Researchers Discuss "Biodiesel" at UGA

In a room full of Biodiesel researchers, Randy Jackson doesn't quite fit in.
Many of the people at the conference have been studying the fuel for 20 years. He's been making the vegetable oil-based fuel in his backyard for about a year.
“The first few days it's like, ‘Titration? What am I looking for? I don't know what good is and what bad is,’ but it doesn't take long to start working it out,” Jackson tells NewsChannel 32.
He runs all three of his vehicle on 100 percent Biodiesel, not petroleum based gasoline or diesel fuel. He says they're running great.
“Everything I’ve done about it's been win-win. It runs good, it’s fun; it's become a hobby,” Jackson says.
It's more than just fun. It saves him a lot of money. He saves an average of $1.75 a gallon compared to regular diesel.
He came to the UGA workshop to learn how he can make his homemade brew even better.
Biodiesel is nothing new to the University of Georgia -- they've been studying it since the 1980s. The state's first Biodiesel refinery opened right here at UGA several years ago.
“During the fuel shortages, we looked for an emergency diesel fuel, and we have a lot of peanuts in Georgia, so we tried peanut oil in campus buses and that actually worked pretty well,” UGA researcher John Goodrum says.
That was 20 years ago. The school is now working to find cheaper crops to make Biodiesel. The cost of the soybeans or canola that's used to produce the fuel now keeps it from being used on a larger scale.
“If the cost goes up, then it's a question of is it cheaper than diesel fuel?” he says.
UGA researcher John Goodrum says the fuel burns cleaner than petroleum and doesn't and doesn't use-up a non-renewable resource. He also thinks Georgia could benefit from large scale production.
“I think it's going to be a good thing for Georgia if it works -- it's a lot of employment, it's a lot of money that's not sent out of the state,” he says.
But that's only if the Biodiesel reaches a mass-market, and right now, it's too soon to tell if that will happen.
Jackson gets used vegetable oil from restaurants near his house to make his Biodiesel. Making the fuel on a large scale isn't that easy. Large restaurant chains already sell their oil to recyclers.