Your turkey grease can clean our air and save taxpayer money

Desert Biofuels Initiative applauds the grease recycling efforts in the Valley (by the Town of Gilbert and AZ Biodiesel, and by the Dynamite Biofuels Co-op) and in Tucson.

At DBI we're not fans of the "Big Agriculture" model of growing corn or soy for conversion to ethanol or biodiesel. This model can can provide some air quality benefits, but otherwise has some serious flaws (e.g. excessive fertilizer runoff, displacing food crops). We're excited about the future potential of next-generation biofuels feedstocks (inputs), such as algae. However, there is another feedstock option that is widely available right now but that is currently being significantly underused as a biofuel input: so-called "yellow grease" or "WVO" -- waste vegetable oil and other similar waste grease, such as from restaurant deep fryers. WVO can be converted into clean-burning biodiesel (that can run in any diesel engine) easily and cheaply.

Did you know that:

• There are about 10 million gallons of WVO produced annually in the Phoenix metropolitan area, but most of this currently is used as animal feed or simply "disappears" -- often down the drain.

• If all of the WVO in the region were turned into biofuel that was used locally in place of petroleum diesel, this would take 100,000 tons of CO2 out of Valley air each year -- roughly the equivalent of taking 20,000 cars off the road.

• We would also reduce the significant taxpayer expense associated with municipalities addressing the hundreds of grease-caused sewer blockages and overflows that occur in the Valley every year.

This Thanksgiving, we all have the opportunity to make a small contribution towards cleaner air and a cleaner wastewater infrastructure: we can recycle our turkey grease and other used cooking oils as biofuel. There are two WVO collection efforts here in the Valley: one in Gilbert, the other in Cave Creek. There is also a notable collection effort in Tucson.

Town of Gilbert and AZ Biodiesel

The Town of Gilbert continues to impress with their ability to demonstrate results when it comes to clean energy. For Thanksgiving they have partnered with Gilbert-based AZ Biodiesel and are collecting household grease at eight of the nine Gilbert fire stations. AZ Biodiesel will convert the grease to fuel, all of which will be used locally -- displacing petroleum diesel and reducing air pollution. Click here for details and a map to the various collection points. We applaud Gilbert's leadership in this area, and deeply appreciate AZ Biodiesel's commitment to the project and to sustainable biofuels in Arizona more generally.

Dynamite Biofuels Co-op.

The Dynamite Biofuels Co-op, a membership-driven grassroots biofuels effort based in Cave Creek, is also providing a grease recycling opportunity. The Co-op will have a grease collection bin at Big Earl's Greasy Eats restaurant, 6135 E. Cave Creek Rd. in Cave Creek. The team at the Co-op are longtime leaders in the Valley on biofuels issues, and we applaud their efforts to make this recycling opportunity available to the community. Check their website for additional details.

[Note: we understand that the Co-op would be willing to provide collection bins and pick up services at other locations in the Valley as well. Restaurant owners or others, please let them know if you would like to participate.]

Tucson

To their great credit, the Tucson Clean Cities Coalition, Pima County Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department, and Grecycle have put on a day-after-Thanksgiving grease drive for several years. This year the drive will run from 9am - 1pm at three locations in Tucson: O'Reilly Chevrolet (6160 E. Broadway), the Pima County Industrial Wastewater Control plant (5025 W. Ina Rd.) and the City of Tucson Water Plan #2 (1102 W. Irvington Rd.). The Clean Cities website will have more detail.


So: this Thanksgiving RECYCLE YOUR GREASE! And while you're doing so, consider the opportunity for cleaner air and wastewater treatment cost savings that we're missing by under- utilizing this local resource as a biofuel feedstock.


[To our friends in the press: we'd love for you to tell this story! Here are some contacts if you'd like more info:

Beth Lucas, Town of Gilbert, (480) 503-6766, beth.lucas@ci.gilbert.az.us
Dan Rees, AZ Biodiesel, contact info
Gene Leach or Jay Nance, Dynamite Biofuels, contact info
Kathryn Van Kirk, Tucson Clean Cities, (520) 792-1093, kvankirk@pagnet.org
Eric Johnson, Desert Biofuels Initiative, (602) 996-9682, eric@desertbiofuels.org]

AZ Biofuels Grant Program: A Missed Opportunity

If you had nearly $1 million to spend on advancing biofuels in Arizona, what would you do?

Here's my list:

• Fund a program to incentivize restaurants to convert their waste vegetable oil into biodiesel. There are over 10 million gallons of WVO produced annually in the Phoenix area alone. The vast majority of this WVO goes into animal feed or is "missing" (presumably frequently going into the sewer system). Converting this WVO to biodiesel would have dramatic air quality and other benefits -- and would likely reduce the substantial costs to taxpayers associated with the hundreds of annual grease-caused sewer blockages in AZ. Prices in the WVO collection market don't reflect these air quality benefits or avoided municipal costs, however. Fixing this market flaw with a state-funded incentive program would yield us cleaner air and save real money for local governments.

• Support the algae biofuels industry. Algae-derived biofuels ("green solar," to borrow Mark Edwards' nomenclature) are an incredibly promising, potentially transformational technology. Arizona should be a leader in this space: we have the necessary natural resources (sun, heat, wastewater, cheap flat land), leading-edge world-class university research (ASU Poly, ASU Biodesign), unrivaled pilot implementations by APS, and an array of entrepreneurs doing amazing work. Yet other regions such as San Diego, New Mexico, and even St. Louis are seen as algae leaders; Arizona isn't even on the map. The state could fund demonstration projects that enable researchers and entrepreneurs to connect, and that showcase Arizona's strengths in this area.

• Explore innovative agricultural feedstock options that work in our climate. For example, researchers in AZ have suggested that former open pit mines in the state could be seeded with low-water-need crops that could be used as biofuels inputs. The state could support pilot projects that focus on agricultural approaches to biofuels that fit our unique circumstances, with a goal of not displacing food crops.
  

• Support biodiesel co-ops. The biodiesel "homebrew" community -- individuals who collect WVO and convert it to biodiesel at home -- has been far in front of the commercial community in terms of getting clean-burning biofuels in tanks and on the road in Arizona. The independence, innovation and initiative of the homebrewers is admirable, yet there are some safety and other challenges associated with homebrewing. Co-ops can serve to balance interests, enabling the do-it-yourself ethos within a more manageable environment. Biofuels co-ops in Arizona have struggled for funding and regulator support, however. The state could fund a pilot project that demonstrates the value of co-ops for reducing homebrew-related risks and enabling grassroots-based innovation.

All of the ideas above focus on what DBI calls "sustainable regional biofuels" -- that is, creating biofuel locally, in a sustainable manner, and using it locally. The benefits of this approach are (1) environmental (cleaner air), (2) economic (keep more of the $4 BILLION that Arizonans spend on fuel in the state), and (3) security-related (e.g., make ourselves less vulnerable to a pipeline disruption).

