Boca Raton Woman Banks on Biofuel Venture
PalmBeachPost.com
By Susan Salisbury
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
July 16, 2009
Just a couple of years ago, Teri Gevinson, a Boca Raton land developer, had never heard of Jatropha. Now she owns 9,500 of the tropical oil-producing trees planted in the Agricultural Reserve west of Delray Beach.
Ag-Oil LLC, a company Gevinson formed last year, hopes to be crushing jatropha seeds and producing biofuel at its site by 2011. Its goal is to eventually produce 15 million gallons a year to help ease dependency on foreign oil.
The 103-acre farm at the corner of U.S. 441 and West Atlantic Avenue is the first jatropha grove in Palm Beach County.
"This is more of a research project that's turning into reality," said Gevinson, 38. "I believe we are going to make a difference."
Previously, Gevinson's company, Ascot Development, leased the land to pepper growers, but they were asking for a rent reduction and other development plans were falling through.
Her dilemma didn't escape daughter Sloane, then a fifth-grader at Pine Crest School in Boca Raton.
"She came home from school and said, 'We talked about energy plants that produce oil. Why don't you take your land and grow something?’ We Googled jatropha," Gevinson said.
Though not a scientist or a farmer, Gevinson invested more than $200,000 in the venture and found some of the "best minds in the field" to help the project succeed.
Art Kirstein, agriculture economic development coordinator at the Palm Beach County Cooperative Extension Service, helped her obtain seeds from India, Mexico, Indonesia and Haiti under a University of Florida import permit.
"You can grow jatropha in Florida," Kirstein said. "It doesn't like cold weather."
Dylan Bailey is a palm tree grower who manages the jatropha farm for Ag-Oil. He says a variety from Haiti is performing best. "The plants put in the ground in January are 4 to 5 feet tall, and another 10,000 plants will go in soon," he said.
The company received a $2.5 million state grant this year.
A mechanical harvester used to pick crops such as blueberries will be deployed, because picking by hand is too expensive. Ultimately, Ag-Oil plans to use algae to convert byproducts of jatropha oil production to biofuel, thus increasing the oil output.
For now, the company is working to determine which jatropha varieties will produce the most oil so it will be a viable crop.
The technology it plans to use in biofuel production will give it an edge, said project manager Brian Weprin, and the demand for the fuel already exists. There's also an outreach effort to get farmers and landowners interested in growing jatropha.
The seed-processing facility remains to be built, but Weprin is confident the company is already working with an economically viable variety.
George Philippidis, associate director at Florida International University's Applied Research Center, said a lot of work remains to be done with jatropha.
"There may be potential," Philippidis said. "We should set our expectations at a reasonable level. There are a lot of unknowns."
Some citrus growers are experimenting with jatropha. But Mark DuBois, operations manager at Callery-Judge Grove near Loxahatchee, said he hasn't planted any yet.
"We can't really formulate a business plan with jatropha that seems to work right now. We are still a little bit wary of it," DuBois said.
With diesel fuel prices down, Kirstein said, the economics of growing jatropha for fuel are borderline. Weprin said a $1-per-gallon tax credit for biofuel producers helps.
"You have to give them credit," Kirstein said of Ag-Oil. "Many people talk about being green. Very few people are actually doing anything."
By Susan Salisbury
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
July 16, 2009
Ag-Oil LLC, a company Gevinson formed last year, hopes to be crushing jatropha seeds and producing biofuel at its site by 2011. Its goal is to eventually produce 15 million gallons a year to help ease dependency on foreign oil.
The 103-acre farm at the corner of U.S. 441 and West Atlantic Avenue is the first jatropha grove in Palm Beach County.
"This is more of a research project that's turning into reality," said Gevinson, 38. "I believe we are going to make a difference."
Previously, Gevinson's company, Ascot Development, leased the land to pepper growers, but they were asking for a rent reduction and other development plans were falling through.
Her dilemma didn't escape daughter Sloane, then a fifth-grader at Pine Crest School in Boca Raton.
"She came home from school and said, 'We talked about energy plants that produce oil. Why don't you take your land and grow something?’ We Googled jatropha," Gevinson said.
Though not a scientist or a farmer, Gevinson invested more than $200,000 in the venture and found some of the "best minds in the field" to help the project succeed.
Art Kirstein, agriculture economic development coordinator at the Palm Beach County Cooperative Extension Service, helped her obtain seeds from India, Mexico, Indonesia and Haiti under a University of Florida import permit.
"You can grow jatropha in Florida," Kirstein said. "It doesn't like cold weather."
Dylan Bailey is a palm tree grower who manages the jatropha farm for Ag-Oil. He says a variety from Haiti is performing best. "The plants put in the ground in January are 4 to 5 feet tall, and another 10,000 plants will go in soon," he said.
The company received a $2.5 million state grant this year.
A mechanical harvester used to pick crops such as blueberries will be deployed, because picking by hand is too expensive. Ultimately, Ag-Oil plans to use algae to convert byproducts of jatropha oil production to biofuel, thus increasing the oil output. For now, the company is working to determine which jatropha varieties will produce the most oil so it will be a viable crop.
The technology it plans to use in biofuel production will give it an edge, said project manager Brian Weprin, and the demand for the fuel already exists. There's also an outreach effort to get farmers and landowners interested in growing jatropha.
The seed-processing facility remains to be built, but Weprin is confident the company is already working with an economically viable variety.
George Philippidis, associate director at Florida International University's Applied Research Center, said a lot of work remains to be done with jatropha.
"There may be potential," Philippidis said. "We should set our expectations at a reasonable level. There are a lot of unknowns."
Some citrus growers are experimenting with jatropha. But Mark DuBois, operations manager at Callery-Judge Grove near Loxahatchee, said he hasn't planted any yet.
"We can't really formulate a business plan with jatropha that seems to work right now. We are still a little bit wary of it," DuBois said.
With diesel fuel prices down, Kirstein said, the economics of growing jatropha for fuel are borderline. Weprin said a $1-per-gallon tax credit for biofuel producers helps.
"You have to give them credit," Kirstein said of Ag-Oil. "Many people talk about being green. Very few people are actually doing anything."
