Todd & Sargent, Inc., Ames, Iowa, is ahead of the renewable fuels game, with five biodiesel construction projects already on the firm’s growing list of accomplishments.
In 2006, owner Iowa Renewable Energy (IRE) chose Renewable Energy Group (REG), a pioneer in the biodiesel production process, to lead a new project to build a 3-acre biodiesel plant that turns soy oil, canola oil and animal fats into sustainable fuel.
REG then selected Todd & Sargent as the design-build contractor for the $34.4 million project on a 26.3-acre site in Washington, Iowa.
Despite weeks of bad weather, Todd & Sargent completed the 12-month job two weeks ahead of schedule in July 2007.
Todd & Sargent worked with Ames-based subcontractor Story Construction to erect structural steel and set the vessels. Crews then built a tank farm, which includes 3.2 million gallons of storage for soybean oil, fat oil, biodiesel, methanol, other ingredients and byproducts. In addition, the site includes a process building, pretreatment building, boiler room and support building—with truck and rail yard facilities to handle incoming ingredients and outbound products.
ACI Mechanical, Ames, and the Interstates Companies, Sioux Center, Iowa, performed the complex instrumentation portions of the job.
“We had biweekly scheduling meetings with a representative from each contractor, where we collaborated to figure out the most economical and quickest way to do things,” says Paul Sondgeroth, vice president of operations for Todd & Sargent.
This collaboration was essential for the contractor in making the transition from the agricultural industries into the process piping industries.
Because the system’s process piping is highly complicated, the project team administered multiple steps for quality control. Engineering drawings were triple-checked for accuracy, and several connections were checked using X-ray equipment. Before startup, all tanks were hydro-tested to check for possible leaks. After startup, biodiesel samples were taken at various points to ensure the plant produced a quality product.
Immediately following the startup process, the IRE facility began to produce high-quality biodiesel at full capacity. (The plant produces BQ-9000 accredited biodiesel that meets ASTM D 6751 standards, setting it apart from many other plants in the United States.)
“Right now, it’s more about building the highest quality plant than building the most inexpensive plant,” Sondgeroth says. “It’s much more important that biodiesel owners get their plant up to the right start to gain credibility. The owner wants the best possible plant to get the best product out to the public.”
Biodiesel burns cleaner than petroleum-based diesel fuel, causing significantly less hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and particulate matter to enter the atmosphere. When blended with petroleum-based fuel, biodiesel can improve engine performance attributes, such as fuel lubricity and oxygen content.
The successful completion of this plant increased Iowa’s annual biodiesel production to more than 225 million gallons per year.
On a larger scale, U.S. expansion of the alternative fuels market is projected to create more than 300,000 jobs by the year 2016, boosting the economy by $300 billion.
While still a flourishing market, biodiesel is poised for a moderate slowdown based on poor credit markets and the high price of commodities.
“The biodiesel sector will not get to be booming until commodities prices go down, or until we come up with alternative feedstocks,” Sondgeroth says.