Tilapia Biodiesel

[cheferson]

Honduran tilapia out of frying pan, into clean energy source


Saint Peter's was just another commercial fish farm until striking oil on its property -- found in the heads and guts left over after filleting.

The 300,000 gallons of biodiesel pressed from the fish heads, skin and internal organs is enough to generate the company's electricity, fuelling 10 trucks and the eight buses that bring the 1,500 workers in each day.

"We export two planes full of fish every day, some 55 million pounds (25 million kilograms) of fish the company ships annually," plant manager Israel Snir told AFP said.

The leftover gurry, or fish offal, would be just garbage, creating an environmental problem all its own, if it were not made into biodiesel, he added.

"We produce annually 300,000 gallons (1.135 million liters) of biodiesel, which costs nearly a dollar less than fossil fuels per gallon," Snir told AFP.

The fish are raised in outdoor artificial ponds, and a truck brings them to the processing plant where they are placed on a conveyor belt, some still jumping, and are gutted and filleted.

Inside the air-conditioned factory, Wilfredo Guifarro, 23, slashes each fish into two uniform fillets from each tilapia, a mild, white fish ideal for deep-frying.

Guifarro and his co-workers wear white smocks, hair nets and face masks as well as black gum boots during their 10-hour shifts filleting fish and throwing the guts and heads aside.

The fillets are packed into white boxes for the ride to an airport in San Pedro Lula, 260 kilometers (160 miles) north of Tegucigalpa.

The guts go into kettles to render the oils. Anything left over is converted into fish feed for chickens and shrimp.

For five years, the factory has raised fish in El Borboton, 200 kilometers (120 miles) north of Tegucigalpa.

"We are world leaders in making and using biodiesel from animal waste," plant environmentalist Vilma Andreakis told AFP.

"It is clean energy."

The fish are raised in floating cages in the reservoir of El Cajon hydroelectric dam and in nearby Yojoa Lake.

A group of workers led by Juan Munoz converts the offals into biodiesel.

"The oil comes in with water in it and has to be separated by raising it to 90 degrees C (194 degrees F) in a tank, where we add methanol, glycerin and other chemicals to make biodiesel," he said.

The end product generates electricity for the entire operation and its vehicles.

"According to the World Bank, 70 percent of the population of seven million in Honduras lives on less than two dollars a day," Snir said.

"In the midst of such a disgrace we have created a model of sustainable development," he said.