Plans for construction of a biodiesel production plant near Fulton's Harbison-Walker refractory will be announced at tonight's City Council meeting, the project's lead investor said Monday.

The announcement caps a nearly three-year planning process between Central Missouri Energy, LLC, and the city, which is supplying a 15-acre building site between Westminster Avenue and Brookside Drive.

“It's been a long-term project,” said Boyd Ware, a Fulton businessman and owner of Ware Construction, Inc.

Ware will be general manager and controlling investor in the $7 million biodiesel facility, expected to employ 20 full-time workers.

Its completion would give Fulton a stake in an industry that is booming in mid-Missouri and across America, powered by a combination of government production mandates and appeals for energy independence and eco-friendly fuels.

“It's just so exciting to think we can make a product in central Missouri that we can sell anywhere in the world,” Ware said.

Director of Administration Bill Johnson said the city is writing a Community Development Block Grant application to secure money for infrastructure improvements to accomodate the plant.

The site is part of a 40-acre parcel purchased by the city in 2006, located between the Harbison-Walker plant and the Dollar General distribution center.

Ware declined to name any other investors bankrolling the project, though he noted some had local ties.

With construction financing now in place, Ware said Central Missouri Energy hopes to break ground as early as April.

“We're moving along quite readily,” Ware said. “We don't want to wait around any longer.”

Production would begin 10 to 12 months after the groundbreaking, he said, with a planned production output of 10 million gallons annually.

Biodiesel is comparable to ethanol in that it converts crops into transportation fuel that can be burned in pure form or, more commonly, mixed with petroleum-based fuels.

Ware said the Fulton facility would be able to convert a variety of “feed stocks” - including soybean, peanut and canola oils - into biodiesel. He said animal fats such as cooking grease are another feed stock option, and often can be obtained as waste for little or no cost.

“There's a market for these that has not been tapped into or utilized,” Ware said.

Robust growth in biodiesel demand could support future expansion of the plant to as much as 30 million gallons, Ware added.

“This is a steppingstone,” he said. “It's an industry I've just seen mushroom.

“We could sell three times what we could produce” when the facility opens, Ware added.

Amber Pearson, spokeperson for the National Biodiesel Board, said biodiesel production has tripled in America in each of the last two years. The growth has been fuelled by a flurry of state and federal tax incentives, as well as government mandates requiring consumption of blended diesel.

The Missouri Legislature is now considering a bill requiring all diesel fuel sold in the state to contain at least 5 percent biodiesel.

“People are just becoming more aware of biodiesel,” Pearson said.

Missouri currently has three other biodiesel plants in operation, with five more under construction. The largest already in business is the Mid-America Biofuels facility in Mexico, with an annual output of 30 million gallons.

The Mexico plant is owned by a group that includes the Archer Daniels Midland Company and a cooperative of Missouri farmers.

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