As chicken fat prices soar, Georgia biodiesel industry heads for slowdown, shutdown

In Georgia, chicken fat prices have soared to 34 cents per pound, causing production slowdowns at several biodiesel facilities in the state that had switched to fats after an earlier run up in soy oil prices. Companies such as Middle Georgia Biofuels and US Biofuels had switched to all-fat production and Alterra Energy had been forced to delay operations at two new plants under construction at Plains and Gordon.

In recent months, researchers at the University of Arkansas  developed a new, fast process for biodiesel that has recorded yields of more than 90 percent using chicken fat and converted tall oil fatty acids. The latter is a by-product of the wood-pulping industry.

Use of the low-cost feedstocks had been previously limited by long reaction times, and the amount of methanol required by conventional processes. Companies such as Tyson Foods have established partnerships, in Tyson’s case with ConocoPhillips, to develop chicken-fat based biodiesel.

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