Alternative Transportation Fuels Coming to Greater Charleston Area
Southeast BioDiesel Hosts Grand Opening
NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. – Southeast BioDiesel announces the grand opening of their South Carolina production facility on October 27, 2006. Southeast BioDiesel is located at 1005 Kinzer Street, North Charleston, South Carolina.
Commercial production will begin in November. When complete, the Southeast BioDiesel plant will produce 30,000 gallons of B100 biodiesel daily from multiple feedstocks, including recycled cooking oils. According to the National Biodiesel Board, the North Charleston facility will be one of only 36 such multiple feedstock plants nationwide.
“We have received a terrific welcome here, and the interest in and demand for biodiesel is strong,” said Dean Schmelter, President of Southeast BioDiesel. “We’re committed to the Charleston area and our business plan already includes a second facility here.”
Biodiesel is a cleaner burning alternative transportation fuel, produced from any fat or vegetable oil, such as soybean oil or recycled cooking oils. Biodiesel contains no petroleum, but can be mixed with petroleum diesel to create a biodiesel blend used in diesel engines with few or no modifications. Biodiesel is simple to use, domestically produced, biodegradable, nontoxic, and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics.
“Right now, we are burning 6.8 billion gallons of diesel fuel annually, and that figure is expected to rise to 11.1 billion gallons by 2020”, said John F. Clark, Director of the South Carolina Energy Office. “If we could substitute South Carolina biodiesel for 15 percent of the projected increase, we would, by 2020, have added millions to the income of South Carolinians, and reduced emissions by 146 metric tons of carbon dioxide, 94 million kilograms of sulfur dioxide, and substantial amounts of airborne particulate matter.”
For more information, visit the Southeast BioDiesel Website at www.sebd.biz or contact Jim Thompson at (843) 746-9007 or j.thompson@sebd.biz.