The state of Arizona is currently spending $900,000 on the "Arizona Biofuels Conversion Program." The program focuses on subsidizing fueling-station owners or other businesses (e.g. fleet owners) who convert their fuel infrastructure to handle biofuels -- either E85 (ethanol) or biodiesel. The program provides up to 40% matching funds for a conversion project, up to a maximum of $30K. Another aspect of the program provides similar support for municipalities.

My reaction: eh. Given the big opportunities with biofuels, this program seems to be targeted at a narrow problem. Further, the benefits to Arizona appear modest: if this program leads to more stations carrying ethanol, for example, and more people start using it, that could help our local air quality problems. But, given that corn ethanol and soy biodiesel -- the primary types of biofuels that would be sold via the subsidized infrastructure for the foreseeable future -- are produced out of state, using processes that (arguably) cause some environmental and economic problems (e.g., excessive fertilizer run-off, displacement of food crops), it's not obvious that the net benefits of the program are that high.

I would have liked to see the program focus on fostering local production of sustainable biofuels. I believe that if we had a robust local supply, demand would follow. And if we had supply and demand, I think the infrastructure issues that are the focus of the program would potentially be unnecessary.


What would you do with $1 million?

Updated "Biodiesel 101" available

An updated version of Han Huth's amazingly comprehensive "Biodiesel 101: An Introductory Guide to Brewing and Using Biodiesel in Arizona" is available at http://biod101.com. This is an incredible free resource for the AZ homebrew community. You can support Hans' efforts by purchasing a "Grease for Peace" bumper sticker via his site.

Some upcoming events

There are several events coming up that might be of interest:

1. On Sunday, November 8th, SustainaBIL, an "unconference" modeled on the BIL Conference, will be held at ASU Skysong beginning at 11am. I had a chance to talk with with conference co-organizer Brian Shaler today, and it sounds like the day will be quite interesting and fun. The organizers describe the event as "an unconference for people changing the world in big ways. It's a place for passionate people to come together to energize, brainstorm, and take action." Show up and listen, or show up and plan to talk about your passions. Send email to speakers@sustainabil.com if you have a topic you'd like to speak about.

2. The 4th Annual Arizona Entrepreneurship Conference is coming up on November 12. DBI advisor Francine Hardaway is a principal organizer of this event. I attended last year and was extremely impressed with the energy in the rooms and the quality of the speakers, presentations and discussions. Highly recommended.

[SEE UPDATE BELOW] 3. ASU Technopolis is hosting an all-day workshop on November 13 "targets early-stage, first-time, writers of SBIR/STTR Program Phase I proposals, and is created for energy companies looking for grant funding. All government agencies will be covered, but special emphasis will be given to the Department of Energy. A review and discussion of various appropriate technology roadmaps will be included in the workshop." I suspect that this could be extremely valuable for some local biofuels companies. Details by phone 480-884-1804 or e-mail contactus@asutechnopolis.org.

[UPDATE: The Technopolis event has been postponed until after the 1st of the year.]

The Fuel Film to open Nationwide!

I never followed up with my review of Tickell's feature-length documentary, "Fuel." Let me cut to the chase: it's a must-see, and based on a press release at his website, it's opening nationwide this fall. More details here: http://thefuelfilm.com

Regarding "Cash-for-Clunkers"

I'm pretty much on extended hiatus from Desert Biofuels stuff, although I've been making my weekly trek down to AZ Biodiesel to top off and fill a couple 5 gallon jugs. As long as B99 is $2.19/gal it's hard to get motivated to go through the hassle of making biodiesel at home. So thanks Dan!

What I have been doing (besides my two jobs, and life in general) is trading a lot of emails with two of my brothers-in-law, one of whom is conservative, one of whom is liberal. I'm the token independent.

Some of the "conversations" get pretty far afield, but just the other day I forwarded a quote from a great motorcycle blog called The Kneeslider (subtitle: Motorcycle News for Positive People -- how cool is that?!). It's regarding the recently passed "Cash-for-Clunkers" bill and it that pretty much sums up my views on the insanity coming out of Washington D.C.:

Frederic Bastiat once said, “Government is the great fiction through which everybody endeavors to live at the expense of everybody else.” Unfortunately, we are now living in this fictitious world, or at least, many people are trying to make it come true.

Note to politicians giving away our money: You look more foolish and cynical every day by constantly adding people and businesses to your list of political beneficiaries, trying to buy votes with our money. Stop it.

Note to people and businesses taking the money: When you tell everyone how beneficial these programs are, you sound greedy and shallow and you think people believe you. Stop it.

I have a simple idea, let’s all buy our own cars, trucks, motorcycles or anything else we want within the limits of what we can afford. Then companies can build products that people want to buy. There’s no government bureaucracy involved either so we can start immediately. Let’s try that.

Motorcycle Vouchers Proposed in Addition to Cash for Clunkers - A Bad Idea Gets Worse

Solar charged electric motorcycle in Apache Junction

Just saw this on Gas 2.0: a (supposedly) fully electric, solar charged motorcycle. 50 mile range and 90 mph top speed. Right here in Apache Junction!

GreenFuel Technologies goes down...

The company that partnered with APS at the "Redhawk" facility to capture carbon dioxide from the power plant's emissions is going out of business.

We've often wondered what happened to the GreenFuel/APS algae pilot: now we know.

Getting the whole thing to run smoothly [...] was tougher than expected. GreenFuel could grow algae. The problem was controlling it. In 2007, a project to grow algae in an Arizona greenhouse went awry when the algae grew faster than they could be harvested and died off. The company also found its system would cost more than twice its target.

The closed photobioreactor model used by GreenFuel (and others) appears especially challenging in terms of up-front expense.

I recently posted a link to a paper by Jeff Hassania which discusses the sobering economics of algae.

A GreenFuel Technologies timeline is available at BiofuelsDigest.

Visit to XL Renewables

On Monday I had the opportunity to visit the XL Renewables algae production facility in Casa Grande, AZ and was deeply impressed by the progress they are making: among other things, I was able to leave with some sample algae that was a HUGE hit with the 7th grade class I spoke to about biofuels on Tuesday.

I particularly like the trench-based, farm-like model that XL pursues, as their low-cost approach seems like a promising way to address the difficult economic challenges that algae producers face. It was also great to speak with Mike Bellefuille and George McNeely of XL and hear about the hard-won lessons they are learning about growing algae at production scale -- they've had to navigate through a host of practical difficulties and now have invaluable experience (and lots of algae!) to show for it.

It's fantastic to see algae moving beyond just lab experiments and PowerPoint slides. Kudos to XL for meeting the "running code" test!











