When Tim Geiger was 14, he had no idea a summer camp in Tennessee would one day influence his professional future. Not knowing the other campers, he was assigned a tentmate.

“You have to use your biodegradable soap,” his tentmate Chris Ball said as he washed out his dusty jeans.

“What?” Geiger said. “What does that mean?”

Courtesy photo

The Tetra Point Fuels company plans to open its corporate headquarters next spring in an existing warehouse at Granite Point Industrial Park at Interstate 35W and Metro Street.

Ball, who was raised by an engineer, educated Geiger on the importance of using biodegradable detergent in the lake they drank from, bathed in and washed clothes in. Ball said he was determined to help Geiger keep the lake pure.

More than three decades later, the friends’ environmental concern grew beyond the impact of biodegradable detergent as their hair grayed. They had an idea for a company — biofuel.

Tetra Point Fuels is a company designed to create fuel from expired or defective sugar-based liquids, such as soda, sports drinks and beer that would otherwise be routed to a landfill. The process helps reduce waste in state landfills that have already reached capacity. The company’s business plan differs from the traditional grain-based ethanol plants that take food out of the food chain.

“It’s more than a business, it’s good for the environment,” said Geiger, president of Tetra Point Fuels.

As company officials searched North Texas for the right place to base their headquarters, they kept hearing Denton was friendly to alternative energy.

After viewing an existing empty warehouse at the Granite Point Industrial Park at Interstate 35W and Metro Street, the friends chose Denton to become home to the Tetra Point Fuels corporate headquarters, in spring 2008. The warehouse will be divided into two sections. Tetra has leased the smaller section, 61,483 square feet, of the 152,500-square-foot building.

Jeff Jackson, industrial leasing manager for Granite Properties, said its insurance company was concerned with the flammable nature of ethanol, but precautions, such as incorporating a special sprinkler system and placing the distilling unit outside, are being made.

“We were worried about all of it, but we are insured,” Jackson said. “There are hazardous materials in other warehouses worse than fermented sugar.”

The company is expecting to produce four million to five million gallons in the first year. Orange juice is about 15 percent sugar, which roughly converts to 9 percent ethanol after production. With 100 gallons of orange juice, the company is able to produce 9 gallons of ethanol.

The process for brewing ethanol out of sugary liquids starts at the destruction line. Liquids are drained into a tank. Packaging, like plastic, aluminum and glass, are then recycled at the plant.

The drained liquid is moved to another big tank, similar to microbrewery tanks, where yeast is added and fermentation begins. Unlike other breweries, this plant doesn’t care what the brew tastes like. It optimizes the process for speed and alcohol content.

“It’s a very, very nasty beer,” company Vice President Ball said. “It would undoubtedly make you ill.”

In complying with a federal denaturing process, the plant will ensure the product is unfit for human consumption by adding 2 percent to 5 percent gasoline to the alcohol before it can be transported.

The plant not only recycles sugar and packaging, but other elements as well. Steam from the distillery process is recycled through steam-release valves or a closed-loop system. Through condensation, the steam goes back into the boiler in the form of water.

Ball said this would help lessen the demand on city water. He estimates the closed system will save the company $90,000 a year and several million gallons of water.

Yeast will also be reused for a few lifecycles before being bagged and sold as organic fertilizer. Processing sugar produces about 1,300 pounds of fertilizer per hour.

The largest byproduct of the process is wastewater. Through an agreement with the University of North Texas environmental sciences program, the company will learn how to build a wetland with the nutrient-rich wastewater and place plants that will consume the nutrients and leave clean water.

Geiger, who specializes in project management, and Ball, a chemical engineer, said it was important to get involved with universities. They will work with the University of North Texas environmental sciences department research services and Texas A&M University’s chemical engineering department design services.

Dr. Kevin Stevens, the UNT lead researcher on the project for Tetra, said his team would look at wetland plants that can remove high-concentration compounds and potentially grow a plant in the wastewater.

“We are the first to start doing this,” Misty Wellner, research assistant said. “It is a new idea to use plants to clean wastewater.”

As the plant gears up for opening in the spring, there are still hurdles for the company to clear in order to be compliant with city and state regulations, but Geiger said it is all part of opening up a new business. Denton City Council members approved a special-use permit that allows Tetra Point Fuels to operate at the industrial park as long as seven criteria are met, including managing traffic, odors and lighting.

“Denton is working hard to be a green city and this is a perfect example,” Mayor Perry McNeill said.

While the city approved Tetra’s business plan, Khosrow Sadegh­ian, who has owned the adjacent property for about seven years, initially had concerns about increased traffic in the area.

“I had no idea I was dealing with an ethanol plant,” Sadeghian said. “This is more dangerous than traffic.”

Geiger said he is confident in his company and feels comfortable taking energy from the waste stream instead of the food chain. He says because of the biology involved, the company will need to remain flexible, working out solutions as they go along, especially in regard to wastewater.