More Colleges Convert Used Fryer Oil Into Fuel for Mowers, Vehicles

President Obama’s inaugural vow that America will “harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars” probably has biofuel boosters excited about what policies, subsidies, and research grants might roll out of the new administration. Of course, biodiesel is a controversial alternative energy source. People have raised questions about its net-energy potential and about sources of biodiesel oils.

Biodiesel made from waste oil has been less controversial, and has become the sort of project that environmentally oriented folks have taken up in garages and sheds all over the country. Colleges have gotten involved too. They have been involved not only in serious biofuel research, but also in little projects that recycle waste grease to provide a source of power for small numbers of fleet vehicles.

Stetson University, for example, announced last year that it was using waste fryer oil to supplement petroleum diesel fuel in its lawn mowers. In New Hampshire, Keene State University has been working with the City of Keene and Batchelder Biodiesel Refineries to set up a biodiesel plant that will produce fuel that anyone can purchase. (The university would get a deal on the fuel under the plan.)

The latest news on college biodiesel projects comes from the Associated Press. The article lists projects at Dickinson College, Sinclair Community College in Ohio, and the University of Kansas, among other institutions.

“When a question was posted in November on the online discussion board of the National Association of College & University Food Services asking what dining halls were doing with their fryer oil waste, the board was quickly flooded with responses,” the article says. “Schools said they were either using the oil to make biodiesel or selling it to companies for that purpose.”

If you have a biodiesel project on your campus, please tell us about it in the comments section below.