Mike Bellefuille and George McNeely

Nice review for Green Algae Strategy

Congratulations to Mark Edwards, whose book Green Algae Strategy: End Oil Imports and Engineer Sustainable Food and Fuel continues to receive some great reviews; see, e.g., this review at Celsias. Green Algae Strategy is available at Amazon.com and via free download on the GreenIndependence.org downloads page (scroll down).

Desert Sweet Biofuels forum at ASU SkySong

At our recent workshop Professor Mark Edwards announced a forum that he is coordinating with Gary Woods and the team from Desert Sweet Biofuels, a commercial algae venture. The forum is planned for Friday, May 22 (not May 15, as initially announced) from 9am to noon, at ASU SkySong; the flyer for the event can be downloaded here.

Mark is planning to facilitate additional forums where different companies and organizations can do a "deep dive" on their particular technologies or vision (i.e., not constrained by the 5 minute format we insisted on for the Workshop). Please contact Mark if you'd be interested in presenting at such a forum. We're envisioning a monthly speakers series, picking up in the Fall.

More DPF/biodiesel news

Popular Mechanics has posted an article by Dave Hubbard explaining the Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) / biodiesel incompatibility issue, and Jason Burroughs of DieselGreen Fuels has written up his experience with a 2009 VW TDI on biodieselSMARTER.

Economic viability of algae-based biofuels

Jeff Hassania of Diversified Energy Corporation in Gilbert, who recently presented some of this information at the 2nd Desert Biofuels Workshop, has published an editorial on the commercial viability of algae-based biofuels.

PDF format: Algae Biofuels Economic Viability: A Project-Based Perspective

2nd DBI Workshop summary

Francine Hardaway, a long-time friend of Desert Biofuels Initiative, has posted an excellent synopsis of the 2nd Desert Biofuels Workshop on her blog.

2nd Desert Biofuels Workshop and DPFs: an update

[Boy, say something in public and they want to hold you to it... Sheesh!]

We just had a fantastic 2nd Desert Biofuels Initiative Workshop at ASU SkySong; about 150 in attendance, and just a great energy and buzz during the 3 hours from 9a to 12p (plus post-workshop pizza lunch: score! Huge shout-out to Dan Rees and AZ Biodiesel for paying the pizza man).

Brad did an unbelievable job in organizing and playing emcee. The format was a series of fast-paced 5 minute "update" presentations, including many who presented last year, and some new faces. A webpage with the slides from today's event is already online.

I limited myself to some (mostly) extemporaneous remarks, and started by asking: "how many of you drove here today using biofuel?" As you might guess, even among this self-selected and highly motivated group, I would (generously) estimate a dozen hands went up.

When I got home I wrote up and expanded on my thoughts, put them into PowerPoint, and they're now also online. Kind of like a mulligan. Cool.

But it was my closing comment that got the most attention of my talk: I mentioned the ongoing issue with diesel particulate filters, which are being used in newer passenger vehicles with diesel engines. After expressing new-found respect, and even empathy, for the engine manufacturers, I noted that anyone who is running biodiesel in these newer engines should be aware that in-cylinder injection of fuel in a post-combustion process can experience problems, like oil dilution, high and/or premature wear, etc.

I summed up with something like: what are we going to do if we finally get widely available biodiesel, and then don't have any new vehicles that are compatible with it?

I've blogged about this issue previously, and I had several people approach me at the break to ask me about it, and later received a phone call of disapprobation from a prominent local biodiesel advocate.

I think I've been about as public an advocate of biodiesel as most people can be, without being a public figure, so I want to clarify that I'm talking about a very specific technical, but real, problem with newer engines and their biodiesel compatibility.

More on the "post-combustion" issue here:
http://savebiodiesel.org/
http://www.biodieselmagazine.com/article.jsp?article_id=2290&q=&page=1
http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/419605551/m/2721003282

FUEL film extended in Scottsdale

Greg Piraino writes: "due to increasing ticket sales, FUEL will be extended until April 30th". So if you haven't had a chance to see Josh Tickell's film, go see it!

"Showing at Harkins Camelview 5 - several showings per day through April 30th unless extended. Tickets and more info is available at www.thefuelfilm.com or www.harkinstheatres.com"

FUEL film follow-up

Dave posted a introduction to the Josh Tickell film "FUEL" which is now showing at Harkins Camelview 5 in Scottsdale. I was invited to this Saturday's 7p show; afterward there was a short Q&A with Greg Piraino of Applied Engineering (who's helping with local promotion of the film), Greg Pitz of Logos Solar, and me. Friday's panel included Mark Edwards of GreenIndependence.org.

Saturday's audience included Dan Rees of AZ Biodiesel, who answered questions about getting biodiesel into local school buses, and James Towner of AZ Sustainability.com and the Arizona Alternative Fuel Alliance.

The film itself was visually compelling and told Josh's personal story around biodiesel, with a liberal sprinkling of political muckraking. Tighter editing would help; toward the end of the film not much new is being said. Dorothy attended as my "guest" and Harkins got his $5.50 for Emily. All three of us were fidgeting in our seats by the 90 minute mark of the nearly 2 hour movie. The soundtrack was fantastic.

Many of the issues are more nuanced than the somewhat histrionic version Tickell presents, and some of the interviewee's proposed solutions would only exacerbate our current problems (new government mandates and subsidies are mentioned more than once as "obvious" solutions).

One of the reasons *why* we are in this pickle: we don't pay, at the pump, the true cost of petroleum (we pay in other ways, though: through higher taxes to pay for foreign entanglements, and Superfund cleanups, for example). These externalities subsidize our petroleum dependence, and prevent alternatives from competing on a level playing field. This is a *hard* problem for which lots of solutions have been proposed.

And it seems, at least to me, that few people want to acknowledge the obvious: we benefit greatly from cheap energy, in the form of, well, everything! Food, clothes, housing, ... Whatever the solution is it better be consistent with first principles. Is massive social engineering really required? To quote David Boaz: "A socialist system - or an interventionist state, which is just partial socialism - requires uniform solutions to problems rather than the myriad variety of solutions available through the market process." [1]

Here's a simple question: Are we willing to pay for what we use?

Despite its faults the movie achieves its main purpose: to inform and, more importantly, to motivate those rapidly diminishing number of persons who are unaware that we have serious and immediate issues with our continuing dependence on petroleum. It'll also be interesting to see if Tickell can generate enough buzz, and money, to fund a follow-up: something that provides a "deep-dive" into some of the proposed alternatives to oil.

After all, folks (especially those for whom this is all new) want to know: what do I *do*? Suggesting CFLs is good as far as it goes, but kind of misses the point. Using his own logic, if the situation is really as dire as Tickell suggests, then we *really* need to focus on the big wins.

But enough nit-picking: FUEL is *definitely* worth checking out.

