Biodiesel

What is happening with biodiesel on campus?
As of now Colorado College is producing biodiesel from recycled vegtable oil. Students and faculty working on the biodiesel program are currently aquiring oil from the deep fryers from two on-campus dining facilities, The Herb 'n' Farm (formerly WIld Sage) and Rastall. In the near future a detailed schedule of pick up times and dates will be available so people who are certified to drive CC vehicles can help in the process. The two professors who are overseeing the process are Sally Meyer and her husband Mark Morganstern. The project is operating out of the EV mobile lab with a thirty gallon processor, hoses, and pumps to streamline the production process. The eventual goal is to see all diesel vehicles on campus running on biodiesel.

What is biodiesel?
Biodiesel is a vegetable oil based fuel that can be used as a replacement for petroleum diesel in any diesel engine with little or no modification to that engine.

Some interesting facts about biodiesel:
-You can run any diesel engine on restaurant's used vegetable oil.
-Any Diesel engine after '94 needs no alterations to its engine in order to make such a conversion.
-Any diesel engine before '94 just needs new tubing for the gas line so that the oil does not corrode the fuel lines.
-Rudolph Diesel originally invented the diesel engine in 1910 so that farmers could run their car engines off the oil from their crops.
-Any blend of biodiesel and fossil fuel diesel can be used in a diesel engine without fear of any engine flaws.
-Biodiesel also extends the life of your engine by 20% because it naturally lubricates the engines moving parts cutting down on the friction created. Also, less friction means less heat which in turn will reduce the frequency of heat related breakdowns.
-Burning vegetable oil smells like hot donuts cooking in your engine block.

Some biodiesel myths and truths:
-Myth: Biodiesel does not work at high altitudes because it can freeze in your engine block causing serious problems that will result in the need for a replacement engine.
Truth: Biodiesel does have a higher freezing point of around (0°C or 32°F) but, as mentioned earlier, you can mix any amount of dinosaur diesel in with bio diesel and your engine will run without any trouble. There are numerous other ways to winterize biodiesel but just as a testament to the fact that it can be run in any climate is Chariss Ford who runs his biodiesel truck at 9000 feet in Telluride during the winter. The other part of this myth is that in the case your biodiesel does freeze in your engine that your engine is ruined. This is fallacious because if your engine does freeze all that needs to happen is your engine needs to be warm back up and you are good to go. To completely avoid this problem you can put heaters around the fuel tank and line that will keep your fuel flowing smoothly.
- Myth: Biodiesel is more expensive because it costs more to make than dinosaur diesel.
Truth: Actually, Biodiesel costs much less to produce and transport than dinosaur diesel but dinosaur diesel is government subsidized so you end up paying for your gas three times: once in the form of your taxes, again at the pump, and finally through its carcinogenicity. Burned fossil fuels are the chief cause of cancer in America and account for our largest governmental expenditure

Some biodiesel links:
http://www.biodiesel.org/
http://www.veggievan.org/
http://www.afdc.doe.gov/altfuel/biodiesel.html