Guptill Farms powers its tractors with grease

CNY Business Journal (1996+), May 12, 2006 by Duffett, Claire

SOUTH ONONDAGA - After four-and-a-half years, South Onondagabased Guptill Farms' biodiesel plant is up and running.

The dairy farm, with the help of Waste Not Resource Solutions, Inc. (WNRC), will manufacture fuel derived from leftover animal fats and vegetable oils from area restaurants and grocers, including Wegmans Supermarkets and Eurest Dining Services, says Brian Jerose, WNRC principal.

Bringing the product to market took more than four years, because of the challenges of securing the necessary funding.

"Because we're under-capitalized and in need of capital-intensive equipment, things have happened piecemeal," Jerose explains.

The farm has already retained $195,000 through the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). The first $155,000 came from a NYSERDA grant that matches $155,000 of inkind work donated by Guptill Farms, WNRC, and research partners at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF) and Brookhaven National Laboratory in Upton, N.Y.

Guptill Farms acquired the additional $40,000 in 2006 through a grant from NYSERDA's newly formed Center for Excellence.

The project still needs an additional $120,000 for additional equipment in order to manufacture the 6,000 gallons per month of road-grade fuel at production capacity.

In the next six weeks, Guptill Farms' biodiesel equipment will convert from making test batches used only on its inhouse farm operations to producing 1,000 gallons per month that can be sold to other farms, Jerose explains.

The process uses patented technology from Saratoga Springs-based Biodiesel Technologies. The system is different from traditional biofuel production because it manufactures the product through continuous flow rather than in batches, Jerose explains.

Guptill Farms, which until now has made the biodiesel only in test quantities, begins the process by retrieving used yellow grease from participating restaurants. The grease is transported to the production facility where it is filtered and water and leftover solids - like French fries - are extracted. The grease is then introduced to the production machinery, where it meets and reacts with methanol. The end product is 10 percent glycerin and 90 percent biodiesel.

In order to be used in on-road machines like tractor-trailers, the fuel must meet criteria delineated by American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM), Jerose explains. Although the fuel at Guptill Farms has yet to meet these standards, Jerose has faith that it will eventually. Until then, the biodiesel can be used to run machinery, heat homes, and fuel off-road vehicles like farm tractors.

Part of the reason that the fuel has yet to meet the road standards is that Jerose and his associates are reluctant to send their fuel in to ASTM for testing because it costs $500 per batch. Because the group's resources are already limited, they will refrain from testing until their own tests indicate the fuel is ready for mass consumption, at which time the group will attempt to beef up production to its 6,000-gallonper-month capacity.

The environmental-resource and forest-engineering faculty at SUNY ESF has provided in-kind labor contributions. Brookhaven Lab will test the fuel before it is sent on to ASTM for approval.

WNRC, whose partners include equal shareholders Jerose and Darron Kupinsky, first began working with Guptill Farms in 1999 when the farm began producing compost called Toad Hill Farms Compost.

Kupinsky, who is now an elementaryschool teacher, plans to sell his shares of the company to a new partner, Brian Luton.

The compost is available for sale in local feed stores, grocery stores, food cooperatives, and farm markets under one of Guptill Farms' dba names, Toad Hollow Farms.