[1] The Politics of Freedom: Taking on the Left, the Right, and Threats to Our Liberties, David Boaz, 2008

The FUEL Film

For over 7 years I've been following the work of Josh Tickell. Most of you are familiar with his self-published book, "From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank," a glossy primer for homebrewers. Tickell took his lead from the women who, in the early 1990s, traveled the US on B100 (and possibly WVO; obtaining the film is elusive) and filmed a documentary entitled "The Fat of the Land." Some of Tickell's critics argue he failed to acknowledge this seminal work, unfairly accepting the title of "Pioneer" bestowed unto him by his followers. I mention this not to diminish Tickell's impact for Biodiesel awareness but to note there is some controversy (in fact, he deserves more credit than any other single person or entitiy, in my view - except maybe Rudy Diesel!).

Over the last few years, Josh parted ways with the homebrew community (accused of "selling out" and abandoning amateur scientists and engineers) to reach a broader audience, primarily through presentations and keynote addresses to farmers, policymakers, and investors. For years, he's been working on shorts and a feature-length documentary, which won accolades at independent film festivals worldwide.

Now, buoyed by the support of Hollywood icons like Peter Fonda, the film is building national momentum. In fact, it starts tomorrow in Scottsdale. I plan to attend the Saturday 7pm show, where Josh will be leading Q&A (according to his website: http://thefuelfilm.com/).

2nd Annual Desert Biofuels Workshop - April 24, 2009

Our first Desert Biofuels Workshop, held in March of 2008, was an exciting event; attendee feedback included comments such as:

• "...a watershed for AZ biodiesel..."
• " ...never been at a conference with such broad representation, from corporate, to government, education, NGOs and home brewers..."
• "...showed just how important this topic is..."
• "...tremendously valuable..."

Details about last year's event can be found here (the "agenda" .pdf file includes links to the slides presented by each speaker).

For our second annual Desert Biofuels Workshop we hope to build on last year's success. Our primary goals for the Workshop are to (1) enable the diverse members of the Arizona biofuels community to connect with each other, and (2) explore how the $50 Billion in energy programs in the stimulus bill can advance biofuels in Arizona.

Confirmed presenters include (in alphabetical order):

• John Andrews, Principal, Biofeedstocks Global
• Andrew Ayers, CEO, Algae Biosciences
• Ben Cloud, President & COO, XL Renewables
• Jeff Collier, CEO, Energy Derived
• Dave Conz, ASU
• Colleen Crowninshield, Tucson Clean Cities Coalition [via videoconference]
• Bob Eaton, President & CEO, AZBio
• Gary Greenburg, Science Foundation AZ
• Francine Hardaway, Stealthmode Partners
• Jeff Hassannia, VP, Diversified Energy
• Gene Leach and Jay Nance, Founders, Dynamite Biofuels Co-op
• Gordon LeBlanc Jr., CEO, PetroSun
• Victor Merino & Max Enterline, City of Phoenix
• Kelly Patton or Dan Henderson, Town of Gilbert
• Dan Rees, President, AZ Biodiesel
• Bill Sheaffer, VP, Amereco Biofuels
• Chris Walker (formerly of PinalJet and AZ Biofuels)
• Gary Wood, CEO, Desert Sweet Biofuels
• Neal Woodbury or John McGowen, ASU Biodesign Institute
• other invitations pending

We'll also feature an analysis of biofuels-related funding opportunities (grants, loan guarantees and tax incentives) available under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (the "stimulus bill").

The Workshop will be held at ASU SkySong on Friday April 24th, 2009, on the first floor in the "Convergence" conference room. We'll have coffee and networking from 9:00 to 9:30am, and then begin the Workshop promptly at 9:30am. We'll end at 12 noon.

The Workshop is free and open to the public. Register at http://desertbiofuels.eventbrite.com/.

Ignite Phoenix presentation

I had the pleasure of presenting a 5 minute overview of our Desert Biofuels Initiative history and vision at Ignite Phoenix #3 at the Tempe Center for the Arts on Feb. 25th:

Eric rocks the third grade

Eric gave a talk this week on sustainable biofuels to some elementary school students, and got some rave reviews from the teacher and volunteer coordinator, excerpted below. Their feedback was very kind, and nice for DBI to hear. Great job Eric!!! (I sense that he had as much fun as any of the students.)

• "The students loved it"
• "...said it was amazing"
• "They particularly liked looking at and smelling the waste cooking oil and the refined biofuel that it was turned into."
• "The algae farm sparked their imaginations"
• "Your videos were informative and the perfect length for their attention spans."
• "You were very patient with their many questions and spoke to the children as if they were adults, which they really appreciated."
• "We are so grateful for your talk and for the work you are doing with alternative energy."
• "The students loved it, and ... kept referring back to the things they learned later in the day."
• "It's so good for kids to see the things that are being done to better the environment, and also to see some of the options, career-wise, found in various areas!"

Amereco B99 at Western States Petroleum

Western States Petroleum has been selling Amereco B99 for a while now but I hadn't been down to WSP since they added it. Since I was downtown already this morning I went by to fill up.

According to the folks I spoke to, WSP is now selling only Amereco B99 (which is made from WVO) at the B99 pump at 16th Ave and Grant, and the Iowa "Soy diesel" is only available to bulk customers.

Light duty B99 pricing on 1/28/09 was $2.19/gal.

Way to go Bill!

Meeting the Phoenix Biodiesel Task Force

Today Brad and I had a meeting at Phoenix City Hall with the newly formed "Bio-diesel Taskforce". Desert Biofuels Initiative was invited to come and give a 15 minute presentation about biodiesel and "homebrew".

After I received the email meeting invitation last week, we quickly enlisted the aid of several DBI "advisers" to get input on what to present and how to present it. Hans Huth in particular gave invaluable feedback on our slides (which we will post on our website). (Sidenote): Hans' manual is exactly the type of thorough, well-organized information that homebrewers can use to be safe and effective, and it gives real weight to the assersition that homemade biodiesel can be done responsibly.

Going into the meeting we didn't have any idea of what had already been discussed within the City bureaucracy, or how much impact we would have with our presentation. But it was great to be invited to participate.

As the various department reps assembled (Fire, Planning, Development Services, ...) we had a chance to review the minutes from the initial Biodiesel Task Force meeting, held Dec 12, 2008. At that meeting, according to the minutes, it was decided that "Planning will start drafting changes to their ordinance to prohibit bio-diesel manufacturing in residential zoning." Ugh! It appeared that we would be facing an uphill, and perhaps futile, slog.

