It was just May 5 when Middle Georgia’s first B20 pump was unveiled in a ceremony in Centerville. Now the availability of biodiesel in the region is being enhanced with the addition of a new facility designed to produce the fuel. U.S. Biofuels Inc. has started production at its new 10 MMgy plant in Rome, Ga., according to Tom McGurk, company vice president.

Test batches were conducted in late July/early August will full-scale production now getting underway. “We are up and running,” McGurk said, adding that rail cars of biodiesel have been shipped out.

Construction on equipment for the facility began in January, although the actual production site wasn’t moved into until this summer, according to McGurk. The plant is located in a retrofitted chemical processing facility.

U.S. Biofuels Inc. previously operated a 4 MMgy plant in Rome that used poultry grease and soy oil as feedstock. That facility has since been shut down in favor of the larger facility. McGurk said there were only a few days of non-production between shutting the prior facility down and starting up the new plant.

“We are still ramping up,” McGurk told BiodieselMagazine.com. “We are waiting on some of the additional feedstock we have reserved to come on line.”

U.S. Biofuels Inc.
Location: Rome, Georgia
Design/builder: U.S. Biofuels Inc.
Capacity: 10 MMgy
Feedstock: multi-feedstock
Biodiesel marketer: U.S. Biofuels Inc.
Start of construction: January 2006
Start-up date: August 2006

Posted: 9:50 a.m. CDT Wednesday, August 30, 2006