Washington state railroad to make its own biodiesel

In Washington State, Tri-City & Olympia Railroad has established a subsidiary, Green Diesel, to make biodiesel for the railroad. The subsidiary has established a 1 Mgy research plant in Richland that will produce fuels for use on the 127-mile railroad that uses 500 gallons of fuel per week for the 100 cars it runs on the line. The plant is scheduled to begin operations as soon as April, and is the first biodiesel plant owned and operated by a railroad.

Washington State is home to the largest biodiesel plant in the country, the Imperium Renewables plant in Grays Harbor. Imperium has been struggling of late, with layoffs and the departure of its CEO, but the state has continued at the forefront of biodiesel production and distribution. Last week, Propel Biofuels said it would open 35 standalone biodiesel service stations this year in Washington, Oregon and California. The company said that it would sell B20 at smaller outlets and B20 and B99 at larger stations, such as its 9,000 square foot station in downtown Seattle.

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