A local technology company has received a federal grant of $1.9 million for the development of a biodiesel production process that promises to be cheaper, more efficient and more flexible than processes now used.

Harmarville-based Thar Technologies Inc. received the grant, from the National Institute of Science and Technology, to further its research in using highly pressurized carbon dioxide to extract biodiesel from feedstock.

Thar President and Chief Executive Officer Lalit Chorida said that to date, biodiesel production has been a two-stage process -- first, hexane is used to extract vegetable oil from oilseed, then the vegetable oil is converted to biodiesel.

In Thar's proposed single-stage process, carbon dioxide replaces hexane, a toxic solvent,

Mr. Chordia said that besides being non-polluting, the new process will use 25 percent less energy to produce the same amount of fuel, and will be 14 percent less expensive, a combination of higher efficiency and lower cost that would make biodiesel production economical even without government subsidies.

That possibility is especially important to Pennsylvania, which has lagged behind some other states in providing incentives for biodiesel production (last month, the state Senate passed legislation that would raise the state's subsidy for biodiesel production to 75 cents per gallon, from 5 cents).

Speakers at the press conference announcing the grant emphasized the importance of Thar's research, not only as an advance in green technology, but as a potential blessing to the regional economy, especially because Thar plans to build a biodiesel plant in the Pittsburgh region by 2010. Mr. Chordia said that Thar expects to create between 50 and 100 jobs with the biodiesel plant.

"We recognized early on that this whole green movement does have a job factor," said Allegheny County chief executive Dan Onorato.

Besides creating jobs, the plant itself will provide a market for local agriculture.

"By putting the extraction plant in Pittsburgh, we are giving farmers in Pennyslvania a fresh shot," Mr. Chordia said.

Also, he said, the process can be used to produce ethanol, and can use non-edible plants, or even non-plant sources such as shale oil, as feedstock.

Nathaniel L.S. Doyno, executive director of Steel City Biofuels, a nonprofit dedicated to the development of alternative fuels, said that because Thar's program could produce fuel from non-edible sources, it can help to relieve a "pinch" that has begun to slow the advancement of biofuels -- the "food vs. fuel" controversy that challenges the use of grains such as corn to produce fuel.

Mr. Chordia said that when the extraction process is perfected, it would be transferable to other industries, such as pharmaceuticals.