Montana State Researchers Say New Crop Could Produce Affordable Biodiesel

by Walt Williams

It's a gamble that farmer Bruce Wright believes is worth taking.

For the first time this year, Wright planted 50 acres of the European oilseed camelina on his farm along Springhill Road.

The reason? The plant is loaded with omega-3 fatty acids, which are good for the heart, and that's something people will pay for.

"It's got a lot of properties that sound like they can be very beneficial," he said.

But Montana State University researchers see another benefit.

Camelina can be used to make biodiesel, an environmentally friendly alternative to diesel fuel. And they say it can be produced for much less than other biodiesel crops, for the first time making the fuel competitive in price with its petroleum counterpart.

Soaring gas prices at the pumps have led to renewed interest in alternative fuels as a way of curbing the nation's reliance on foreign oil. President Bush visited a biodiesel plant in West Virginia Monday to encourage the development of biodiesel and ethanol. Ethanol is blended with gasoline so it will burn cleaner.

In Montana, state lawmakers recently passed a law requiring all gasoline to be blended with 10 percent ethanol.

Alternative fuels are a major focus of MSU's Institute for Biobased Products, which is developing crops that can be used to make biodiesel, ethanol and biolubricants to replace motor oils.

The institute sees a lot of promise in camelina, which is new to Montana but has been grown in Europe for a long time. The state's cool and dry climate is well suited for growing the crop.

"We believe it has the potential to be substantial crop in Montana over the next year," said Gary Iverson, executive director of the Great Northern Growers Cooperative, whose members have planted about 700 acres of the oilseed in their fields this year.

http://www.harvestcleanenergy.org/enews/enews_0605/enews_0605_Camelina.htm