The exhaust from Ben Stuart's Ford Excursion often smells like french fries.
Actually
it's a sweeter smell than french fries he said. But it's also better than the fumes from a standard diesel engine, he said.
Stuart is the director of Biofuels Research Lab at Ohio University and one of several greasers in the area who run their vehicles on biodiesel, an alternative fuel produced from vegetable oil, animal fat or algae.
Recycled cooking oil or yellow grease is often another source from which biodiesel is produced. Many vehicle owners opt to blend the biodiesel with diesel. Regardless, any diesel engine will run off the fuel at any blend.
Yellow grease fueled Stuart's truck as he led the green-themed Homecoming parade. He buys the biodiesel from Todd Swearingen, who has processed Dining Service's grease into biodiesel since October 2007 for his company, AppalEnergy. Under a university contract, he hauls the grease at no cost to OU and processes it into biodiesel, which he sells to farmers and local motorists. - said Emily Howard, marketing manager for auxiliary services, in an e-mail. Ohio University doesn't pay for the removal and cleaning of grease barrels
and AppalEnergy doesn't pay for the grease it collects.
A recent OU graduate who worked with Stuart has a similar, larger-scale operation. Dave McCandlish, president of Agrifuel LLC, based in Bremen, Ohio, designed a biodiesel processing facility for his senior project in 2005 with guidance from Stuart. He buys grease from local restaurants or collectors within a 50-mile radius and turns it into fuel. As of Tuesday, he was selling biodiesel for $3.88 when the east coast average was $4.02, according to the Energy Information Administration
We have the capacity to produce-
but realistically we produce 250
000
McCandlish said, referring to a lack of demand in the area.
Within two years, OU's Lancaster branch will begin work on processing enough biofuel to power its fleet of diesel-burning grounds keeping equipment.
The project will be a group effort between Lancaster branch and the Russ College of Engineering and Technology.
Students will help produce fuel in class while their supervising faculty and graduate students conduct performance and emissions tests.
With a recent award from the Ohio Department of Development, Stuart plans to purchase a truck and start a small-scale processing operation to promote this fuel to students and farmers.
It's essentially public relations for the future
he said. If we educate the children about the idea of sustainable fueling practices
then they'll grow up with that knowledge.
The bus used in his intrastate travels will be fueled, in part, by biodiesel.
To the farmers, he wants to demonstrate the long-run feasibility of oil-seed processing. Ten acres of soybeans can produce 1,000 gallons of biodiesel per year.
It might not be cost-effective for one farmer to produce biofuel
but a co-op between several wouldn't cut into food stores
and they'd essentially be growing fuel
