Daily News—11/13/09
East Ridge, TN moves forward with biodiesel conversion
Photo from: http://alternativefuels.about.com/od/biodiesel/a/collectingwvo.htm
East Ridge pushes forward with plans to fuel the city's fleet with biodiesel made from used cooking oil. Council members got a run down on the plan tonight. The city is continuing with their efforts to lead the way in environmental technology with a bio-diesel plan that will save money as well as the community.
“We intend to produce biofuels, use it in our fleet, we know that we will save money at the pumps for our citizens and for operating our fleet. We know it'll make it more efficient.”, says East Ridge Public Safety Director Eddie Phillips.
The plan is in it's early stages, but it's a simple process that's explained by city Fleet and Biodiesel coordinator Kevin Verro.
“We start out with the raw product with all of the drippings and anything else straight out of the fryer straight to us. From there we put it into a container and mix it with some other chemicals and we'll split the oil molecule apart and harvest the hydrocarbons off of it, which is the fuel.”
This plan to convert WVO to biodiesel for the city fleet is not new, but it does appear to have won the day as it is moved forward. If every town in the USA did this, how much oil diesel would be saved?
U.S. Foodservice-Atlanta fuels trucking fleet with biodiesel
U.S. Foodservice-Atlanta claims it is the first major foodservice distributor in Georgia to fuel its entire delivery fleet with biodiesel. The distributor is using B5 fuel, a 5-percent blend of diesel made from vegetable oils, animal fats or recycled restaurant greases, to run its 185 tractor-trailers.
Despite costing about a penny more per gallon, U.S. Foodservice-Atlanta says using biodiesel is part of the company’s overall strategy to reduce its impact on the environment. The company estimates it will reduce the fleet’s CO2 emissions by nearly 788,000 pounds or about four percent annually. The company is also saving fuel by reducing truck idle time.
In addition, the biodiesel is locally sourced and refined from S.A. White Oil Co. of Marietta, Ga.
Here is a fleet of 185 tractor-trailer rigs which, for all the right reasons, are being fueled with B5. They are taking leadership in using biodiesel, and they are getting the according publicity. Credit where it is due.
Open ponds may hold best options for growing algae-based biodiesel
The future of algae-biodiesel could come in catfish ponds that have lost their fish. That’s the topic of discussion for the National Algae Association Mid-South Chapter’s workshop next week.
Experts in open pond production of algae will talk about the challenges and opportunities their industry faces in making biofuels and biomass for animal feedstocks, bioplastics, fertilizers, and other bioproducts, Nov. 18-19 at the Holiday Inn Express-Downtown Memphis, TN:
For discussion in our algae-based biodiesel forum, has a good way to extract the oil from algae been found? I would like to hear about the design of such equipment. Seems like this would be the main difficulty for this industry.
Kansas University researchers grow algae on sewage, extract biodiesel fuel
Photo from: http://www.ecofriend.org/entry/sewage-algae-could-meet-new-zealands-80-bio-diesel-demand/
LAWRENCE, Kan. — Kansas University researchers are working to turn microbes from treated sewage into a commercially viable biofuel, fluid that one day could be used to power the nation's cars, trucks, airplanes and other modes of transportation.
But for now, the future grows in four farm tanks at Lawrence's Wastewater Treatment Plant, and inside another four at a research station northeast of the Lawrence Municipal Airport.
The project is unmistakably green, a shade that can be produced only by millions of cells of algae fattened up with treated waste from the city's sewer system, then harvested after absorbing organic pollutants and yielding oil for transformation into clean-burning biodiesel.
Here is a feedstock nobody can argue with—sewage algae. It appears they do have a way to extract the oil to make biodiesel, and perhaps these are secrets of the trade. Hopefully, the schools will publish papers telling how they harvest the oil.
