It’s YOUR Business
Pass those fries and ribs, bubba!
By Herb Drill
Barb and I haven’t seen this yet at the Kangaroo gas pumps at Oldfield Crossing and Old St. Augustine Roads in Jacksonville, Fla., but maybe it’s on its way. Perhaps we should save the containers from Burger King just off I-295.
We admit it: crispy golden French fries are a part of our meals more than they should be – especially at the “Peanut Place” (a.k.a. Roadhouse Grille).
Now, according to Science Daily, the vegetable oil used to fry these yummies has become the main ingredient in an alternative diesel fuel known as “biodiesel.” While French fries are known as junk food, the new biodiesel is anything but junk fuel.
It seems “biodiesel” fuel could reduce truck pollution and, lo and behold, the new process was developed at the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory. There, researchers Bob Fox and Dan Ginosar found used French fry oil can be converted into an environmentally-friendly diesel fuel faster and less expensively than current processes while producing an even higher grade fuel. Actually, Science Daily reports, the conversion of vegetable oils or animal fats to diesel fuel is nothing new. Biodiesel fuel has been tested for years as an alternative to petroleum-based diesel fuel, or "petrodiesel."
Using biodiesel instead of petrodiesel offers some distinct advantages:
· First, the biodiesel is much more environmentally-friendly and burns cleaner and more completely, meaning less pollution. Pollutants include hydrocarbons, sulfur, carbon monoxide and particulates, which are responsible for the thick black exhaust clouds which foul the air behind some diesel-powered vehicles.
· Second, biodiesel is free of aromatic compounds, the substances which give fuel its “cetane” rating (gasoline has and octane rating).
However, these compounds include toxic chemicals like benzene and toluene and are carcinogenic. Biodiesel actually has a better cetane rating than petrodiesel without using aromatics. Particulates and aromatic compounds lead to the familiar, caustic odor of burned petrodiesel fuel.
Biodiesel has a different, yet probably more familiar odor when it burns. It smells like fried chicken (which my mom made better than anyone). In fact, it smells so much like fried chicken that when the National Park Service considered using biodiesel fuel for tour buses in its parks, it worried that bears would chase the vehicles in the mistaken perception they were chasing finger-licking-good meals on wheels. We thought they preferred fish and porridge.
"We told the park service bears don't often eat at Kentucky Fried Chicken," Fox laughed while explaining how the service's fears were allayed. Yellowstone National Park later began experimenting with biodiesel in its “Truck in the Park.”
It appears that a major benefit for the national parks and many other users of biodiesel is the fuel is rapidly biodegradable, unlike petroleum-based fuels. It disappears almost as fast as French fries into a five-year-old boy. If there’s an accidental spill, any damage would be reversible and make a minimal impact. You just reach for the Bounty towels?
Unfortunately, the current method of producing biodiesel is very time-consuming. It’s made in batches which take two or three days to complete. Working in the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory's Research Center, Fox and Ginosar developed a new method which produces a higher grade biodiesel with less waste at a lower cost. Their technology eliminates the need for a base liquid, which eliminates the need for acid to neutralize the base and water to rinse away the acid. The process is continuous, without all the steps and the unnecessary wastewater.
Much of Fox and Ginosar's research was done with used French fry oil donated by the J.R. Simplot Co. For Simplot and other food processors, the large volumes of used vegetable oils are a real liability. Transporting it to landfills or “yellow oil” markets is expensive, so turning a waste product into fuel to power its large trucking fleet is appealing.
Fox and Ginosar envision a time when waste oil-to-biodiesel conversion plants are connected to food processing plants everywhere, giving processors an environmentally-sound source of fuel. The two have secured a provisional patent for the technology, but lack funding to refine the process and complete the project. As they look for a new funding source, though, their enthusiasm for the project hasn’t diminished.
“It's interesting chemistry to us,” Fox says. “We're in it for the science and chemistry aspects.”
Both of them take pride in developing a process which not only eliminates one waste product from landfills but also replaces another product with a negative environmental impact.
Let’s see, can we save the pork fat, which “rules,” according to Chef Emeril Lugasse, and help the environment by eating more ribs at Sonny’ s, or Bono’s, or Cross Creek?