Pacific Natural Energy Corp. Bio-Box

The Bio-Box biodiesel fuel factory from Pacific Natural Energy Corp. enables pumpers to economically make fuel from things they’d normally pay to dispose of like grease-trap waste and waste fryer grease.

The Bio-Box biodiesel fuel factory from Pacific Natural Energy Corp. enables pumpers to economically make fuel from things they’d normally pay to dispose of like grease-trap waste and waste fryer grease.

“This system allows liquid waste carriers who otherwise couldn’t make their own fuel to legally produce biodiesel for about $1.25 a gallon,” says Eric McLeod, president of Pacific Natural. “Because this is aimed at mid-size users, there aren’t as many barriers to market entry as there are with building a large biofuel factory.”

The system’s modular design allows operators to start out small and expand as needed with a series of “plug and play” units. The equipment is delivered and installed inside standard, 20-foot-long shipping containers and, as such, can be kept outdoors or indoors. No special power source is required.

“We offer a total solution,” McLeod explains. “Everything is completely contained from the time the system receives waste material from a vac truck to the time it goes back into a truck as fuel.”

The system footprint ranges from 2,000 square feet to 10,000 square feet (which includes space for truck access), with tank capacities of 650 to 2,600 gallons. The system is capable of producing anywhere from 400 to 15,000 gallons per day or 100,000 to four or five million gallons annually. It can also include safe storage space for ingredients such as methanol, McLeod says.

“We designed the system for flexibility,” McLeod says. “A giant, centralized factory creates logistical issues, like how to obtain and store large quantities of raw materials, such as methanol. But a smaller, decentralized system eliminates those logistical concerns. We use many small units as opposed to a few large units.”

The Bio-Box can be skid mounted for easy portability as well as expansion. Each system is factory built to customer specifications, and after delivery, can be operational in as little as 48 hours, McLeod says.

“All customers have to do is tell us how much raw material they collect, and we scale the design to their comfort level,” McLeod says.

The price is “fairly significant,” McLeod says, because it’s expensive to make equipment that meets all permit requirements. Pacific Natural obtains all the required permits, which typically cover about a half dozen different federal, state, county and local jurisdictions.

“This is a good solution for operators who are losing profits to higher fuel costs,” McLeod notes. “Not only do they avoid disposal costs, but they can also produce their own biodiesel fuel and sell it at the market rate.”

For safety reasons, two employees are legally required to operate the system. Pacific Natural sends technicians on site to teach customers how to operate it, McLeod says. For more information, call 818/760-2823 or visit www.stopxon.com.



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