KINGMAN - There's been a lot of talk lately about solar plants coming to the region, but Kingman native Rick Neal is hoping to introduce a different renewable resource to the county's rapidly expanding green portfolio.
Neal is a managing director with Sun West Biofuels, a Las Vegas-based company that hopes to build the county's first biodiesel production plant, to be located along Route 66 about 15 miles to the city's northeast, just south of Valle Vista.
The 19,200-square foot facility, currently slated to open some time in 2012, will produce 10 million gallons of methyl ester biodiesel a year, using an advanced system that Neal said would produce no harmful byproducts or emissions.
"The most important thing I can tell you is that this is what is called a closed-loop system, meaning we aren't going to have smokestacks spewing smoke into the atmosphere," he said. "Everything that will be done will be inside the building, and there will not be any smokestacks of any kind." Neal added that the plant will require no water, save that used in flush toilets and for cleaning.
"How it works is, we take a multitude of feedstock, most of which is soy oil - we can use any feedstock, our facility is set up to use any feedstock that is currently available," he said. "Basically you mix that feed stock with a catalyst. It's then heated and blended, and that heating will be done with electric heaters."
The completed process results in two products, pharmaceutical-grade glycerine and biodiesel, which Sun West plans to sell to wholesalers throughout the Southwest, who will then resell them to retail vendors. Neil said part of the reason Sun West chose to locate in Kingman versus another cities is due to Kingman's proximity to transportation lines and its central location in a region that has fewer biofuel plants than other regions of the country.
"It is probably, from a transportation hub standpoint one of the best locations in the Southwest," Neil said.
"It sits on the I-40 corridor, the (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) railway is one of if not the busiest railway in the country, and it is in the heart of the Southwest - the fewest biofuel companies in the country are in the Southwest."
Sun West is investing approximately $20 million into the development and construction of the project, which Neil hopes to begin by late 2010. He said the facility will create about 100 temporary construction jobs, plus another 20-plus full time positions once it is fully operational. Sun West also plans to move its corporate headquarters from Las Vegas to the Mohave County plant once construction is completed.
"We will pull out of the local employment base as much as possible," Neil said. "My family has been in that area since 1867, and anything that we do is going to shine on the community."
The road ahead remains littered with procedural hurdles, however, and Neil acknowledged that Sun West is still in the preliminary phases of securing zoning approval. Neil met with County Supervisors Tom Sockwell and Gary Watson on Wednesday, and said he would continue to meet with various zoning officials.
Sun West will introduce the plant to the public later this month at 4 p.m. on June 23, when Neil will host a public meeting in the Valle Vista Clubhouse at 9686 N. Concho Drive.
Posted: Sunday, August 09, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
What gets me is these big companies, (Biofuel & Solar) are only planning to give Kingman 20 to 100 full time positions. And how many people are unemployed in Kingman??
Posted: Sunday, June 14, 2009
Article comment by:
Art
To "Optimistic Opinion,"
Please don't be so stupid in thinking that we are all so totally anti-growth just because we might have some reasonable reservations about this "growth is universally good" mantra that many seem to be mindlessly chanting.
First off, you go on and on about the need for families, and jobs, and such. The last time I checked with a real estate agent and their "MLS" (multiple listing service) the Kingman area had 1400 unoccupied homes for sale or rent. That is a staggering number of empty houses. For the last decade we have been bombarded by developers telling us that growth is unversally good, and they have been getting their way almost universally with our city government. I see the result of their "growth is unversally good" and "growth will pay for itself" mentality. We, the citizens are NOT seeing the rewards of this growth, no, we are paying higher water bills and city taxes to cover the needed improvements to allow this continued unchecked growth. Growth is NOT universally good, unchecked growth is cancer.
I was born here, and except for my 21 years of military service, I have lived my life here. I have seen my hometown really degenerated and brought down by the unchecked growth. Kingman was once a much nicer - albeit less convenient - place to live. I can tell you that growth is NOT universally good, particularly poorly thought out growth. I can remember when Stockton Hill Road was an unpaved dirt road. In the rush to get it paved, it seems the city approved plans that were CLEARLY inadequate for drainage of rain/floodwater and for the traffic, particularly at the very accident prone Airway/Stockton Hill intersection.
Some of the development has clearly benefited the citizens of Kingman, but MUCH of the development has not. This "growth is universally good" mentality has given us a major problems in the past.
With respect to the bio-diesel plant, I personally am for it, I believe the proposed location is BETTER than putting it at the airport industrial area. And I agree with "toNNP1, Just single minded..." when he points out that the developer probably already owns that land, and why should he not be able to use the land he has bought and paid for, and paid taxes on, for any safe and reasonable use that he sees fit?
