Dirty cooking oil does not go to waste on the ESF or Syracuse University campuses.
Several times each month, it is gathered in 55-gallon plastic drums and deposited at the old greenhouses on the ESF campus. When heated, cleaned, and processed with methanol and an acid catalyst, it is ready to be mixed and used to power campus vehicles. Biodiesel production involves students at every step of the process, from collection to creation.
Mike Kelleher, ESF Director of Renewable Energy, often integrates the biodiesel project with students' classwork. Engineering students may redesign the biodiesel processing unit, while environmental science students may compute a cost-benefit analysis of expanding the current system.
ESF stores its biodiesel - mixed with petroleum diesel at 5% for winter and 10% in the summer - next to the fuel cell and ethanol tanks behind Walters Hall.
To read more, click here, or visit the project page for even more in-depth information on multiple biodiesel-related projects.
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