Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Arkansas Division of Agriculture
Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences

A newsletter for faculty, staff and students

November-December 2005 • Vol. 31, No. 6

Patriot BioFuels to build Stuttgart plant

Patriot BioFuels, a new Arkansas-based biodiesel company, will locate its recently purchased state-of-the-art equipment in a production facility in Stuttgart and will be producing alternative fuel sources by early spring 2006, according to a company news release.

The company’s leaders include Agricultural Engineering alumni Steve Danforth, a member of the board of directors; Tommy Foltz, president; and Mike Shook, chief of operations.

More than 35 biodiesel plants have opened across the country; Patriot BioFuels will be the first independent producer in Arkansas.

Patriot BioFuels will produce its biodiesel from a combination of soybean oil and rendered animal fat. Only part of the Stuttgart facility will initially be used, with plans to expand over the next few years as demand grows.

The partners in Patriot BioFuels have been involved in this emerging industry for several years. Foltz spent four years in Washington, D.C., overseeing the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Clean Cities Program. After leaving the agency, he opened a clean fuels public affairs firm. He returned to Little Rock in 2001 to work for Blue Energy, selling natural gas for vehicle use.

Mike Shook, a principal of Agri-Process Innovations in Stuttgart, helped write a feasibility study on biodiesel production in Arkansas for Winrock International. He and Steve Danforth, partner in Agri-Process Innovations, provide a high level of technical expertise, Foltz said.

“Mike and Steve bring a level of technical expertise that few other biodiesel companies in the country can match,” Foltz said.

Other investors and directors are general counsel Cal McCastlain of Little Rock, Mike Coulson of Coulson Oil in North Little Rock, Noal Lawhon of Delta King Seed Co. in McCrory, Wade Whistle of Osceola, Bobby Gammil of Blytheville, Mike McCarty of Blytheville, Richard Vincent of Houston, Bryan Fancher of Huntsville, Ala., and Andrew Browning, director of government affairs for Methanex in Washington, D.C., the world’s largest producer of methanol, a critical ingredient to biodiesel production.