Brad gave a short intro about DBI and then segued into my presentation about "homebrew". My purpose was: a) to accurately describe the basics of making biodiesel at home, b) to describe the advantages and challenges of homemade biodiesel, and c) to emphasize (as previously discussed here) that although it may not be reasonable to make large quantities of biodiesel at home (with "large" yet to be defined), it was certainly reasonable to allow some quantity of biodiesel to be made at home, and Phoenix residents should be at liberty to pursue their "homebrew" activities as long as they do not negatively impact their neighbors. We noted that the Town of Gilbert has already taken a "pro-homebrewer" stance which we find very encouraging, and we expressed hope that the City of Phoenix will follow their lead.

Whether or not we achieved these goals, we did have ample opportunity to answer the numerous questions that came up. And, in closing, we emphasized the need to continue dialog on this issue.

DBI will be hosting a "homebrewer safety" workshop at ASU SkySong where we hope to assemble homebrewers, home biodiesel processor manufacturers, biodiesel cooperatives, and various government stakeholders, the purpose being more constructive discussion on this topic.

(Mis)reporting the problems with biodiesel

Gas 2.0 has an interesting update to the story you may have heard about Minnesota school buses being disabled by biodiesel:

Some Cold Truth About Biodiesel In Minnesota

School buses that left kids stranded in the cold, buses running a biodiesel blend per the Minnesota B2 mandate, were reportedly disabled by the biodiesel turning "gel-like".

The truth, it appears, is that the petroleum gunked up the fuel system, according to the National Biodiesel Board.

Hmmm....

Coffee diesel: update

Ken Costello has done an initial oil extraction from the coffee grounds we procured from MonaLou Callery's Cup o' Karma. It turns out that the coffee grounds only contain about 10% oil, and the amount of hexane lost to evaporation exceeds the amount of oil extracted (at least in the small amounts used for his testing) by a factor of 4.5!

To get 15ml of coffee oil Ken lost 70ml of hexane during the extraction process (he recovered 230ml). Since hexane costs about $16 a gallon, plus shipping and hazmat fees, we probably aren't looking at a new feedstock for biodiesel! A lot of the hexane lost was residue in the coffee grounds that evaporated out when the grounds were dried, after extracting the oil. Residual hexane in the coffee oil also reduced the final amount of coffee oil.

Ken will be trying additional extractions to a) see if he can reduce the amount of hexane lost in processing, and b) scale-up the process to get us to a gallon of coffee oil to turn into biodiesel.

You can check out Ken's full write up of his experiment on his Chemistry Land website.

Coffee diesel

About a month ago Brad got a wild hair and posted a note to a small group of us about the recently published paper:

Spent Coffee Grounds as a Versatile Source of Green Energy
Narasimharao Kondamudi, Susanta K. Mohapatra, Mano Misra
Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 2008 56 (24), 11757-11760

Paraphrasing, he said: "Wouldn't it be cool if we could get used coffee grounds from a local coffee shop, extract the residual oil, turn it into biodiesel, and document the process via pictures, video and blog(s), from start to finish?"

Well, why not?

Ken Costello is a friend of Desert Biofuels and was intrigued by the idea. He agreed to do some small test batches to determine how much oil was present in the coffee grounds. MonaLou Callery, who operates Cup o' Karma in Mesa, agreed to collect coffee grounds for the project.


So yesterday I went down to Mesa and picked up two 5 gallon pails of coffee grounds and delivered them to Ken this morning. He'll be spending at least part of this afternoon trying to find out the percentage of residual oil in the grounds, and then a reasonably efficient way to scale up the extraction process so that we can get about a gallon of oil to turn in to biodiesel.





We'll post a full report, with pictures and maybe video, sometime soon.

Another "Europe only" diesel

How long, oh Lord, how long? HST used to write that a lot. It was the first thing that came to mind (again!) when I read that BMW is releasing a new turbo diesel that gets 54 MPG, is BMW's least polluting vehicle ever (and looks cool as hell), but it will, of course, ONLY BE SOLD IN EUROPE.

What is our friggin' problem? Doesn't anybody in a position of authority here in the US care that we are getting hosed? Are the EPA and our other "safety czars" really this intransigent?

http://gas2.org/2009/01/12/bmws-new-diesel-116d-gets-54-mpg/

2008 Desert Biofuels Initiative Accomplishments

Happy New Year to all! We created the following summary of our accomplishments for 2008. Our heartfelt gratitude to the many, many people who made this possible. We look forward to an exciting 2009!

FORMATION AND ORGANIZATION:

• Formed as an Arizona non-profit corporation in April.
• Submitted application for 501(c)(3) status with the IRS.
• Established tenancy at ASU SkySong.
• Hired full-time Acting Executive Director.
• Established advisory group that includes highly-respected biofuel experts, university professors, public relations and business professionals.
• Developed and launched professionally-designed website at desertbiofuels.org.
• Developed professionally-designed logo, courtesy of Brands By OVO.

ACTIVITIES:

• Organized and held the first annual Desert Biofuels Workshop. Participant comments:
  
• "...a watershed for AZ biodiesel..."
• " ...never been at a conference with such broad representation, from corporate, to government, education, NGOs and home brewers..."
• "...showed just how important this topic is..."
• "...tremendously valuable..."
  

• Regularly published blog with news and information relevant to the Arizona biofuels community (called "a must-read for the current happenings in biofuels in Arizona"). Biofuels expert Professor Dave Conz of ASU joined us as a regular blogger. Also maintained an e-mail discussion list with local biofuels community members.

• Created three white papers researching and analyzing key issues:
• Analysis of law and regulations applicable to Arizona biodiesel producers
• Analysis of biofuels feedstocks relevant to Arizona (includes groundbreaking primary research concerning the volume of waste vegetable oil (WVO) feedstock in the Phoenix area and identifies potential linkages between WVO disposal issues and sewer blockages and overflows)
  
• Analysis of biofuels incentive programs implemented in other states

• Developed proposal for Algae Biofuel Demonstration plant:
• Identified site location for the pilot plant on municipal property. Received an informal (non-binding) commitment from the municipality.
• Completed detailed cost estimates and briefs for the project. Renderings of the pilot project are in progress.
• Identified and are pursuing potential funding sources for the project.
• Key project partners--including several private companies, the municipality and the university--are actively engaged with us in the exploration process.

• Researched and developed materials demonstrating benefits of a WVO-based biodiesel to municipalities (focused on environmental, safety and water treatment issues). Presented to two local municipalities.

• Developed proposal for WVO incentive program (goal: all local restaurant grease converted to biodiesel; would, e.g, displace 100,000 tons of CO2 from Valley air). Discussed with key stakeholders. Refining proposal based on input received and on results of feedstock analysis white paper research.

• Facilitated tours of (a) ASU Algae Lab, (b) XL Renewables pilot algae facility, and (c) the Dynamite Biofuels Co-op for key stakeholders in the Arizona biofuels community.

• Developed and launched IT infrastructure for algae biofuels wiki. Arranged for ASU intern to lead wiki project in 2009.
  

