Raleigh Lands Grant for Biodiesel Production at Wastewater Plant
(City of Raleigh, NC/Biodiesel Magazine) The city of Raleigh has received a $100,000 grant from the Biofuels Center of North Carolina to purchase processing equipment and begin biofuel production at the Neuse River Wastewater Treatment Plant.
In 2010, the City of Raleigh Public Utilities Department staff planted 27 acres of sunflowers on effluent-irrigated lands, which yielded 1,258 gallons of biodiesel. One lesson learned from the pilot project was the unanticipated cost of crushing seed and the lack of local processors. The Neuse River Wastewater Treatment Plant currently uses approximately 25,000 gallons of diesel per year for agricultural equipment operation. The plant’s staff is pursuing the development of an oilseed processing facility on site to displace at least 50 percent of the diesel fuel used annually with biodiesel.
…Biofuel production advances will serve as a model for other North Carolina municipalities, and assist in meeting the state of North Carolina’s goal of displacing 10 percent of petroleum fuels with locally grown biofuel.
The city of Raleigh will serve as a model training site for other municipal wastewater treatment facilities in the state. Across North Carolina, 203 municipal facilities, with more than 90,000 acres, were permitted by the state of North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources to land apply wastewater or biosolids. Municipal facilities may be able to make a significant contribution to the state’s petroleum fuel displacement while minimizing competition between food and biofuels for prime agriculture land. READ MORE
