Piedmont Biofuels

On Friday, we visited Piedmont Biofuels. This innovative company produces biofuel, which is made from various types of fat and fuels diesel engines. They convert a variety of fats to fuel, ranging from animal fats, oils from crushed seeds, and cooking oils from restaurants.

The plant location was an abandoned aluminum plant. The good folks from Piedmont Biofuels took this barren area and brought in native plants, which brought back bees and butterflies and has reintroduced the native biodiversity of the region. There are currently five hives of bees on the property.

Piedmont builds portable biofuel “plants” that can be used to produce fuel on location – wherever the raw materials can be found. The example they gave us was a wastewater treatment plant which grows sunflowers on the wastewater. The seeds aren’t used for food because they grow in wastewater. With the portable unit, they could convert the sunflowers seeds to oil, convert the oil to fuel, and power the wastewater treatment from the fuel, creating a sustainable system. The City of Raleigh Waste Water treatment plant is growing sunflowers at their location, so that’s a step on the way to this type of sustainability.

Piedmont Biofuels also promotes vermiculture (composting using worms). The worm castings (poop) make a great fertilizer. The biofarm gave several of us our first glimpse of red okra!

This is really giving you a glimpse of their organization and the things they do to care for the earth. I encourage you to head on over to their web site, and consider taking a free tour of their facilities, sponsored by The Abundance Foundation.

Next week we’re off to Orange Water and Sewer Authority (OWASA) to check out our local wastewater treatment facility.

Peace,
Matt