• Presented our sustainable regional biofuels vision at (a) an algae biofuels conference hosted by the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) and (b) the Arizona Entrepreneurship Conference. Participated in the Phoenix chapter of the Arizona Green Chamber of Commerce launch event. Participated in the CTO Forum on Green Technology hosted by Intel Corporation.

• Met with and discussed our vision with numerous elected officials and other policymakers (U.S. Congress, AZ State Legislature, AZ Dept. of Environmental Quality, City of Phoenix, City of Scottsdale, City of Buckeye).

• Organizing a homebrew safety “Roundtable” which complements the City of Phoenix in the creation of a homebrew safety taskforce.

• Organizing an event to create biodiesel from used coffee grounds.

PARTNERSHIPS:

• Established an affiliation with Professor Mark Edwards of ASU and developed greenindependence.org as a sister site to our desertbiofuels.org site. Built infrastructure for new greenindependence.org site; launch planned in 2009. Green Independence is the global portion of DBI’s vision in the use of biofuel based on algae. Professor Edwards, author of Green Algae Strategy, leads our Green Independence effort.

• Established a strong working relationship with the Arizona State University Technology Ventures Services Group. TVSG interns were the lead authors of our white papers on policy issues facing biofuel production.

FUNDRAISING:

• Received private donations sufficient to cover 2008 expenses.

• Submitted grant applications for 2009 operational funding, including (a) EPA Environmental Education Grant and (b) Echoing Green Fellowship Application.
  

• Identified potential funding sources for future projects. This includes funding from private individuals, corporations, foundations, and governments.

Diesel Particulate Filters

Newer diesel vehicles being sold often have Diesel Particulate Filters (DPFs) which reduce particulate emissions by trapping them in a filter in the exhaust system. To prevent the filter from plugging, fuel is sent into the exhaust system at intervals to burn off the particulates.

There are a couple problems with this system:

1. extra fuel is used to burn the particulates, which reduces overal MPG.
2. extra CO2 emissions are released when burning up the particulates.
3. Biodiesel, which vaporizes a higher temperature than petroleum diesel, doesn't function the same way in the system, and fuel ends up in the engine crankcase rather than clearing the DPF. [1]
   

If you have a newer diesel vehicle you may want to investigate these issues before running biodiesel. A good discussion of the issues, with links to more information, can be found here:

http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/419605551/m/2721003282

[1] It depends on how the system is designed, of course. The problem is caused by using the fuel injectors in the cylinder to place additional fuel into the exhaust gases. Since biodiesel doesn't vaporize per the system design, some of it stays in the cylinder and leaks past the piston rings into the crankcase. If the additional fuel is squirted into the exhaust pipe, and not the cylinder, then you bypass the problem of fuel getting into the crankcase. But that is more complex and maintenance intensive (additional dedicated fuel injectors).

Visit to potential demonstration algae biofuels site

We made a trip today to the site for our proposed algae biofuels demonstration plant. The land, near 19th Ave. and Lower Buckeye Road, just southeast of downtown Phoenix, is really perfect in many respects: great water and power infrastructure, close to downtown but zoned industrial, flat and sunny. The quality of the land coupled with some progress we're making on the grant funding side has me in a state of optimism and excitement with the project at the moment -- which, of course means that the next iteration of frustration and despair is just around the corner, but we'll take what we can get.  :-)

Pictured above (l-to-r) are Grey Fowles, who is helping us with some architectural renderings; Sam West, who is doing superb work as the project lead for DBI on this effort; Mike Bellefeuille of XL Renewables, a potential partner in the effort and a deep expert on algae; and Jeff Collier of Energy Derived, another potential partner and, like Mike, a deep algae expert.      

A couple of other photos of the proposed site below.

Jetta TDI in NYT

It's refreshing to see positive reviews like this. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/automobiles/autoreviews/23-vw-jetta.html?partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

EPA releases biodiesel plant manual

This compliance assistance manual serves as a road map of information on federal environmental programs and federal, state, and local agency roles as they apply to parties interested in designing, building, and operating biodiesel manufacturing facilities.

http://www.epa.gov/region07/priorities/agriculture/biodiesel_manual.pdf

Phoenix reportedly creates biodiesel task force

The Arizona Republic is reporting that City of Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon has created a task force to "help educate residents on the hazards of skirting permits, codes and existing regulations" to produce homemade biodiesel:

Joe McElvaney, a Phoenix fire protection engineer, said the city requires a permit to handle the flammable and combustible materials used in biodiesel. But many home brewers ignore zoning regulations and waste-disposal requirements.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2008/11/22/20081122biodiesel1122.html

The story has also been picked up by the New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/us/23arizona.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Miscellany

We're in the process of re-launching our website and incorporating this blog into our site, and thus have been holding off on creating much new material on the blog hosted here. In the interim, though, I wanted to touch quickly on a few miscellaneous items:

• We're thrilled to have Dave Conz doing some guest blogging with us. Our original "who's who" post on Dave is here.
  

• The EPA released a new study "Environmental Laws Applicable to Construction and Operation of Biodiesel Production Facilities," found here. (hat tip: Gerry Darosa)

• AZ Biodiesel's launch, and the sale of Amerco biodiesel at Western States Petroleum, is a Huge Friggin' Deal for those of us focused on sustainable regional biofuels in AZ. These two developments combined are really momentous.

• We're looking forward to working with the new City of Phoenix task force on biodiesel homebrew safety. AZ Republic article here.

• Anybody out there on Twitter? I was initially skeptical, but have been enjoying it recently. Many (well, some) of my posts are biofuels-related, if anyone is interested.

• We had the great pleasure and privilege of speaking at the AZ Entrepreneurship Conference this past week. An amazing conference and fantastic group of people -- our deep thanks to the organizers for the opportunity.

• Lastly, here's a photo of the AZ Biodiesel pump (taken this morning):

AZ Biodiesel update: B99 for $2.50/gal

From Dan Rees:

99.9% BioDiesel only $2.50 per gallon

Our pump is now open:
9-9 M-F and
9-1 on Saturday

No appointment necessary.

10% discount on 250 gallons or more and free delivery available. Deposit required for our barrels or totes.

Map of our pump location on our web site:
www.AzBioDiesel.com

Thanks
Dan

Diesels I'd like to see here!

