Investors, Southern looking at bringing biodiesel plant to Baton Rouge

A collaboration between investors and the Southern University Business and Research Corp. is looking to set up a biodiesel plant in East Baton Rouge Parish. Williams-Wallace Management Consultants and the SUBRC plan to buy patented technology from TPA, a Michigan-based biodiesel producer, and use it to set up a $12 million plant capable of producing 20 million gallons of biodiesel a year from feed stocks such as fat, grass and sugarcane, says Musheer Robinson, CEO of Williams-Wallace. The plan is to sell the fuel to Entergy, chemical plants, hospitals and other big companies that have big diesel backup generators. Right now, Robinson and SUBRC are looking to line up financing from government agencies and private investors. “This is not just about one facility, but turning this technology into laboratories,” he says. The project fits in with other initiatives at Southern to develop renewable energy sources, including collaborations with Oxford University and Catholic University College of Ghana. Robinson is working with James Reily to purchase a brownfield site in Baton Rouge as the home for the biodiesel plant. “We want to combine the biodiesel with solar panels to demonstrate the combined renewable use for the land,” Robinson says. The plant could be open within a year to 15 months and would have a staff of 20 to 30 employees.—Timothy Boone