By Carol Martin
SooToday.com
Saturday, August 29, 2009

Norm Jaehrling, Dr. Luc Duchesneare and John Barbeau are hoping Number 7 will be lucky for Stick it To The Man (SITTM) Technologies Inc.

SITTM is currently building prototype Number 7 in its line of high-efficiency, low-volume biodiesel production units.

The SITTM small-quantity biorefinery system was created to maintain operational efficiencies, fuel quality standards and health and safety controls that are currently limited to large-scale refineries.

SITTM Technologies makes clean, efficient biodiesel in small quantities.

Well, small compared to big oil companies.

Or, "the man," as Jaehrling and Duchesneare collectively refer to them.

The company recently moved to the Blue Heron Industrial Park in the Rankin Reserve on Batchewana First Nation territory.

That's where SooToday.com sat down to talk with Jaehrling and Mike Pratt, SITTM's business and market analyst.

The refit on the warehouse in the new location is complete and SITTM will soon be swinging into full production for prototype Number 7.

That production could be anywhere from one to four million litres a year for every SITTM biorefinery system in operation.

The story began when Jaehrling and Duchesneare went looking for a less-expensive fuel alternative for a group of Quebec farmers.

About six years ago. the agricultural cooperative approached the pair asking them to find a good source of biodiesel for the group because it thought, with tax incentives in place, it would be cheaper than conventional diesel.

Jaehrling and Duchesneare did find a large biodiesel producer in Quebec.

But the fuel was no cheaper than conventional diesel and the producer told them it would simply sell its product in Europe if the Quebec farmers didn't want to pay as much for it.

Eventually, out of that situation, was born SITTM Technologies.

James Barber, currently SITTM's vice president of research and development, came on board early in the project as part of the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund's youth internship program.

Jaehrling says the company has found strong support from all levels of government, including the City of Sault Ste. Marie, which currently powers three of its buses with SITTM biodiesel as part of its pilot project to determine the viability of the fuel SITTM produces.

"We want to offer people another option," says Jaehrling. "We're not against big oil companies. We just want to offer an alternative."

Initially, SITTM wanted to have a system developed, tested and producing fuel for the market within a year or two.

"Research and development is expensive and it always takes longer than anticipated," Jaehrling said.

The company wants to make sure its system works at home first before putting it out on the market, he said.

"People always ask you 'how's that working for you at home?'" Jaehrling said. "We don't want to say we just took it to South Africa or something and started selling it. We want to prove it first. At home."

So SITTM is looking at producing biodiesel for a local fuel co-op that's in its beginning stages.

"About 75 cents of every dollar spent on gas in this area leaves the area," he said. "By keeping it local we change that ratio significantly in our favour."

SITTM isn't planning to use food stocks to make fuel.

Its patented production system creates fuel that conforms to American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM International) standard for fuel quality.

It handles and produces materials safely and with little negative impact on the environment.

SITTM predicts production of biodiesel with a ratio of about four to seven units of energy produced for every unit of energy consumed in the process, depending on the distance of its production units from their feedstocks and markets.

Petroleum companies produce an average of 0.83 units of energy for every unit of energy consumed, he said.

Large-scale production and global sales of the SITTM biorefinery system would help places like Sault Ste. Marie become less dependent on petroleum companies and reduce climate change by reducing carbon emissions significantly.

SITTM is anxious to see its technology proved at home so it can show the many interested parties around the world some hard data.

And they're very close, said Jaehrling.

"Soon Sault Ste. Marie could become a major producer of alternative liquid energy as well as electricity," he said.