Physical Plant Services has begun accepting donations of used cooking oil and grease from the university faculty and staff to provide raw materials for the production of biodiesel, which is used to fuel their off road vehicles and equipment that use diesel engines.
Martin “Chip” Perilloux, one of the Physical Plant’s supervisors, oversees the project and believes that since it’s inception in July 2010, it has been completely successful.
“Obviously the major difference between biodiesel and regular diesel is that it’s an agricultural product, it can be replenished,” said Perilloux. “Not including our labour, it costs about 66 cents per gallon to make biodiesel. I don’t know what the going price at the pump for diesel is now, but it’s definitely more expensive than gasoline. There is a very minor drop in torque, but its very slight, you won’t really notice. Besides, biodiesel cleans the engine and makes it more efficient, so you hardly notice the loss of system.”
While the process also uses some dangerous chemicals like sulfuric acid, the byproducts are harmless, even useful. For every 50 gallons of oil, 40 gallons of biodiesel are produced along with glycerol, a compound of glycerin and methanol. Perilloux recovers the methanol produced and uses it in the next batch, saving costs and providing a reliable supply of the alcohol needed for the process. Another surprising but useful byproduct of making biodiesel is soap made from glycerin, which is tough enough to clean caked grease off of cement but gentle enough to use on skin. Perilloux loves this part about the project; his only complaint about the process is that it’s a very dirty job.
Perilloux is assisted by Korey Warford, a worker at the plant.
“It’s a new experience for me, and I enjoy working with the chemicals and the whole process,” said Warford. “I’m a mower and Chip is my supervisor. He asked for my help, and he needed batch.”
For more information on Southeastern’s biodiesel project, contact Perilloux at mperrilloux@selu.edu.