Estimated Used Cooking Oil in South Dakota

Used cooking oil (UCO) can be transesterified to road-grade biodiesel in eight hours or so. Rather than having a waste disposal problem, generators of UCO in South Dakota have an untapped fuel resource for local

• fire departments
• ambulance services
• city street / county highway maintenance depts.
• city buses
• U.S. Postal Service
• furniture / large appliance delivery vehicles
• tool vans ("Snap-On") and
• other local delivery service vehicles

as well as for farm equipment.

According to chemical engineers at the University of Saskatchew, an estimate of annual U.S. per capita generation of yellow grease [used cooking oils and greases] is of 9 lbs.

Using that estimate, 754,844 SD residents generate 6,793,596 pounds of yellow grease. Tyson Foods determined that about 8 pounds of yellow grease and animal fats transesterified to 1 gallon of biodiesel (BD).

If mathematics are consistent, each year we could have 849,199 gallons of BD to use. At between $4.11 to $4.39 per gallon of petro-diesel (U.S. Energy Admin., 28 April 08), the BD is worth $3,490,210 - $3,727,983.

Each year South Dakotans throw away about $3.5 million; other states are throwing even more millions into landfills or down drains. Rudolf Diesel designed his engines in the 1890s to run on peanut and other vegetable oils before crude oil refining was economical.

By 1912 the first Chevron gasoline station had been built, changing internal combustion practices for the forseeable future. Perhaps Diesel's initial vision will enjoy a greater resurgence here in the U.S. as we travel "back to the future."