ALISON REDLICH, Free Press file
Stephen R. Daigle of Fairfax is general manager of Biocardel in Swanton
Three years ago, Biocardel Vermont LLC cast itself as the largest biodiesel facility in New England — capable of cranking out 4 million gallons of soy bean-based biodiesel each year and 8 million gallons annually after three years in business.
That has not happened. Far from it. The Canadian-backed enterprise, which has received tax incentives and a low-interest loan from the state, has yet to sell one gallon of its fuel to customers in Vermont, Daigle said. The facility, formerly a fertilizer plant, has produced 50,000 gallons of biofuel that sold in Canada, he said.
“It took us a huge volume of time, a lot longer than anyone expected, to do the R&D for this,” Daigle said.
After 400 test batches, Biocardel Vermont has been ready to produce high-quality, soy bean-based biodiesel for the past 14 or 15 months, Daigle said. But the global recession and fluctuating commodity prices have proved problematic. Now, it’s unclear whether the Environmental Protection Agency will sign off on soy bean-based fuels as a workable alternative fuel.
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