Project manager Bill Heiple.
Kip Moncrief’s business is collecting the residue of all those French fries we eat and selling it to companies that transform it into biodiesel fuel. He stood up to support one of those companies in its bid to open a plant in New Haven as soon as the fall, pronouncing the prospect “huge.”
Moncrief, the operations manager of Durham-based Connecticut Biofuels, spoke at a sparsely attended Board of Zoning Appeals meeting Tuesday night.
There Greenleaf Biofuels, LLC of Guilford sought permission to build a state-of-the-art biofuel production building and storage tanks off Waterfront Street in the port. Tuesday night the process started with a hearing; next comes a review by New Haven’s City Plan Commission.
The company needs permission because taking the “yellow grease,” or used vegetable cooking oil, and transforming into fuel is not one of the permitted uses in the port.
Greenleaf’s proposed factory would sit just south of the New Haven Terminal building. There it would demolish a derelict metal warehouse and construct a small 8,500 square foot pre-fab structure to contain a processing facility, mini-laboratory, offices, and bathrooms.
Along with that the company would erect eight 35-foot tall and 12-foot-wide 30,000-gallon storage tanks.
Allan Appel Photo
Kip Moncrief at Tuesday’s meeting.
The tanks will contain methanol, glycerin, and other process substances. If business is good, in a second phase of the plan, additional tanks would be added to what is called the “tank farm.”
The plan calls for the factory to operate 24/7 in three shifts and to employ 16 people and up to 26 in the second phase.
The grease would come in on vehicles from companies like Moncrief’s.
His company currently collects used vegetable oil in New Haven from such places as Gourmet Heaven and businesses at various rental properties owned by Yale University.
Alcohol and methanol are added along with a catalyst. That concoction is stored and then sold as a blend to render more green any diesel-based fuel such as the kind that powers trucks or your home oil furnace.
“That reduces the need for petroleum,” said Triton Environmental’s project manager Bill Heiple, who is consulting with Greenleaf on the project and made the presentation to the BZA commissioners.
Moncrief’s company collects in New York City’s five boroughs as well as Westchester. He’s in charge of Connecticut.
“It’s huge for us because it allows us, a small company, to work with a large business in New Haven.”
He said New Haven Harbor is one of the largest home heating oil ports. “It’s a natural.”
Heiple said the project, whose parameters previously had been approved for a location on Wheeler Street but not built, had the approval of the port and partial state funding, as well as the blessing of the mayor and the city’s economic development department.
Because the project requires a coastal site plan review, the purview of the City Plan Commission (CPC), BZA commissioners referred it there.
Next month, with the CPC’s report, Greenleaf returns to the BZA for a vote of approval or disapproval.
If all goes well, the fries-to-fuel enterprise could be up and running as soon as the fall.
Hmmm...I like this.