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Sunday, June 25, 2006

BY SYDNEY SCHWARTZ

Copyright © 2006 Republican-American

WASHINGTON, Conn. — For their transportation technology final at Shepaug Valley High School last Friday, a dozen or so teenagers poured jugs of corn and canola oil into a 35-gallon hot water heater. Then they added methanol and lye and waited for the fuel to form.

With gas prices around the country at all-time highs, local high school students are experimenting with biodiesel, an alternative to foreign oil. They're learning that to run the cars of the future, all you might need is a little french fry grease.

"It's definitely moving everything forward," said junior Conor Galligan, 16, of Bridgewater, who is working with technology teacher Erik Holst-Grubbe on the project. "It just makes more sense than everything else."

Biodiesel is a petroleum alternative made from animal fats or vegetable oils such as soy bean, mustard seed, canola and sunflower seed. It can be used alone, or mixed into a tank of regular diesel gas, and since it can be grown, rather than extracted from the earth, it's a more efficient, renewable and non-toxic alternative to gas.

"We'd do a great disservice to kids if we didn't teach them about our need to preserve the environment, "Shepaug Principal Gene Horrigan said.

Biodiesel is already in the gas station pumps in Europe and in about 300 fueling stations in the U.S. The Department of Defense, the National Park Service and the city of Harrisonburg, Va., use biodiesel in their fleets. In Warwick, N.Y., local restaurants donate oil so the school district can operate 13 of its school buses with biodiesel and says it costs less than operating the other 70 buses.

Closer to home, the University of Connecticut uses grease from dining halls to run some of its buses and at the Greater Hartford Academy of Math and Science magnet school, students are looking into growing the alternative energy through algae.

On Friday, congressmen Kenny Hulshof, R-Mo., and Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., introduced a bill that would help further embed biodiesel in America's long-term energy strategy. The Renewable Fuels and Energy Independence bill would make a federal excise tax credit for biodiesel permanent and likely lead to dramatic and sustained growth of biodiesel use.

Shepaug science teacher John Carlson became interested in biofuels when he was in France on vacation last summer. He noticed most new cars were diesel and was curious about it, since gas is so expensive. He said the gas station pumps were all 5 percent biodiesel.

When he got back, he read more about it in Home power magazine and picked up Joshua Tickell's "From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank: The Complete Guide to Using Vegetable Oil as an Alternative Fuel," which Holst-Grubbe says has become his bible of sorts.

"We have to switch more to diesel, conserve like Europe has done," Carlson said. "Every time you're not using petroleum, you're using something renewable."

The students made their first batch during the winter in a blender with organic waste oil from Perotti's pizza in Middlebury. When it was complete, Holst-Grubbe said he brought the bottle around with him, showing everyone at school and his neighbors.

Soon after, Holst-Grubbe received funding from the Washington Environmental Council to build the biodiesel processor he used last week — simply a hot water heater with a circulating pump and some ball valves.

The hot water heater now has bumper stickers that say "Biodiesel: Praise the Lard," "Biodiesel: Better than any Hybrid," and "Biodiesel, moonshine for your diesel," that he got from a WEC member during a presentation.

To create the fuel, Holst-Grubbe has his students warm up vegetable oil, combine it with methanol and lye, and let it circulate and settle. Glycerine settles to the bottom and the rest is purified vegetable oil, or diesel. His students drain the glycerine from the bottom and use the biodiesel as fuel.

Holst-Grubbe and his students have used this green fuel in a 1985 GMC diesel truck that one faculty member donated.

Horrigan said he also used a jar at home in his oil burner — and it worked.

"Very often you find a lag time with real life and education," Horrigan said. "Here we're teaching kids about the future and getting them interested in the future."

Holst-Grubbe said he drives a hybrid car and a minivan but he hopes to replace the later with a Volks Wagon Passat wagon that will run on pure vegetable oil.

"I don't want the kids thinking everything's going to be biodiesel. It's a piece," he said. "It's a whole change of lifestyle that will help with energy consumption."

Next year, he hopes to get used grease from local restaurants. He also wants to try to get the donated truck to run off regular old vegetable oil, which takes a separate tank, some fuel lines and a switch.

The Washington Environmental Council also hopes to get the town involved collecting waste grease from local restaurants or using the fuel for town trucks. Others schools could get involved and residents could use the product as home heating oil.

Right now, Holst-Grubbe has only about 25 gallons to spare, mostly from last Friday's concoction.

At first, the final didn't turn out too well. Holst-Grubbe and his class added to much oil, causing the hot water heater to overflow. But as it settled, the glycerine separated from the biodiesel and it produced fuel.

"We are not a production center by any stretch of the imagination, but I would like the kids to see the possibilities through this project," Holst-Grubbe said.

Junior Conor Galligan said he still thinks diesel engines are too noisy — but if gas gets too expensive, he'll probably change his mind.

"It's not for the faint of heart. You need to know how to do the math," he said. "But as long as you're willing to take the time to do it, not just go to the pump and fill it up, there's a lot of benefits."