Jon Van Gerpen, associate professor of mechanical engineering, is heading up a project at Iowa State to improve methods of converting cooking oil into fuel for combustion engines.

“Biodiesel is an alternative diesel fuel that you can make from any kind of vegetable oil or animal fat,” Van Gerpen said.

He said the used cooking oil is mixed with alcohol and a catalyst, and the mixture reacts to form the fuel. He said the vegetable or animal oil cannot be used directly because it is too viscous.

Van Gerpen said soybean farmers have been encouraging the use of this technology for about five years.

“Soybeans are the largest source of vegetable oil in this country,” he said. He said the cost of making fuel directly from the soybeans is too expensive to be practical, however.

“What we have been doing is looking for some alternative sources of the feed stock — the vegetable oil or animal fat — that might be cheaper,” Van Gerpen said.

One alternative source may be restaurant waste oil, he said.

One aspect of Van Gerpen’s project is to determine what is involved in cleaning up this waste oil. He said the waste oil has to be filtered to eliminate the large objects, such as plastic forks and pieces of meat.

Water also has to be removed from the used restaurant oil, and if the oil has gone rancid, it must be treated to reduce the increased acidity of the oil.

Van Gerpen said farmers stress the environmental benefits of Biodiesel, which burns very cleanly and is nontoxic and biodegradable.

He said he foresees the use of Biodiesel in niche markets, such as environmentally sensitive projects.

“If you have got some equipment that you need to use in a wetland or national park, for example … you could have a fuel leak. With this material, you could have that disaster happen and not hurt very much,” he said.

Van Gerpen pointed to a company in Idaho, J.R. Simplot, that is currently making use of this technology.

He said J.R. Simplot fries a large amount of french fries, thereby producing waste oil. The company uses the potato skins to make a form of alcohol, and then they make Biodiesel to economically fuel their delivery trucks.

Van Gerpen does not expect Biodiesel to replace the current diesel now in use. He said in special cases where it is economical for a company to use Biodiesel and where environmental concerns are present, Biodiesel is a good alternative fuel.

He said while earlier forms of vegetable oil fuel have a negative reputation, this new method produces a good fuel.

The Iowa Energy Center and the Recycling and Reuse Technology Transfer Center are funding this project along with a Biodiesel pilot plant to further test the practicality of Biodiesel.