Sirona Fuels has officially entered the biodiesel marketplace and announced its plans for expansion at the National Biodiesel Conference and Expo in San Francisco.
Through its purchase of Blue Sky Biofuels, Sirona has acquired a refinery that produces high-quality biodiesel from both virgin and non-virgin feedstocks. The Oakland, CA-based refinery is permitted for 15 million gallons a year and is currently producing high-quality, ASTM-spec biodiesel from recycled cooking oil.
Sirona has implemented plans for the rapid expansion of its used cooking oil collection business, and by the end of 2009 expects to produce the majority of its biodiesel from jatropha, an oil-yielding plant that grows on non-arable land and is not part of the food chain.
The company has identified commercial sources for jatropha in several countries and is developing businesses that will promote the establishment of jatropha farms in Haiti, India and other developing countries.
By working with sustainable and affordable feedstocks like used cooking oil and jatropha, Sirona's business model is designed to stabilize fuel prices for its customers, provide sustainable revenue to its suppliers and make significant volumes of high-quality biodiesel available to the market.
Paul Lacrouciere, CEO of Sirona Fuels, has a 20 year history in the energy industry. Over the last ten years as an attorney he has structured and negotiated transactions with the some of the largest energy companies in the world.
"There is no better way for a company to go green or get ahead of rising oil prices and upcoming low-carbon fuel standards than with a fixed-price, high-quality biodiesel like Sirona offers," said Lacourciere.
"Sirona's biodiesel exceeds ASTM standards and has among the highest quality of any biofuel in America. We plan to grow the company exponentially by acquiring more refineries and aggressively expanding our local and international feedstock supplies.
A Different Kind of Fuel Company
Sirona Fuels is committed to making a positive difference in the communities it operates in, both domestically and abroad. Sirona currently contributes to local communities by providing subsidized biodiesel for school buses. The company is also providing businesses and institutions with the ability to have Sirona donate money to local schools when they recycle their cooking oil with Sirona Fuels.
Internationally, Sirona is establishing affiliates and partnerships in developing countries to inject money into those countries' economies, stimulating commerce and creating an avenue to reinvest profits into those countries' infrastructure.
This includes empowering rural farmers to lift their living standards and environment through productive enterprise. In its effort to procure jatropha in Haiti, Sirona has partnered with C3 Missions International, an organization that has established a relief fund for over 1,100 orphaned children in Haiti.
