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Tuesday, March 1, 2005

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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.
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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.
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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."
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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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