Case Study

From Milk to Diesel in Vermont's Syrup Country

By Frankie Abralind

More in the Fall 2008 issue

John Williamson has a clear vision for his farm's fuel needs. He wants to meet them himself.

The powerful seed-to-fuel-tank system he's built at his farm, with help from friends, family and a sympathetic engineer is going to help him accomplish that, and support some neighboring farms along the way.

Five years ago, and for decades before that, this was a dairy and maple sugar operation. State Line Farm still pumps out hundreds of gallons of the country's finest maple syrup, but all the dairy expertise has shifted into biodiesel mode.

State Line Farm has been involved in oilseed research for the last few years. In partnership with University of Vermont Agricultural Extension, Williamson, his father Jim and his son Tanner have crops of sunflower, camelina, mustard seed, flax and safflower growing right now, and have made biodiesel from all of them (yes, even the flax oil!).

On June 3rd, the Shaftsbury, Vermont farm opened its doors for its third annual biodiesel open house. The event was a wide-reaching exploration of many aspects of farm-based fuel.

The "Clean Tech" Class

Piedmont Biofuels anchored the State Line Farm biodiesel open house with a deluxe day-long biodiesel basics class.

Sponsored by the Vermont Sustainable Jobs Fund and the USDA Risk Management Agency in cooperation with the National Center for Appropriate Technology, the class deftly covered a wide range of topics, including the chemistry of transesterification; hands-on sample batch production with washing and drying steps; an overview of the ASTM fuel quality specs; even live-action software to evaluate the economics of growing seed for on-farm biodiesel production.

Matt Rudolf, director of Piedmont Biofuels Co-op, and Tim Angert, Piedmont's senior intern, took turns teaching segments of the class. The two were there as part of a 10-stop tour of the east coast, teaching the sophisticated class to audiences of farmers and other clean energy enthusiasts.

"Clean Tech," a custom-built, demonstration-scale biodiesel system enclosed in a trailer, provided the main attraction.

Built by Tim Angert with guidance from David Thornton and Rudolf and help from other Piedmont interns, the system represents quite a step up from previous versions that have toured the biodiesel class circuit.

Clean Tech showcases methanol recovery, along with a water wash system, air drying and a Purolite fuel-polishing column (not yet in operation by the start of this tour). The back door opens as well, revealing the fully-operational seed crushing mill for oil extraction demonstrations.

Everything is powered by an onboard generator that runs on the fuel.

Humming quietly in the background during lectures, the demonstration system turns 25 gallons of used fryer oil into washed and dried high-quality biodiesel by the end of an 8 hour class. The fuel is then pumped into the "Bio-Dually's" fuel tank to power the trip home. S

For more information on scheduling a class in your area, contact Matt@biofuels.coop or visit www.biofuels.coop, the Piedmont Biofuels website.

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