Neato

ConocoPhillips, Tyson: Fuel from fat

'HOUSTON (AP) -- Oil major ConocoPhillips and Tyson Foods Inc., the world's largest meat producer, said Monday they were teaming up to produce and market diesel fuel for U.S. trucking fleets using beef, pork and poultry fat.

The companies said they've been collaborating over the past year on ways to leverage Tyson's expertise in protein chemistry and production with ConocoPhillips' processing and marketing knowledge to introduce a renewable diesel fuel with lower carbon emissions than petroleum-based fuels.

Tyson said it will make capital improvements this summer to begin preprocessing animal fat at some of its North American rendering plants late this year. ConocoPhillips said it will begin the necessary capital expenditures to produce the fuel at several of its refineries. Production is expected to ramp up through spring 2009.

The companies gave no cost estimates in a joint statement.

ConocoPhillips and Tyson, based in Springdale, Ark., said the finished product will be renewable diesel fuel mixtures that meet all federal standards for ultra-low-sulfur diesel. Production is expected to rise to as much as 175 million gallons a year, the companies said.

"This strategic alliance is a big win for the entire agricultural sector because it paves the way for greater participation of fats and oils in renewable fuels," said Richard Bond, Tyson's president and chief executive.

The processing technology was developed at ConocoPhillips, which began commercial production of renewable diesel using soybean oil in Ireland late last year.

But the rising cost of soybean and other oils, which account for the bulk of biodiesel fuel stock, has led to the push to use cheap and plentiful animal fats. That shift to animal fat as a fuel stock could be key to making the budding biodiesel industry a reliable fuel source for U.S. trucking fleets, among other uses, experts say.'