News release from Layover.com, June 13, 2007.

Rest easy, because that chemistry kit in the barn of Thad Doye's farm is not what you might be thinking. Get your mind off the moonshine and into the healthy sunrise of energy independence.

What Mr. Doye has there, you see, is possibly the marriage of convenience between the farming and fuel industries. Biodiesel – made from vegetable seed or animal oils – may be a cost-efficient way to keep the Middle East troubles out of mid-America agriculture.

Doye is not ready to get all political for the moment. The Lawton-area farmer is simply happy that he can crush his sunflower seeds, then mix the oil with methane and a chemical catalyst to produce something that powers his tractors across his fields.

"I feel by making my own fuel I'm writing a check to myself instead of the oil companies," Doye said. "It saves me money."

The advent of biodiesel is still too fresh to predict the fuel's future, but its short-term benefits may help farmers coming and going. If successful, it could give them additional cash crops to grow and/or cut those transportation costs.

"I think it's got potential," Doye said.

Oklahoma's agricultural planners and producers are taking biodiesel seriously. Several production plants have opened up across the state in recent years – to varying degrees of success.

Its greatest impact so far, however, may be personal more than industrial.

"In fact, many farmers here actually believe biodiesel holds more promise than ethanol because of the possibility of producing it themselves," said Sam Knipp, a spokesman for the Oklahoma Farm Bureau. "Biodiesel can be used in their trucks, tractors and combines, which comprise the majority of their annual fuel needs."

Doye fits that description. He started making it several years ago and, by trial and error, apparently has gotten good at it.

"At first, you just kind of cringe, pour it in and see what happens," Doye admitted. "Now I don't worry."

The state of Oklahoma doesn't fret so much anymore, either. Last week, Gov. Brad Henry signed two bills into laws that will make biodiesel production a priority in the future.

Senate Bill 609 establishes the Oklahoma Bioenergy Center to coordinate biofuels studies. Research and development would be split among the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma State University and the Ardmore-based Samuel Roberts Noble Foundation.

"Biofuels are a critical component in reducing the nation's dependence on foreign oil, protecting the environment, creating high-paying jobs and diversifying our state's economy," the governor said in a statement.

Governmental support for biofuels research runs nationwide. The U.S. departments of Energy and Agriculture jointly announced $8.3 million for research last week.

Another bill signed by Henry, meanwhile, offers an exemption to the state fuel tax specifically for Doye's type of work. The farmer learned the biodiesel process in doing research partially funded by a grant from the Poteau-based Kerr Center for Sustainable Agriculture.

Kerr Center spokeswoman Maura McDermott called Doye's work innovative.

"I do take it seriously," she said. "I don't think the price of gas and diesel are ever going to go down very much. The price of the farm is going up."

Indeed, academics may be as intrigued by the practical science of biodiesel as farmers are by its cost-saving and crop potential.

OSU's Food and Agricultural Products Center hosted a two-day biodiesel workshop that ends Wednesday in Stillwater. The Kerr Center will hold its own biofuels seminar Aug. 3.

OSU oil-seed chemist Nurhan Dunford said she regularly gets phone calls from farmers asking how to convert their animal or vegetable oils into biodiesel. Some kits can be operated – very carefully – by individuals.

Dunford was careful to add that safety and efficiency issues are still clouding the biodiesel debate. Cost per gallon from larger production plants is a little more expensive than retail conventional diesel fuel – at the moment – and making it at home isn't that much cheaper or widely recommended, either.

"It's very attractive," Dunford said. "You can save, but we have to be careful when we encourage small operations to get into biofuel production. It's not as easy as it sounds."

Yet, the OSU chemist noted, biodiesel comes straight from crops such as soybeans, canola or sunflowers, among others. Active or prospective plants in Chelsea, Durant, Gans and Muskogee are using a variety of feed stocks to generate up to millions of gallons of biofuel.

Not all of them will survive financially, perhaps, nor will all farmers be interested in the new technology. An ironic byproduct is that food costs can rise as a result of any growing demand for biodiesel.

"If you look at the real economics – without a tax credit – these processes are not feasible," Dunford said. "But right now there is a lot of interest."

Doye was biodiesel when biodiesel wasn't cool. He's still keeping his efforts small and learning as he goes.

The payoff to farmers may be quite a ways down the road.

"There are opportunities for people willing to work at it a little bit," Doye said. "That's an interesting thing to explore."

But the most interesting question of all: How does his tractor run on biodiesel?

"I got diesel mechanics who help me," Doye replied. "They haven't had to work on them yet, so I guess it's not bad."

This article from Layover.com, www.layover.com, on June 13, 2007.