Hosted by SALL , contributed by kamprachim on 31 May 2023
Background
On one hand, fossil fuels are the largest contributor to air pollution and global climate change due to greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, as Greece is the third largest olive-oil producing country, the improper disposal of waste cooking oil from households, restaurants and local businesses leads to water quality degradation.
On the other hand, creating and using biodiesel instead of crude oil can have positive impacts on the environment and economy. Biodiesel is a renewable, nontoxic and biodegradable fuel. Also, biodiesel saves the school a little money on gasoline, gives the students lessons in engineering and chemistry, and removes oil from the waste stream.
Aim
School is located in polluted area, where the concentrations of air pollutants (such as particulate matter, carbon monoxide, ozone, nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide) are elevated and tap water is not potable without filter. Moreover, due to global energy crisis, the price of fossil fuels was increased. To maintain or even reduce the costs of school (transportation by school bus, electricity) and improve the quality of life, the idea to create biodiesel from cooking oil used by students’ households and local companies, came up.
Students also realize that biodiesel benefits local businesses as they need sustainable and affordable fuel for their everyday business activities. When students recycle used cooking oil, then it can be used by local companies. Biodiesel can be used in any diesel engine (trucks, vehicles, and other equipment) with no modifications to the engine or fuel system.
The biodiesel will be made locally and used locally. This, in turn, helps to strengthen the local economy and lower the need for non-local fuel sources.
Co-creation with societal actors
The Municipality is responsible for the collection and removal of the collected items. Cooking oil recycling is held in cooperation with a licensed cooking oil recycling company. Students could benefit from the know-how of the company and the social networking of the Municipality.
Also, the Municipality can contribute to our living lab by providing collection tanks, which will be placed in the school, where cooking oil from the students’ households is collected. Local businesses and especially restaurants and coffee shops will save money by hiring our school as waste oil collector. Otherwise draining used cooking oil into the sewer will result in blockage. This will occur close to their business. With wastewater spewing onto the streets, no customer will set foot in your establishment. The local businesses benefit from this action, by getting an amount of detergent corresponding to half the amount of the cooking oil collected by our school.
Implementation
After thorough consideration of alternative biofuels, biodiesel was selected as it is the fastest, easiest way to decarbonize a school bus and clear the air. First step is collection. Used vegetable oil is collected from local businesses, institutions and homes. Oil should be free of food scraps and other materials. Second step is procession and transformation. At the school laboratory, students convert cooking oil to biofuel using methanol in the presence of a catalyst (usually sodium hydroxide). To test the quality of biodiesel, they could use low-cost test kits. Last but not least, the pretreated oil feedstock is distributed for fuel consumption by school buses and other municipal vehicles.
Reflection
Running biodiesel in your equipment can be a reliable way to replace petroleum sourced diesel fuel with renewable home-grown source. Besides that, the cost of producing 40 gallons of biodiesel with this process is around 50 cents per gallon. Consequently, this process is much cheaper than the current price of fossil fuels.
But biodiesel requires more handling and management care than conventional diesel fuel. Biodiesel has shorter storage life due to lower oxidation stability than diesel fuel. Moreover, the impact of poor-quality biodiesel will probably not be immediately noticeable in the operation of your engine, but over time deposits, corrosion, and damage can accumulate until your engine catastrophically fails.
Futurel Plans
Except from biodiesel, cooking oil could be used to make cosmetics, soaps, shampoos, moisturizers, lubricants and cleaning materials. Commercially exploitation of these products will secure funding for the expansion of our living lab project.