Press Release
From Blue Ridge Biofuels:
CEO Woodrow Eaton says, “We’ll be maintaining jobs in Western North Carolina while creating new jobs at the Catawba County production facility. Under a new partnership with Peak Energy we will be opening a new biodiesel and used cooking oil collection terminal in Asheville. This terminal will support all of our existing biodiesel customers and restaurant clients, while improving services for both. The new facility will allow us to significantly increase our biodiesel production so we can contribute even more to the regional economy and to energy sustainability. It will also allow us to expand our used cooking oil collection services to the Charlotte and Hickory markets. We are also working with Appalachian State University to provide research and learning opportunities.”
The new biodiesel factory will be located in the Catawba County EcoComplex, in a LEED Silver certified facility powered by methane gas from the adjacent landfill, significantly reducing the carbon footprint of an already green fuel. The facility will allow Blue Ridge Biofuels to increase its biodiesel production capacity from the current level of 500,000 gallons per year to a projected 3 million gallons per year starting in 2017.
Blue Ridge Biofuels got its start in Asheville in 2005 and has grown to support ten local Living Wage Certified jobs. The company anticipates a big year in 2015, for many reasons — including BQ-9000 certification showing that it meets the industry’s highest standards for quality and a new biodiesel distribution partnership with the locally owned Peak Energy. See our New Years announcement for more.
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