Disposal problem is a profit center

Perhaps the National Restaraunt Association's “Conserve” environmental initiative would be wise to have a "roadmap" on how to convert used cooking oil to biodiesel? The fuel can be marketed to

• municipal and county departments (fire, ambulance, transit, street/highway) and
• organizations that use diesel fuel in boiler operation as a means to reduce their petro-diesel costs.

Biodiesel

• is also less toxic than salt
• biodegrades as fast as sugar and
• releases far fewer pollutants when burned compared to petro-diesel.

Liquid used cooking oil is filtered, tested for FFA and water content, then put in a processor for conversion. A processor can produce as few as 30 gallons (in a large closet) or as much as 275 gallons (in a backroom) of the fuel.

In a mall a central facility could occupy several thousand square feet off in a remote corner of a parking lot.

Ted Turner and others at a National Restaurant Association conference on going green mentioned "environmental stewardship and local sustainability" and '“the plus one' attitude emphasizes using local/regional sources." Producing biodiesel for city and county vehicles through "restaurants going green would have an even bigger impact."

PR would be fantastic and used cooking oil disposal costs would be replaced by profits from long-term contracts for biodiesel purchases.

Why throw away a fuel source at a time when "product-innovation and profitability have become even more important staples of successful restaurants."?

Biodiesel from Waste Vegetable Oil

Another form of farm energy production is "ginning" biodiesel from waste vegetable oil (WVO). Like wind WVOs are found in abundance, yet remain a vastly under-used resource. The following three sections give overviews of this type of biodiesel production.

One
Waste Cooking Oil to Biodiesel Automated Fuel Pump Project, Deep Blue at the University of Michigan

INTRODUCTION p. 5 of 80

A potential customer for our product is the University of Michigan grounds crew, which could use the system to fuel some or possibly all of their diesel vehicles. The university residence hall cafeterias would be the primary source of waste grease. Using waste grease from the residence hall would eliminate the cost the university faces for the removal of the cooking oil; in addition to the savings associated with producing fuel in‐house makes our product desirable for both the U of M grounds crew and the residence hall cafeterias.

Another possible use for biodiesel produced from waste grease is heating University buildings.

Two
A Biodiesel Primer: Market & Public Policy Developments, Quality, Standards & Handling,
Prepared by Methanol Institute and International Fuel Quality Center, April 2006, 31 pages.

Three
Make your own biodiesel was Retrieved from the URL on 11 Dec 07.

Anybody can make biodiesel. It's easy [with practice, patience, attention to detail], you can make it in your kitchen -- Your diesel motor will run better and last longer on your home-made fuel, and it's much cleaner -- better for the environment and better for health.

If you make it from used cooking oil it's not only cheap but you'll be recycling a troublesome waste product. This is more appealing than using new oil, but it's also more complicated.

The production rate was less than with new oil, ending with 8-9 litres of biodiesel instead of 10. With care and experience the production rate improves to almost 1 litre of used cooking oil yielding 1 litre of biodiesel.

It's essential to titrate the oil to find out how much FFA it contains so you can calculate exactly how much extra lye will be required to neutralise it. This means determining the pH using

• an electronic pH meter
• pH test strips (or litmus paper) or
• phenolphthalein solution.

Don't be put off or frightened away by titration; it's not difficult. Thousands of non-chemist biodiesel makers have learned how to do it and use it every time they make biodiesel. Just follow the directions, step by step.

Search terms
Biodiesel processors
transesterification catalyst