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Biodiesel plant to be built in Butler
Published December 20, 2006 - BizTimes Daily
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Menomonee Falls-based North American Biodiesel LLC plans to build a $1.3 million, 14,000-square-foot biodiesel production facility on a vacant three-acre parcel of land in Butler at the northwest corner of North 124th Street and Ruby Avenue in Butler.
The plant will be the first biodiesel fuel production facility in southeastern Wisconsin, said Richard "Hardy" Sawall, president of North American Biodiesel.
The company, which was formed in January, is purchasing the property from the Village of Butler.
About 10 people will work at the facility, which will have an initial capacity of 5 million gallons, with the capacity to expand to 35 million gallons to meet demand. Soybean and other virgin oils will be used to produce the biodiesel fuel.
The fuel can be used by any vehicle that currently uses regular diesel fuel. The largest current user of biodiesel fuel in the area is the City of Milwaukee, which uses the fuel for its fleet of trucks, Sawall said. The Butler site is advantageous because it is close to the area's main fuel distribution center at North 107th Street and Brown Deer Road, he said.
"We chose to locate in Butler because of its proximately to petroleum distributors and end users, and the availability of existing rail service directly to the facility and easy access to the site to interstate highways," Sawall said. "We have also been extremely pleased with the pro-growth and can do attitude of village officials."
The advantage of biodiesel fuel is that it is cleaner burning and therefore better for the environment than regular diesel fuel. The alternative fuel also is produced domestically, therefore reducing the nation's dependence on foreign petroleum sources, Sawall said.
Critics of alternative fuels say they do not perform as well as regular petroleum fuel. However, Sawall says that the retail price and gas mileage of biodiesel fuel is similar to regular diesel fuel.
“I think people, once they become aware of it, are supportive," he said. "The biggest question is, is it price competitive and is it performance competitive? It is performance competitive, and once we have it produced closer to the end users, it will be price competitive.”
Currently, biodiesel fuel is transported to southeastern Wisconsin from Iowa or Minnesota, adding 20 cents per gallon in costs, Sawall said.
North American Biodiesel will jointly develop the property with Milwaukee-based Evergreen Fuel Stops, which will operate a fueling station on the property adjacent to the biodiesel production plant. The station will dispense biodiesel, ethanol and other alternative fuels to the public, in addition to traditional petroleum-based fuels.
Construction of the production facility is expected to begin in February and be completed in July. The construction will be done by Milwaukee-based Skyline Development Corp. Architectural and engineering services will be provided by West Allis-based Landcraft Survey and Engineering. The promotion and sale of the village-owned property was managed by Tim Casey and Marilyn Haroldson of Milwaukee-based Equity Commercial Real Estate.
There is still a 0.75-acre parcel of property at the southwest corner of North 124th Street and Ruby Avenue that is available for development, said Village Administrator Tim Rhode.
"We have a party that has made an offer on that site and is proceeding with due diligence," Rhode said. "If that party chooses not to proceed, we will be marketing it for office or possibly even retail."
