Island firefighters cook up the West Sound’s first biodiesel manufacturing plant.

It all started with three buddies fumbling around with beakers, a hotplate, a kitchen blender, a little hydroxide, a little methanol and a whole lot of used cooking grease.

A year later, the three guys, who met as firefighters in the Bainbridge Island Fire Department, are poised to launch the first biodiesel vehicle fuel manufacturing plant in the West Sound, and only the second in the state.

“I’m on pins and needles, I’m flighty every day – it’s hard to contain myself” said a wide-eyed Stuart Strana­han inside a garage crowded with sawhorses, an old treadmill, a few snowshoes and a gurgling tank decorated with bulging plastic eyeballs.

“That’s ‘Bender,’” said Sam Hadley, before retouching the tank’s gritted teeth with a marking pen. “He’s our biodiesel reactor.”

The garage operation, tucked in the woods behind Stranahan’s Arrowpoint Drive home, produces 30 gallons of the low-emission, renewable fuel every 48 hours. In two weeks, Stranahan will fire up a full-fledged industrial operation at a Kingston warehouse where his new company, Olympic Biofuels, will produce 1,000 gallons of biodiesel per day.

“We’re moving very quickly,” said Stranahan, who most recently worked for the Central Kitsap Fire Department and will serve as Olympic Biofuels’ president. “We put this on the fast track because we believe so strongly in this.”

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel made through a chemical reaction of alcohol and vegetable oils or greases. The fuel runs smoothly in most conventional diesel gas tanks and releases an exhaust smell reminiscent of french fries.

Cleaner-burning and more energy efficient than fossil fuels, biodiesel produces about 78 percent less tailpipe toxins than conventional diesel and may help the United States “grow” beyond its need for a foreign fuel fix.

Rather than drill for fuel, farmers can simply grow it, said Stranahan. Canola oil, made from crushed rapeseed, is a prime source of many biodiesel mixes.

“It’s energy that comes from the sun – for free,” Stranahan said.

Stranahan has, for the most part, used waste grease gathered from island restaurants, such as the Winslow Way Cafe and Sawan Thai Kitchen in Lynwood Center.

The larger operation will supplement its used oil suppliers with canola and other oils produced by the region’s farmers.

“We’re making a commitment to Washington growers,” Stranahan said. “We’ll take their crops only.”

Finding a stable oil supply source is a blip on the road compared to the wide highway of market demand on which Olympic Biofuels is about to embark.

“I know, right now, I can sell every drop I produce,” Stranahan said. “There’s just that much demand.”

Quality Auto Service near the Bainbridge ferry terminal is already online to buy one of Olympic Biofuels’ first batches. The station has long served as the island’s only commercial supplier of biodiesel.

“It sells very, very well (and) it’s steadily increasing,” said owner Steve Recchi. “It’s a true-blue fuel that helps us get out of the petroleum grid.”

The station sells an average of 10,000 gallons of biodiesel per month at $3.20 to $3.40 per gallon, which Recchi said is a price on par with conventional diesel.

Stranahan also plans to market his biodiesel to the region’s industrial users.

He estimates there are 200 diesel truck and other vehicle fleets in the Kitsap and Olympic peninsula regions that could easily convert to biodiesel. This includes construction vehicles – such as tractors and dump trucks – as well as cargo fleets, public utility vehicles and school buses.

As former and current firefighters, Stranahan and his biodiesel-making buddies hope to convert the Bainbridge Island Fire Department’s ladder trucks and water tenders to the alternative fuel. It’d be a change good for both the environment and the firefighters.

“Sitting in the (fire truck) cab or working the pumps, you’re sucking a lot of (diesel),” said Hadley. “This will really cut down on that.”

It was his experience with choking down diesel fumes at the fire hall that sparked Stranahan’s interest in cleaner burning fuels.

Stranahan started researching biodiesel on the internet and found willing partners in his fellow firefighters.

“We were so excited,” said firefighter Ryan Landworth, who helped in developing the first batch. “Sam and I mixed up the minimum amount and dumped it in Stu’s (Dodge) Ram. We drove it just to see if it would explode or whatever. But it ran wonderfully, flawlessly.”

That’s how much of the region’s biodiesel was manufactured – by garage chemists who’d pour their homebrewed fuel into rusty pickups and clunker Volkswagens.

Now manufacturers such as Seattle Biodiesel produce fuel used by governments, buses, delivery trucks, ferries and by thousands of Puget Sound drivers.

Tonya Croman is one of them. Set behind the wheel of her H1 Hummer, the island resident’s 5-foot-2-inch frame is dwarfed by the military-style vehicle. It’s not a car especially liked by most who care about air quality and environmental health. That’s why Croman’s Hummer is dotted with informative stickers.

“My car runs on eco-friendly biodiesel fuel,” reads one.

“Sniff my tail pipe,” instructs another.

“My husband’s been flipped off when he’s driving it,” Croman said. “I get a lot of thumbs up from people who know what (it’s fueled) on, but I get a lot of thumbs down, too. I just say, ‘Can’t you read the stickers all over the thing?’”

The 4-ton rig is a perfect “family wagon” for Croman and her four kids. The small dents in the frame prove it’s also good at clearing trees from the family’s property in Seabeck. Running at about 20 miles per gallon on biodiesel isn’t the most cost-effective rate, but it’s more efficient than regular diesel, which drops the average by about 3 gallons.

“The engine runs smoother on it,” she said. “If we run diesel, it’ll start sputtering. When we put in some biodiesel, it cleans out those toxins in petroleum. (Biodiesel) is better for the vehicle and, obviously, it’s better for the environment.”

Recchi, who counts Croman as a loyal customer, hopes to soon top island fuel tanks with biodiesel made from island ingenuity.

“What Stu and Olympic Biofuels are doing is great,” he said. “We’ve got sunlight, we’ve got farmers, we’ve got corn and now we’ve got refineries right here. That’s all we need.

“There’s no reason not to grow it and use it.”