Aaron Findley thinks he might have found a new way for “quickie marts” to save time and money.
Findley, a student at Oregon Institute of Technology in Southeast Portland, has devised a way to filter and clean used vegetable oil for use in cars and trucks that run on diesel. The project, called the automated biodiesel reactor, is a joint venture with Findley’s classmates Jordan Hudson and Sean Laraway.
When you stop and think about it, every diesel engine is dual-fuel, I hope students will be encouraged by this story, we need new scientists to make new fuels.
A worker cuts sugar cane for raw sugar and ethanol fuel production on the property of the Sao Martinho mill in Pradopolis, 300 kms (186 miles) northwest of Sao Paulo July 6, 2007.
REUTERS/Rickey Rogers
Aside from promoting public understanding and use of the biofuel, the campaign will help retrain manual cane cutters, who will be phased out as mechanized harvesting takes hold in the main center-south cane region.
I believe we should give our mental support to all biofuel, and in some areas of the world, ethanol has a strong lead. But it all supports the green energy concept.
Yet the biofuels used for the Virgin flight, derived from coconut and babassu oils, have negligible carbon savings, because the production of the plants themselves results in negative environmental effects. Meanwhile, their use, displacing food crops, increases food prices and hinders efforts to feed the third world. So while Virgin’s mission was a technical success, it wasn’t a long-term solution.
We are going to see more experiments using biodiesel in aircraft, as they are getting nailed every time oil prices go up. Some day, biofuels may be the only way to fly.
By understanding these environments SGI and ACGT will be able to develop diagnostic tests for plant diseases and agents for disease control, leading to healthier and more productive crops. These genomic solutions also allow for more efficient land usage with improved stewardship of the plantation environment.
ACGT and SGI have focused on Jatropha for several reasons: it is a tropical tree that is one of the highest yielding oilseed plants in the world; it can be grown on marginal, non-food producing lands; has a very short generation time; can be productive for 30 to 40 years; and its seed oil and biomass are ideal for biofuel production.
As we better understand the genetics of plants, we will learn how to tweak the oil production, perhaps coming up with hybrid plants just dripping with veggie oil.
The group limited its project to 200 gallons of biodiesel because of space limitations at the warehouse, but could produce more if needed. For now, the team can make up to 50 gallons at a time, so the potential for fueling a small fleet is possible. Already there are some takers.
A group of Virginia Tech students have produced more than 200 gallons of biodiesel as part of a senior design project for the department of mechanical engineering. The Virginia Tech Bio-Fuels group is putting the fuel to direct use, running two pickup trucks on the liquid in a bid to not only stave off the use of foreign-bought oil but also to be environmentally friendly.
One of the most exciting aspects of biodiesel is the capability of using waste cooking oil to run a vehicle, actually using the oil twice. What a great project for students to work on and think about.