Although Dave's Mercedes-Benz is cool, no doubt, there are a couple current vehicles I really wish we could get our hands on in the US:

Toyota Hilux 4x4
http://blogs.edmunds.com/straightline/2008/09/2009-toyota-hilux.html

Subaru Forester AWD
http://www.edmunds.com/insideline/do/Drives/FirstDrives/articleId=131970

Dream Car

Last week, after years of searching, I bought my dream car. It is a 1984 Mercedes-Benz 300CD Turbodiesel coupe in Anthracite Gray. The turbo coupes have been in high demand in recent years for several reasons. First, they are the best looking diesel coupes ever imported into the US (The Isuzu Imark and the ultra rare Jetta coupe are the only others I know of), and the turbos were only available from 1982-1985. Second, they look really cool due, in part, to the lack of B pillars (when all the windows are down there are no vertical obstructions, contributing to a sleek look). Third, they are very durable. Mine has over 205,000 miles on it (my '79 300SD has 274,000 and is still going strong) and has been equipped with a Lovecraft WVO system. More next time.

Amereco selling WVO bio in the Valley

James Towner over at http://azsustainability.com/ is reporting that Amereco is also now selling WVO biodiesel in the Valley, at Western States Petroleum in downtown Phoenix.

Unfortunately there is still no mention of it on either the Amereco or WSP websites, but local reporter Daniel Burnette has also confirmed the availability of Amereco's biodiesel at WSP via an article he published last week in the Phoenix Business Journal.

AZ Biodiesel's first customer

Went down to AZ Biodiesel's location in Gilbert today and when I contacted Dan to confirm my appointment, I was told to "bring a dollar bill", since I would be their first commercial sale, and they wanted a keepsake from this significant event in their company's history.

Glad to oblige Dan, and congratulations...

BTW, this dollar was duly deducted from my CC bill :-)

It's for sale !!!!!!!!

That's a quote, by the way.

From Dan Rees:

$2.99 a gallon !!!!!! CHEAP !!!
Cash or most major CC's

By appointment only.
No drop-in's please.

We have 55 gallon barrels available for a $10 deposit each.

You can fill into your own vessel and your vehicle.

Because we are not a regular gas station, we must require appointments.

Email requests are best.
We have very limited staff to answer all the phone calls we get.

We're working on a better way that keeps officials happy and everyone safe and organized.

Thanks for your support!!!

Dan

You can find out more at AZ Biodiesel's website: http://www.azbiodiesel.com/fuelrequest.htm

Almost there!

It was with a real sense of excitement that Brad and I ventured out to the new home of AZ Biodiesel in Gilbert this Saturday (Oct 11). Having moved twice in the last six months, AZ Biodiesel has faced daunting challenges to get to the point they are now: nearly ready to begin full-scale production of B100 (100% biodiesel) made from recycled restaurant grease.

Dan Rees and his son Richie gave us a tour of their new facility, and we spent a couple hours discussing the numerous obstacles they've had to overcome, and some they still face, to get their business off the ground.

Their test batches are dialed, and except for a few new (and rather esoteric) testing requirements, they will be ready to begin selling to the public very soon.

AZ Biodiesel is really the best example we have of the community-based commercial model of local biofuels that DBI is championing: local restaurants giving their grease to a local company, which in turn makes ASTM-spec fuel to be sold locally. Environmentally and economically: what a huge win for our community.

Home biodiesel producer safety video

A video has been posted on YouTube by the University of Idaho on Biodiesel Safety, specifically targeted at home biodiesel producers. Hosted by Dr. Jon Van Gerpen, head of the Biological & Agricultural Engineering Dept of the University of Idaho. Runtime: 8:26.

Addresses common hazards associated with biodiesel production and how to minimize risks.

Mark Edwards - Green Independence

Mark Edwards is a close friend of and a key strategic advisor to our Desert Biofuels Initiative effort. We're very pleased to be partnering with Mark to help him advance some components of his global "Green Independence" vision.

Mark is a professor in the Morrison School of Management and Agribusiness at ASU and the author of Biowar I -- which focuses on problems associated with corn ethanol, among other issues -- and Green Algae Strategy, which lays out a compelling vision for how algae can solve critical global fuel and food problems. We've found Mark's vision to be inspiring, and we're striving to implement aspects of his vision in an algae biofuels demonstration plant project we're exploring with Mark and a number of other team members.

Mark has generously agreed to allow us to post some documents he's authored that capture some of his thinking on Green Independence and related topics (all in .pdf):

• Green Algae Strategy Summary and FAQs
• Mark's Speaker Brief from a recent talk (addresses algae and summarizes Biowar I)
• Green Independence (version focuses on U.S. transportation fuel issues)
• Biowar I powerpoint slides

Mark has also made available reviewer copies of his full Green Algae Strategy manuscript that we can provide electronically upon request (to brad-at-desertbiofuels-dot-org).

DBI policy projects for Fall '08

(l-to-r) C. Thomson-Jones, P. Arambula, E. Menkhus (TVSG Director), S. Howe

Our relationship with ASU's Technology Ventures Services Group (formerly Technology Ventures Clinic) continues to be exciting and productive for DBI. This Fall we have three extremely talented students joining us, to work on two projects. The projects are:

1. A market analysis of biofuels feedstocks in Arizona, focusing on (a) waste vegetable oil, (b) region-suitable agricultural feedstocks, and (c) algae. The goal of the project is to gather facts about precisely what is happening in AZ in connection with these feedstocks (e.g. how much WVO is there? where is it currently going? what agricultural feedstocks looks promising for our region? etc.) . Our hope is that this sort of data will enable regional biofuel producers to make solid investment decisions and will help policymakers who are interested in advancing the regional production of biofuels. This project is an expansion and continuation of the project that we launched this past summer.

2. An analysis of state-level legislative initiatives aimed at promoting biofuels that have been enacted in other states. The goal of this project to accumulate data that may be helpful to Arizona policymakers interested in advancing the production of sustainable biofuels locally.

The students are:

• Pete Arambula, a third year J.D. student with an M.A. in Physiological/Experimental Psychology and professional interests in biotech, health science, civil rights and sustainability.
  
• Sarah Howe, a junior in the undergraduate chemical engineering program at ASU's Barrett Honors College. Sarah has biodiesel homebrewing experience and a deep interest in environmental engineering.
  
• Carrie Thomson-Jones, a J.D. student and former entrepreneur and business owner. She brings deep business experience and savvy to our projects, plus has the additional incentive of hoping for success of our mission so that she can regularly run her VW TDI on biodiesel.
  

We've set up email addresses for each in the format "firstname@desertbiofuels.org".

We're grateful to Eric Menkhus and the entire team at the Technology Ventures Services Group for all of their support.

US Fire Administration on Homemade Biodiesel

The US Fire Administration has posted portions of a "non-sensitive Situational Awareness Bulletin" regarding biodiesel production, specifically homemade biodiesel. Targeted at first responders, note that the bulletin includes the following:

"The overall process [of making biodiesel] is legal and relatively safe when properly performed."

It goes on to list some of the potential hazards, and notes:

"If the [home] processors are not careful, they can poison or burn themselves, and modifications to pressure vessels by inexperienced people can result in possible explosions."

Thanks to Hans Huth for the referral.

