treatment divisions

When asked how he makes the time for so much volunteer work, Doug says that sometimes it's hard, but he really enjoys doing work that he believes is helping to create a better future, and thanks the owner and sons of Baker Commodities for being supportive. He is motivated by his sons, ages 12 and 14, whom he'd like to bequeath a world well on its way to cleaner, cheaper, and more sustainable types of energy that no one ever has to go to war for.

Doug Smith is proud to have been "born and bred in the hillbilly Blue Ridge Mountains" of North Carolina. CBA is grateful for his early work in biodiesel there and happy that he ended up in California where we benefit tremendously from his commitment to the state's biodiesel industry.