Biodiesel boom

Friday, May 25, 2001 | 11:27 a.m.

It's a long way from the Florida Keys to Las Vegas, and a big career move from publishing to fuel manufacturing. But Russ Teal, originally trained as a lawyer, then a publisher, is a curious guy.

Teal is now a force behind the country's first filling station, in Sparks, that sells a fuel made of recycled cooking oil.

Called biodiesel, the fuel is produced in Las Vegas from grease that the MGM Grand hotel-casino would normally send to the Apex landfill. The fuel is now available to the public in Sparks for $1.62 per gallon -- comparable to Northern Nevada diesel prices, which range from $1.48 to $1.65 per gallon, said Teal.

Teal is president of Biodiesel Industries, which manufactures the Environmental Protection Agency-approved fuel. It is a cleaner-burning alternative to diesel that gets comparable gas mileage and also helps motors run smoother, government tests confirm.

In the Sparks station, 20 percent of the fuel is mixed with 80 percent petroleum-based diesel, producing a new fuel previously unavailable to consumers.

Though Teal would not reveal production costs, he did indicate that a major difference between the two fuels lies in basing production on a stable-priced raw material such as used cooking oil, versus an unstable product such as petroleum.

Similarly, Teal's alternative fuel is locally produced, and his plant has the added feature of being mobile, as compared to centralized oil refineries, which must send fuel long distances by pipeline.

According to Jenna Higgins, spokeswoman at the National Biodiesel Board in Missouri, nearly all of the nation's buses, trucks and construction vehicles run on diesel, producing about 40 percent of the dust, 44 percent of the carbon monoxide and most of the sulfates found in the air.

Biodiesel, made from recycled or unused cooking oil, produces none of these pollutants.

Teal's study of the fuel and odyssey to Las Vegas began seven years ago, when he read an article about Brian Peterson, who traveled the world in an inflatable boat powered by a fuel made from unused soy oil.

At the time, he was also president of a boat owners' association and decided to call the National Biodiesel Board, which has studied and promoted the fuel since 1992.

"I said it would be a great idea for them to test this fuel on boats, and they wound up hiring me to do just that," he said.

After several years of tinkering, Teal was en route to California with the idea of setting up a plant to manufacture his alternative fuel.

"I knew the state had a lot of problems with air pollution and was going to need an alternative to diesel," he said.

He never made it. After seeing Teal give a presentation to the National Clean Cities Association, now outgoing head of the Nevada Energy Office James Brandmueller asked him to consider setting up shop here.

"It was incredible, being able to talk to the people who are regulating -- something I wouldn't have been able to do in California," Teal said.

Teal entered into a joint-venture partnership with Las Vegas' Haycock Petroleum Co. Their plant is now one of only six biodiesel manufacturers in the United States and the sole producer in the West. There are 17 EPA-regulated suppliers.

Still, Teal may be onto something, since biodiesel use grew 700 percent last year nationwide, making it the fastest-growing alternative fuel source, said Higgins.

Six million gallons were used last year; an estimated 20 million will be used in 2001, said Higgins.

Biodiesel is no newcomer in Europe; Germans developed it during World War II when fuel was scarce. There are now 600 pumps across Germany. France requires that 15 percent of vehicles in cities use biodiesel.

Alternative fuels will be increasingly important here, as the Department of Energy's 1992 Energy Policy Act mandates that 90 percent of all government vehicles bought in 2001 use alternative fuels.

Passed to reduce dependance on foreign oil, the law's required percentage rises each year, causing government agencies to search for fuel sources that are inexpensive, require little or no vehicle overhauling and are clean-burning.

Biodiesel fuels satisfy all three requirements, leading Las Vegas Valley Water District and affiliated municipalities to enter into contracts with Biodiesel Industries for a million gallons of the fuel for 2001.

At this point, Teal's customers include the cities of Henderson and Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Valley Water District and the Clark County Health District -- which is buying the fuel to test it in construction vehicles.

Now, with the opening of the filling station at 655 Stanford Way in Sparks, truck drivers and, for that matter, weekend tourists, can try the fuel made in Las Vegas.

"If they can add anything to a diesel fuel that would lower the sulfur and soot and produce the same heat -- which makes for the horsepower, without raising the price, then I'm all for it," said Wayne R. King Sr., a Las Vegas trucker and diesel mechanic for 32 years.

If the alternative fuel does catch on, the raw material for making it here in Nevada is guaranteed for a long time.

"MGM alone throws out about 50,000 gallons of cooking oil a year, and the Peppermill hotel-casino in Reno uses 25,000 gallons," said Teal.

"People come here and tend to abuse themselves and overdose on french fries and onion rings. Now we can all gain from this," he said.