Tennessee company opens biodiesel plant in Arkansas
The first truckload of the alternative fuel has been sold from the Eastman Chemical plant near Batesville, the first Arkansas facility to produce biodiesel.
Eastman announced in January its switch to environment-friendly biodiesel to fuel more than 200 trucks, buses and heavy equipment at its plant in Tennessee, expecting to use 60,000 gallons this year.
The Batesville facility was built to produce different types of chemicals, but now makes biodiesel from soybean oil from Arkansas-grown soybeans.
Biodiesel can be made from vegetable oils or recycled cooking oil. More than 85 percent comes from soybeans.
“We’re online now with 3 million gallons of capacity annually, and we are currently expanding that, expecting to double that capacity to 6 million gallons by year end,” Batesville operation general manager Randy Powell said.
The Batesville plant could be the first of many biodiesel facilities in Arkansas. Annett Pagan, chairman of the Arkansas Alternative Fuels Commission, said she expects a second biodiesel project to be announced. Pagan said three more investor groups also may make proposals.
Pagan said with rising diesel and gasoline prices, biodiesel has become suddenly competitive. Biodiesel runs about $2.75 per gallon. The AAA reported Friday that the current average diesel price in Arkansas was $3.13 per gallon.
Batesville plant officials said the Eastman project started as a local feasibility study about six months ago. It has received support from the Arkansas Department of Economic Development, Arkansas Farm Bureau and Arkansas Oil Marketers Association.
Arkansas Farm Bureau statistics show that biodiesel fuel is available in 15 Arkansas counties, most in the eastern part of the state.
Biodiesel could be a boon for Arkansas soybean growers, who have seen their crop suffer as a food product in recent years, said Robert Stobaugh, a Morrilton-area soybean farmer and Arkansas lone member on the National Biodiesel Board.
“We need to move into the energy market,” Stobaugh said.
West Memphis-area soybean farmer Todd Allen said biodiesel creates demand for Arkansas soybeans.
“It will reduce our dependence on foreign oil and it will help to sustain the profitability of Arkansas soybean farmers,” Allen said.
In terms of acreage, soybeans are Arkansas’ No. 1 row crop. Arkansas farmers harvested 3 million acres of soybeans this year, or 102 million bushels, and 27 million gallons a year of soybean oil.
The Batesville plant employs 400 people.