Students brewing biodiesel fuel at CU
I found this article on the web this morning. This looks like an interesting idea. The University of Colorado has fitted a biodiesel refinery into a small trailer and takes it around to schools, fairs, exhibits and produces biodiesel on site from local resources, like spent cooking oil. Could this be a future AFV Lab project? Go to http://www.coloradodaily.com/news/2008/oct/27/students-brewing-biodiesel-fuel-at-cu/ to read the details.
Students brewing biodiesel fuel at CU
By Lance Vaillancourt
Monday, October 27, 2008
Creating cleaner, more sustainable, and more cost-effective fuel from someone’s garbage may sound like a pipe dream, but according to two University of Colorado students involved with the CU Biodiesel program, not only is it possible, it’s easy.
“I’ve taught everyone from post-graduate students to second-graders how to brew their own biodiesel,” said CU senior Mike West, director of education for CU Biodiesel. “That’s the whole point of the project — to show people how easy it is to brew biodiesel.”
The project West is referring to is a self-contained biodiesel trailer called ESTER, short for “fatty acid methylester,” or scientific name for biodiesel. By using the vegetable-oil waste donated from such restaurants as Spud Brothers on 10th Street and CU cafeterias as the primary ingredient, or “feed stock,” ESTER is equipped with a processor that converts it into a finished product that is 80 percent biodiesel and 20 percent glycerine.
According to CU junior Josh Jaffe, director of outreach for CU Biodiesel, both byproducts of the conversion go right back to the benefit of CU causes. The biodiesel is used by the Buff buses to transport students and the glycerine is donated to the CU Recycling Center to be used as a fertilizing agent for composting.
“This is going to be CU’s in-house, or in-parking lot, biodiesel production facility,” Jaffe said of ESTER, which began construction three years ago through a $46,000 grant from the CU Environmental Center.
With a fully-functioning conversion system projected to brew as much as 500 gallons of biodiesel every month, West and Jaffe said that the trailer only needs a few additional adjustments in order to meet safety codes and should be operational within weeks.
The trailer’s mobility will help fulfill its secondary function as an educational tool that can be taken to off-campus locations for on-the-spot workshops, presentations and demonstrations.
“Diesel engines were originally designed to run on peanut oil,” said Jaffe. “It was only when petro was introduced as cheaper that people stopped using peanut oil — so in a way, this is what we should have been using the whole time. It’s not really pioneering, it’s more like backtracking.”
According to West, the bulk of the cost of producing biodiesel comes from obtaining the feed stock. This stands ins sharp contrast to the vast sums of money expended in the exploration for and extraction of petroleum. Biodiesel is not only a cleaner and more sustainable source of energy, West asserts, it is also more cost-efficient….
Source: http://www.coloradodaily.com/news/2008/oct/27/students-brewing-biodiesel-fuel-at-cu/
Tags: Alternative Fuels, biodiesel, Cooking Oil, Vegetable Oil