Sodexho waste could be fuel
Jessica Rapp
Issue date: 9/20/07 Section: TruLife
This spring, Truman will switch gears and use biodiesel to fuel its engines.
Biodiesel is an environmentally friendly alternative to fuel. Truman's chapter of Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society started mapping out plans that will allow the University to produce biodiesel to fuel golf carts, tractors and other diesel-friendly vehicles on campus.
Junior Josh Hirner, president of ACS, said that switching Truman's diesel vehicles to biodiesel could both save the University money and help the environment.
"Biodiesel can be used in engines without modification," Hirner said. "Studies show that different pollutants are reduced - sulfur nitrous oxide goes down, carbon monoxide is reduced and, my favorite one, it eliminates black clouds [soot emissions]."
Hirner said black clouds are called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which researchers suspect cause cancer.
Senior Drew Olson, the coordinator for the agriculture science part of the project, said the most important factor ACS is looking at right now has to do with sustainability.
"We're making the University sustainable by utilizing a resource that they throw away and using it as an asset to us," Olson said. "We get more out of it than what we put into it."
The idea was influenced by a capstone project done last year by senior Laura Farkas.
Farkas did an analysis on how much the project would save the University based on 2006 gas prices. Hirner and Olson explained to faculty and staff in a presentation, that the college would save almost $4,000 if the project started last year, but the numbers should rise with the increasing price of fuel.
Biodiesel is produced from vegetable oil. Hirner said that in a process called transeterification, the fatty acids in vegetable oil are neutralized or eliminated for added sodium hydroxide to react with added alcohol. The chemistry of acids and bases allows fuel to be made from the University's kitchen grease, she said.
Biodiesel is an environmentally friendly alternative to fuel. Truman's chapter of Student Affiliates of the American Chemical Society started mapping out plans that will allow the University to produce biodiesel to fuel golf carts, tractors and other diesel-friendly vehicles on campus.
Junior Josh Hirner, president of ACS, said that switching Truman's diesel vehicles to biodiesel could both save the University money and help the environment.
"Biodiesel can be used in engines without modification," Hirner said. "Studies show that different pollutants are reduced - sulfur nitrous oxide goes down, carbon monoxide is reduced and, my favorite one, it eliminates black clouds [soot emissions]."
Hirner said black clouds are called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which researchers suspect cause cancer.
Senior Drew Olson, the coordinator for the agriculture science part of the project, said the most important factor ACS is looking at right now has to do with sustainability.
"We're making the University sustainable by utilizing a resource that they throw away and using it as an asset to us," Olson said. "We get more out of it than what we put into it."
The idea was influenced by a capstone project done last year by senior Laura Farkas.
Farkas did an analysis on how much the project would save the University based on 2006 gas prices. Hirner and Olson explained to faculty and staff in a presentation, that the college would save almost $4,000 if the project started last year, but the numbers should rise with the increasing price of fuel.
Biodiesel is produced from vegetable oil. Hirner said that in a process called transeterification, the fatty acids in vegetable oil are neutralized or eliminated for added sodium hydroxide to react with added alcohol. The chemistry of acids and bases allows fuel to be made from the University's kitchen grease, she said.
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