12/07/06 NW Agrifuel

Bill Chandler hopes to begin producing oil next year for biodiesel refining and now he's looking for Idaho farmers to grow oilseed crops. His company, Northwest Agrifuel, will build a oilseed crushing facility in Caldwell to process crops like soybeans, safflower, and canola rapeseed, extracting the oil and a palletized meal that can be used for livestock feed. CHANDLER "It's simply a mechanical screw driven by an electric motor through a gear reduction head. The seeds fall into this design screw mechanism that then squeezes the seeds under pressure that literally just forces the oil out of the seed." Midwest farmers grow soybeans for biodiesel production but soybeans contain only 20 percent oil. CHANDLER "75 percent of that 20 percent out in oil. The rest remains in the meal to add as a high protein and energy content in the meal. For canola or rapeseed or safflower seed now your oil content is up to 40 percent value in the seed so you're going to get a lot more oil per given quantity." From six tons of soybean seed material he'll get 200 gallons of oil but the same amount of canola will yield 400 gallons or more. Today there are no southwestern Idaho oilseed growers, so Chandler needs them, contracts and their crops so he can begin processing next spring. The state's first biodiesel refinery opened recently in nearby New Plymouth. Today's Idaho Ag News Bill Scott