New oil dropoff sites for the public

Do you have 10 gallons of oil you used to deep fry your turkey? Expired olive oil or salad dressing?

Now you can dispose of your vegetable oil responsibly, knowing that it will be turned into cleaner burning fuel!



Please call dropoff sites ahead of time for their hours:

Encore Oils: 503.954.2154
10111 NE 6th Dr, Portland

Salem Keizer Recycling & Transfer Station: 503.588.5169
3250 Deer Park Dr. SE, Salem

North Marion Recycling & Transfer Station: 503.588.5169
17827 Whitney Lane NE, Woodburn

SeQuential Retail: 541.736.5864
86714 McVay Hwy, Eugene

If you are a restaurant or a processing facility and have commercial levels of used cooking oil, Encore Oils will buy your oil from you! Call 503.954.2154 for more information.

Biofuels Northwest - City Club of Eugene 9/8/08

City Club of Eugene 9/8/08 Friday Forum.

Ian Hill of SeQuential & Mark Kendall with the Oregon Department of Energy discuss biofuels in the Northwest. Download from KLCC here.

Ford: Americans don't want fuel efficient cars

On Saturday I tabled at the Muddy Boot Festival in Portland and encountered the same supportive message that I've been hearing on a day to day basis for the four years I've been with SeQuential: "Biodiesel is a great idea, but I don't have a diesel car!"

I thought it fitting, with that in mind, when I read this article from Grist: Ford's Fiesta ECOnetic, which gets 65 mpg with a diesel engine, won't be sold in America. According to Ford America President Mark Fields, "We just don't think North and South America would buy that many diesel cars".

Now granted I know that the people I've talked to (from both sides of the isle) across little old Oregon don't represent the majority of the people in the US, but I don't understand why US automakers are so hesitant to offer reliable, long lasting, fuel efficient, diesel vehicles. Pass by any auto dealership and you'll see advertisements promoting "30+ MPG!", as if this is impressive and notable. If people are making purchase decisions based on mileage, which you would assume they are with the recent higher gas prices, why not offer US consumers the same car that is already in production elsewhere in the world?

All conspiracy theories aside, I'm baffled - the market is ripe for high mileage cars, especially diesel. Just look at the market for used Volkswagen TDIs - they consistently sell above their blue book values, especially older models that have smaller engines (and better mileage).

Grand opening of the new SeQuential-Pacific facility

The newly expanded SeQuential-Pacific Biodiesel (SQPB) facility in Salem opened its doors on August 29th. The grand opening ceremony had SQPB investor Willie Nelson on hand and many local business partners like Kettle Foods, Tyree Oil, DeSantis Landscapes, Burgerville, Portland Greenheat, Star Oilco and Cherriots.

The new facility is a major step forward for biodiesel in Oregon - its capacity is five million gallons a year (up from one million) and uses a new technology to produce biodiesel. Traditional biodiesel production uses water during a cleaning process to "wash" the fuel, resulting in wastewater.

The new SQPB facility uses technology developed in-house based on silica; the only byproducts of our biodiesel production are now fertilizer and animal feed! Coupled with the fact that about 90% of our biodiesel comes from locally collected Used Cooking Oil, and you've got one of the most sustainable biodiesel facilities in the world!

Photos: Karen Rippey