But you have to understand a bit of Kingman's history to see why placement of any large ammount of flamable or dangerous material is alarming to us. I was only a child the day the propane car blew up and cost us the lives of twelve good men, one of my schoolmates had most of the skin burned off his back that day, his shirt actually fuzed into the skin on his back. Even BEFORE that fire, there had to have been some people who could see the hazard there, if they had had the NERVE to speak up about that hazard, maybe my schoolmate would have still had unscarred skin on his back, and twelve good men could have lived out their lives. You have to understand that a catastrophy like that will be in the minds of our citizens for a long time.
This proposed bio-diesel plant appears to me to be probably safer than a propane car defueling station, I think the professional fire fighters' opinions are more relevant on that subject. But still the potential for a terrible fire is there. (THANKYOU "K.O." for the information on the flash points of bio-diesel, diesel and gasoline.)
Posted: Saturday, June 13, 2009
Article comment by:
toNNP1, Just single minded...
The industrial area out at the airport is too small for real industrial projects, especially green ones. It has its place in economic development, true, but if you want top dollar wages for the area then you need to allow the top dollar manufacturing producers their space to come in.
Another problem with the industrial airport is the politics, what serious manufacturer with plans to stay and grow their business here would want to mess the extra money and time just to deal with the political bs tied to the Industrial Park?
This industrial developer probably already owns the land he is desiring to build on, and has for years, why should he be forced to by another property, when his own property is suitable for the project intended?
Posted: Friday, June 12, 2009
Article comment by:
K.O.
After research,
I believe it is for safety's sake that Sun West Biofuels has chosen to establish the production plan out in the open, away from the industrial park...
Biodiesel (Of note, biodiesel is used in the article written in the Daily Miner) (mono alkyl esters) is a cleaner-burning diesel fuel made from natural, renewable sources such as vegetable oils -
Biodiesel is less hazardous than conventional diesel and other petroleum-based fuels, but biodiesel is combustible; though it does not burn as easily as conventional diesel. The flashpoint for biodiesel is nearly 300 degrees, compared to 125 degrees for conventional diesel and 100 degrees for gasoline.
I hope the County Supervisors and others who have a say in what industries come to Mohave County are doing their homework and research by contacting other county/state supervisors, etc that have biofuel production plants that have been in production for a couple of years (ie Oregon), and ask them about any problematic issues that have risen that may also affect Mohave County.
Our firemen are the best, and their lives need to be protected; with a biodiesel production plant, we need to remember that water and "oil" do not mix and our firemen will need to be provided with the proper materials required to extinguish a fire should something unforeseen happen.
We need rules and regulations established determining whether biodiesel should be considered a hazardous material or waste – and if so, how it should be regulated.
Please, those of you making decisions regarding this special type of production plant - contact other county/state supervisors and ask for assistance from those who have walked down this road before you.
Posted: Friday, June 12, 2009
Article comment by:
Optomistic Opinion
The reality of Kingman being a small town is "NOT" that at all! I've lived in Kingman for 2yrs and have seen growth in homes and young families. I am a state employee and see first hand the need in this town for families! Folks with negative opinions of growth please recognize the horrific need for these families to keep those homes and provide for their families! Why do so many of you fight the growth of businesses which create jobs? It doesn't seem like Kingmans growth scale was though out. Did Kingman consider that the families that live in those homes would need jobs to keep them? I understand there is an industrial area near the airport, maybe it is that like many other property owners the cost of renting it too much! Why does it seem that anybody that has a complaint only makes posts about what in their opinion is a stupid idea...lets get more positive going, it can be contagious! Positive, Positive, Positive....GEEZ!
Posted: Friday, June 12, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
because that is where they belong! there is plenty of property out there, also along the I40 business coridor. not along rt 66.
Posted: Friday, June 12, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
No Name,
have you tried to buy property in or around the airport? This is not a really small facility and will need storage space as well. I have looked at prices and they are not really cheep. Why is it that everyone seems to want to tell a business when and where they "Should" be but they don't want to pay the extra money for them to move there.
Posted: Friday, June 12, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
this needs to go out to the airport industrial park. NO OUT IN THE DESERT ALONG 66. hopefully the board of supervisors will have the guts to point that out. The developers, especially the one(s) that ones that property will, of course, be screaming ANTI GROWTH, and ANTI PROGRESSIVE. the truth is there are industrial coridors for these businesses.
