Wonder Fuel

By WEEK Reporter
By Denise Jackson

Very few plants like the Pennycress seed are able to grow in arctic weather like what we are experiencing today.
But some local entrepreneurs and researchers hope their success with the oil producing plant will boost demand for the biodiesel fuel.

Last year two local farmers harvested the Pennycress crop.
Pennycress can be converted into crude oil then processed into biodiesel fuel.
Researchers at the U–S–D–A Ag Lab in Peoria use special equipment to crush the seeds into oil.

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“We estimate we can probably get about 12 billion gallons of Pennycress, about 7–8 percent of current diesel production in the U–S here,” United States Department of Agriculture Researcher Dr. Terry Isbell said.

Biofuels Manufacturers of Illinois plans to operate biodiesel plant in Peoria County.
B–M–I has teamed up with Growmark to market the biodiesel fuel.
Supporters say because of the early June harvest farmers don’t have to interrupt growing schedules for corn or soybean crops an do not have to displace their food source to grown fuel.

“The purpose of going to the next larger scale is to demonstrate that what we did on the lab bench can be replicated in a very large scale commercial process.
That’s what we need to convince the vendors that they can buy this oil and sell it to their customers with quality assurance guarantee,” Biofuels Manufacturers of Illinois official Peter Johnson said.

The group hopes to eventually convince enough farmers to take advantage of the opportunity for expanding their income by growing Pennycress.
A representative of B–M–I will meet with members of the Peoria County Farm Bureau Tuesday to talk more about the Pennycress project and hear farmers concerns.