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Cruising on cooking oil
City Academy students convert
discarded grease into biodiesel
By Tiffany
Erickson Deseret Morning News
Students at City
Academy have found a way to motor from Point A to Point B pollution-free —
all they need is a little cooking grease.
Chemistry teacher Shea Pickelner discusses making biodiesel
fuel.
Michael Brandy, Deseret Morning
News | Chemistry
teacher Shea Pickelner spent her Christmas vacation driving a school bus
cross country — a vehicle her students would use to test their own
lab-made biodiesel. It's also intended to provide transportation for
school field trips. After receiving a $9,000
science grant from Toshiba for the project, Pickelner scoured eBay for a
vehicle that would be the centerpiece in the biodiesel project. When she
found a 25-seat bus in Wisconsin for $4,000, she flew out and drove it
back. Last month ninth- and 10th-graders at the
school, 2416 E. 1700 South, spent weeks converting discarded vegetable oil
from P.F. Chang's China Bistro to biodiesel. It's
surprisingly simple and with the strategic use of methanol, lye and a
handy separation technique students were able to fill a storage cabinet
with bottles of the fuel. And without a hitch, on the bus' maiden voyage
in February, the engine roared to life, taking the students downtown and
back. City Academy's charter is based on teaching
students how to make differences in the community and be active in a
democratic environment, which is why this project was so fitting with the
school's philosophy, said Monica Daly developmental director for the
school. "The aim of our school is to create good
democratic citizens — problem solvers," said Pickelner. "I want them to be
able to think outside the box and confront these problems and not feel
overwhelmed to inaction." She said often when
students hear about things like global warming they automatically think it
is something they can't do anything about. But projects like this teach
them that with some creative energy there are solutions.
The rest of the grant money was spent on supplies, safety materials
and a processor used in "home brewing" the biodiesel.
City Academy students Cree McNulty, left, and Libby Giles
separate washed biodiesel fuel and water.
Michael Brandy, Deseret Morning
News | Though
unused vegetable oil is more commonly used in creating biodiesel, the
students gathered the used oil because they could get it for free — it
just meant a few extra steps in the production.
The finished product is completely non-toxic. Pickelner said it is more
biodegradable than sugar, 10 times less toxic than salt and requires
200-degree heat to catch it on fire — comparatively mellow stuff compared
to most fuel. It runs in a diesel engine just like
diesel, and there is no need to alter the vehicle in any way. Pickelner
said untreated vegetable oil alone will run a diesel engine, too, by just
adding an additional tank with a heating coil that will heat up the oil,
making it thinner. "Students this age really have
ideals to make the world a better place, and this is such a big
environmental and economic issue, as well," said Daly. "Not only does
biodiesel make the environment cleaner, but it would lessen our dependence
on Middle Eastern oil, making us more self-sufficient."
Aside from the project using direct application of classroom
objectives, it gave many students ideas on things they would do to be
environmentally responsible in their own lives later down the
road. Khalil Ahumada, 14, said he plans to get a
hybrid or biodiesel car when he is older. "I won't
have to spend a lot of money for gas, and it is helping the environment,
too," Ahumada said. "I would definitely want something like
that." Fellow student Amy Kelly, 15, feels the
same way. "I have just learned how easy it is to
make things safe for the environment," Kelly said. "I mean if a group of
kids can make biodiesel to run a school bus then anyone can do anything to
help the environment."
City Academy students put biodiesel fuel, made from discarded
cooking oil, into the "Grease Bus."
Michael Brandy, Deseret Morning
News | Jack Jones,
vice president of the Utah Biodiesel Cooperative, applauds the
project. UBC is a nonprofit organization that
advocates the use of biodiesel and works to educate the public on its use.
He said one of the problems is people aren't aware that it is an option
for fuel. Jones said he would like to see more
projects like this in the schools where students not only learn to be
aware of how to help the environment but actually carry it out.
The project helps out the school, too. Being a charter
school, City Academy does not have its own transportation for field trips
or anything else. And on a tight budget, a bus wasn't something they were
planning to purchase. But now Daly said the school
will use the bus for field trips and other events.
E-mail: terickson@desnews.com
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