John Caupert: The upward opportunity in the biofuels industry is unlimited. And the best place that one can start is as a biofuels technician. Typically whenever we speak publicly about biofuels or renewable fuels we refer to them as the four R’s: renewable that we are developing here at home that reduces greenhouse gas emissions, reduces our dependence on foreign oil, and then what it does for rural economies in terms of job growth and development.
David Kistner: My rewards are doing something different everyday. We’re working in basically the cutting edge of the biofuels industry. So when we are running we are on shift work. We are operating 24 hours a day, and normally sitting in front of these six screens monitoring our entire process from right here. The operator are watching this, taking samples, monitoring the system and adding everything they need to add.
Yanhong Zhang: Our job is to actually characterize what kind of major ingredients are in the sample. We use this kind of centrifuge. It is going to spin and eventually separate the liquid from the solid. I am taking the prepared sample and I am going to show you where we are actually eventually analyze what’s in it. You can put the vial in. you can actually calculate the percentage of different ingredients.
David Kistner: You are always adding or taking samples or doing physical monitoring of the process out in the field. So I can sit here and monitor and control the entire process.
Yanhong Zhang: Certain lab experience is definitely the number one priority. I think the knowledge about the biofuel you can always build up later.
David Kistner: High school students can go and get an associates degree that can makes them really well prepared. And those associates degrees are really kind of your foot in the door to those operator jobs. You should obviously have your basic math skills and basic computer skills as well as your general communication and English skills.
Yanhong Zhang: It is very very important whether the student is a team worker or not.
John Caupert: Almost unlimited growth and career potential for those who start off as biofuels technicians. This is a very good place to start for anybody that hopes to have a long term career in the biofuels industry. Why? They learn the intricacies of the biofuels production process but perhaps more importantly the overall structure of the biofuels production system