[Biodiesel News] Student group seeks to refine used veggie oil for biodiesel

Student group seeks to refine used veggie oil for biodiesel

UT The Daily Texan - Austin,TX,USA

... That is, if the UT Biodiesel Project accomplishes its goal of creating a fuel source from the gallons of vegetable oil waste the Division of Housing and Food ...

 

The french fries students eat for lunch at Jester City Limits might help fuel their trip around campus one day. That is, if the UT Biodiesel Project accomplishes its goal of creating a fuel source from the gallons of vegetable oil waste the Division of Housing and Food Service produces every year.

 

The final vision of the project is to convert used cooking grease into fuel for campus vehicles and to reduce or eliminate oil consumption from outside the University, said Amanda Cuellar, the project president.

 

"We hope to talk with all diesel-fuel vehicle operators and oil producers and eventually build a reactor," Cuellar said.

 

Cuellar said DHFS buys almost 1,500 35-lb. containers of vegetable oil each year, which amounts to a potential 6,800 gallons available to refine.

 

A similar project began at Rice University in fall 2005. By February, the Rice University Biodiesel Initiative was turning oil into biodiesel at a rate of 50 to 100 gallons a week for use in the campus lawnmowers, said Guyton Durnin, a graduate student and co-founder of the initiative. After finding a facility to house their processing reactor, Durnin said the initiative expects to produce its first 70-gallon batch with the reactor this week.

 

"You want to definitely start small. Do it in the lab and use pure vegetable oil at first," Durnin said when asked for advice for UT's fledgling project.

 

University-based biodiesel projects seek to improve understanding of the biodiesel production process and to discover or improve processing methods, Durnin said. The initiative plans to test its biodiesel in one of Rice's shuttle buses, he said.

 

Adam Shaivitz, a spokesman for Capital Metro, said the company uses a different alternative fuel because of the level of nitrous oxide emitted from biodiesel. Such emissions contribute to ground-level smog, which jeopardizes attainment of pollution standards set by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

 

Tests in real-world scenarios like the one Durnin has planned for the Rice shuttle may change the minds of companies and legislatures about the nitrous-oxide emissions of biodiesel. Most tests are done in a lab with the engine running, not on roads, Durnin said.

 

Kenneth Limbrick, manager for Department of Facilities Services, said he was open to working with UT's Biodiesel Project.

 

"We're trying to become a totally green fleet," Limbrick said.

 

The University fleet has used biodiesel, specifically B20 fuel, as its preferred alternative fuel since September 2001, according to Parking and Transportation Services' Web site.

 

But the project wants the fleet to use biodiesel produced on campus from DHFS waste.

 

Limbrick estimated the fleet's biodiesel consumption to be "around 10,000" gallons. "That's going to increase over time as I replace vehicles, big-block engines, with four-cylinder diesel engines."

 

Austin has 33 B20 pumps, according to Austin Biofuels' Web site.

 

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Posted by Vince to Biodiesel News at 9/18/2006 11:39:00 AM