Projects

RTC Fuels Grant for Two Biodiesel Blend Terminals – Sacramento and Perris

RTC Fuels will use an Energy Commission grant to help it build two new biodiesel blending terminals – one in Southern and one in Northern California – that will be able to dispense up to 1.8 million gallons of the biofuel a year.

California is dedicated to using biofuels to help reduce petroleum dependence and cut air pollution, but the weakest link for supplying biodiesel and other sustainable bio-oils is the lack of terminal locations, bulk storage and blending facilities. As these new facilities are added to existing fuel terminals, for the first time 70 percent of the state will be able to take advantage of the cleaner biodiesel option.

In El Cajon in San Diego County, RTC Fuels will work with SoCo Group to add a new blending tank that will make 800,00 gallons of biodiesel available in Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Imperial and San Diego counties.

In Sacramento, RTC Fuels will partner with InterState Oil Company at the former McClellan Air Force Base to create a 1 million-gallon-a-year dispensary to serve the San Francisco, San Jose, Sacramento and Stockton metropolitan areas.

Grant Amount

$1,790,000

Match Funding

$1,143,336 from project participants.

Project Participants

RTC Fuels, a limited liability corporation with Pearson Fuels and AE Biofuels, based in San Diego.

SoCo Group Inc. petroleum distributers who will partner with RTC Fuels to install a new tank at the El Cajon site.

InterState Oil Company, a diversified fuel and lubricants distributor servicing California from Bakersfield north to the Oregon border and all of Northern Nevada, with corporate headquarters in Sacramento. The company will provide an existing diesel terminal at the McClellan site which RTC Fuel will retrofit with full biodiesel storage and blending capacity.

Project Benefits

Biodiesel made from soybeans reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent when compared to regular diesel. If made from waste grease, biodiesel reduces emissions by as much as 88 percent. The biodiesel provided by these sites will reduce diesel exhaust emissions, especially from older less emission controlled vehicles. Local air quality will be improved. Biodiesel blends of 5 percent, 20 percent and up to 99 percent will be distributed from the two terminals, displacing up to 1.2 million equivalent gallons of diesel each year and cutting greenhouse gas emissions by more than 7,400 tons annually.

By reducing storage and distribution expenses, the project will lower the retail price premium of biodiesel. RTC fuels estimates that 50 construction, fuel terminal contractor, and equipment manufacturing jobs will be directly supported and created by the projects.