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Biodiesel firm setting up in Mansfield
By Lisa Miller
News Journal - July 24, 2008
MANSFIELD -- Color the new business on West Fourth Street green, with a touch of scarlet and gray and Dallas Cowboys royal blue.
Housed in the former Hydrospray car wash equipment site, Arlington Energy is testing batches of biodiesel fuel in preparation for a grand opening this month. The company will use waste cooking oil and animal fats to produce what Ontario resident Jeff Schultheis said is a safe and environmentally-friendly fuel.
Schultheis is a partner in the business with real estate and insurance specialist Mike Crawford, former Ohio State linebacker and Dallas Cowboys first-round draft pick Bobby Carpenter and veteran entrepreneurs Ernie and Stephanie Malas. Schultheis said the group met through OSU.
He had been working for Hydrospray, but two years ago Schultheis began researching alternative energy in the hopes of creating local jobs and helping the country become more energy independent. They looked at ethanol but ultimately decided to go with biofuel, which they say is more flexible and requires less startup capital and involvement with the food chain. They chose to invest in Xenerga, an Orlando firm.
Arlington Energy eventually is expected to produce annually 12.5 million gallons of fuel that can be used in diesel engines with no modifications. Twenty people have been hired, with plans to hire another 20 by September. These are "solid jobs with benefits," Schultheis said.
Schultheis said Carpenter, a Lancaster native, may be starting this year in Dallas, which should make his name more prominent. He called Carpenter a "really wonderful guy."
The partners are contracting with Restaurant Technologies Inc. to bring used cooking oil from Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and Detroit restaurants, although if enough oil is available locally, Arlington Energy might start its own route.
Animal fat will be obtained from meat producers to create what Schultheis said will be a high quality fuel that "can literally be dumped on the ground and dissolved like sugar water."
"Anything that has a diesel engine runs perfectly on it," he said. "We reduce our carbon footprint by using it." Schultheis described what will be a 24/7 operation as "almost surgical" in its cleanliness, and said there will be no odor from the closed-loop system. The oil and feedstock will be heated to 190 degrees, which causes the chemical reaction that rearranges the molecules into biodiesel. The fuel will sell for just under $4 a gallon, Schultheis said, but with more volume he predicts prices will come down.
According to Xenerga, which opened its first biodiesel plant in LaPorte, Ind., in March, "Government and private fleets are increasingly turning to biodiesel, making it the fastest-growing alternative fuel in the United States." Xenerga's management team has been involved in more than 150 biodiesel plants throughout Europe and Asia and has targeted 20 major U.S. markets. The company reports overall partnership investment for a plant is $1.95 million.
Stephanie Malas, in a press release, said, "Approximately 85 percent of the existing biodiesel plants in the U.S. are based on soybean oil. Our technology will allow us to use less expensive animal fats and used vegetable oils to produce 100 percent biodiesel ... We've already had an incredible response at both the local and national level, including support from Gov. Ted Strickland and Sen. Sherrod Brown, and are confident this product will truly make a difference in the way we live our lives."
Planning for the plant got under way during Mayor Lydia Reid's administration. The city has been helpful, he said. "They're going to want to promote us" as a high-tech startup in Richland County.
"We think we've hit the market at the right time," he said.
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