Students Cook Up Recipe To Nix Pain At Pump (WESH-TV) {biodiesel from Chick-fil-a}

[eppur_se_muova]

***
"With the fuel prices increasing so high, it makes you notice how much you're spending on fuel," UCF student Chad Heinrich said.

They needed an idea. The mechanical engineering students cooked up a recipe by looking no farther than the University of Central Florida Chick-fil-A.

They have been draining smelly fryer grease and feeding it to their bio-diesel reactor -- a fancy name for a water heater, some pipes, valves, hoses, and filters that turn grease and two household chemicals into fuel. The newly formed fuel powers their diesel engine cars.

"To make a gallon of bio-diesel, it's about 80 cents," UCF student Michael Schulist said.
***
The students' experiment is also fueling changes at UCF. They're donating 20 percent of the fuel for five dozen trucks, lawn mowers and other diesel-powered vehicles, including a front-end loader.
***
more: http://www.wesh.com/automotive/16093985/detail.html

[Hydra]

1. Expect that to get stepped on fairly soon

I've lost count of how many people using fryer oil or similar to make biodiesel have gotten nailed for not paying road tax or similar excuses.

[izquierdista]

2. Do they charge road tax?

Does one have to pay road tax for fueling a front-end loader or a lawn-mower?

[Hydra]

3. Nope

But the students admit to using it in their cars.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/03/illinois_man_fi.php

Keep in mind that there are a lot of tax freaks here on DU that don't understand how economics work, and think that by not paying such a tax, that these people are hurting everyone.

[phantom power]

4. I'm looking forward to seeing how the economics of this evolve.

In the big picture, there really isn't very much restaurant oil. It's not going to take long for the economics of this little sub-market to become economics of scarcity, just like is now happening to old-fashioned fossil oil.

[eppur_se_muova]

5. True. It's good to see people coming to the realization though ...

that so much is going to waste without being reused as much as possible. One quick use and straight to the trash ... or dumped on the environment.

[phantom power]

6. I predict we'll start to see local small business built around this.

It will become more expensive, but the market will be there.