Unfortunate / Opportunity

Just a few days ago (8/24) there was a report of an explosion and fire at a residence in Surprise. It has been reported that oily rags caught fire and ignited methanol stored in a garage. The homeowner had been making biodiesel "from a kit". Fortunately no one was injured, but the hapless homebrewer unintentionally gave biodiesel, especially "homebrew biodiesel", a black eye.

While DBI remains favorably disposed toward the idea of individuals producing their own fuel [1], there are very real safety and legal obligations in making biodiesel. One of my realizations after making biodiesel for a while was that it just wasn't reasonable to expect that a family in a residential area could make themselves fuel self-sufficient. [2]

While some would assert that no amount of biodiesel can be safely made at home, I still believe the issue to be resolved is how much is too much? Some folks are going to do what they will, regardless of what anyone says, but for those who are trying to be good neighbors while they pursue their homebrew activities a couple things seem obvious:

1) Making a "Dr. Pepper" batch is a perfectly reasonable example of homebrew biodiesel, even in a residential setting.

2) Making hundreds of gallons per week for a "cul-de-sac biodiesel coop" is not. [3]

The question is: where on that continuum -- between a liter test batch and hundreds of gallons for friends and neighbors -- can a reasonable person say "this is (or should be) permitted" in a residentially zoned area. And I mean this activity is permitted in the sense of "non-interference" from the authorities, not sanctioned or licensed by them. The City of Gilbert has a forward-thinking approach on this issue, based on work done by the Arizona Emergency Response Commission.

Anyone who is currently contemplating "homebrewing" biodiesel would be well-advised to do some extensive investigation into the safety and legality of making fuel at their residence. A great starting place is Hans Huth's excellent "Biodiesel 101", which is an updated (and improved) version of a widely used homebrewer's guidebook, and has the additional benefit of Arizona-specific legal/tax information.

What may be an even better alternative is to join a biofuels cooperative, such as Dynamite Biofuels Co-op. This leverages the experience of persons who have been doing this for years, and neatly side-steps the idea of residential fuel production altogether.

[1] Brad put his thoughts into a dbi-workshop forum post which I think neatly captures our thinking:

"Re homebrewing, while I'm not a homebrewer myself, I personally remain favorably disposed to homebrewing, subject to a few serious caveats. I admire the do-it-yourself, self-sufficient culture that homebrewing embodies -- it seems somehow quintessentially American. I like too that homebrewing is a manifestation of an extremely decentralized model of fuel production -- I think the trend towards decentralization in fuel production is good for everyone except a few petrol fuel stakeholders. And homebrewers meet our "running code" test: they have been getting sustainable biodiesel into fuel tanks and on the road for years, with all of the attendant air quality and other benefits. The grassroots energy of homebrewers has significantly helped the adoption of biofuels. Plus there's an element of liberty: people should be free to pursue their homebrewing interests (and put non-ASTM tested fuel into their own personal vehicles) unless and until they create unwarranted risk for others."

[2] I use about 15-20 gallons of biodiesel a week. Add an additional vehicle (or three, in my case, if I count my two sons, who both wanted in on this deal :-) and let's say for round numbers 40 gals of biodiesel a week. That means processing 45-50 gals of oil per week, which uses over 10 gals of methanol and approx. 3 lbs. of catalyst. I would also have to dispose of at least 15 gals of glycerol/soap and, if water washing, more than 80 gals of high BOD wash water a week. Keeping enough methanol around to avoid running every week to get it, and enough catalyst for same, means we've probably moved beyond what could be considered reasonable in my home. However, doing a 15 gal batch per week, as I did for several months, meant keeping only 10 gals of methanol at the house, good for about 3 batches. By avoiding water-wash entirely using Graham Laming's process, and composting the glycerol, I found it quite reasonable to fuel my personal vehicle from 50-100% with homemade biodiesel.

[3] I want to emphasize I am talking about typical, densely packed residential neighborhoods. At the closest point the gap between the roofs of my house and my neighbor's is about 15' (I just measured it). And I have only the garage as a work area. There are plenty of residential areas in Phoenix where there is enough room to safely make hundreds of gallons of biodiesel a week in an out-building away from anyone else's property. A lot of people would disagree with that statement, though :-)

Biofuels-related articles of interest

Given various other time demands we're not blogging much these days, but in case anyone is interested we do regularly throw links and snippets of articles into a Google Notebook that is available here as a webpage and here as a RSS feed. The kinds of things that end up in there are AZ-related biofuels news, algae biofuels news, WVO-related articles, agriculture stuff, policy and legislative developments, etc. The links can be fairly random -- the only real criteria is that something about a particular article caught our attention and we wanted to share it with each other. If anyone else out there finds this useful, enjoy.

Torrey Kolesar joining DBI

Another piece of exciting news for DBI (in addition to the release of our regulatory white paper) is that Torrey Kolesar will be joining us as an intern this summer. Torrey is a junior in ASU's Barrett Honors College, where he is studying chemical engineering and finance. Torrey was part of a groundbreaking effort in Ghana, Africa to develop a biofuel infrastructure based on Jatropha feedstocks, and is co-author of a biofuels wiki hosted by ASU. We're thrilled to have Torrey on board.

Torrey will be leading a project to assess the current state of biofuels feedstocks in Arizona. The goal of the project is to analyze WVO, agricultural and algae feedstocks, assessing issues such as current market structure, supply/demand, costs, and feasibility. Our plan is to publish the results of Torrey's research as a white paper, and to host a meeting at ASU SkySong in the early fall where Torrey can present and discuss his results with interested parties.

We're also hoping that Torrey will contribute to this blog, and envision that he'll participate in some of the other projects we have underway.

Torrey can be contacted by email at torrey@desertbiofuels.org.

AZ Biodiesel Regulatory Environment white paper

We're very pleased to announce that "version 1.0" of our DBI white paper Arizona Biodiesel Regulatory Environment is available for download in a number of different formats, linked from our DBI home page at http://desertbiofuels.org, under the "Key 2008 Projects" header. The HTML version is here.

Deep thanks and kudos to author Sam West, who did an amazing job pulling the paper together.

Thanks as well to AZ Biodiesel, whose generous support of the ASU Technology Ventures Clinic helped make the paper possible.

We expect that the white paper will be a living document that will be revised regularly. The information in the document is not comprehensive or complete, but in the spirit of running code our hope is that it can serve as a starting point for deeper discussions among the AZ biofuels community.

Hunter's new ride

My son Hunter graduated high school on Thursday. He wants to do something in business and presumably make a ton of dough. Since business is the agenda, I suggested (insisted) that he take an AP Stats class his senior year. Hunter protested, complained, said it was too hard, threatened to drop... and got a B.

Hunter turns 18 on Tuesday and wants to go to NAU in the fall. Last year I promised him the same deal I gave Nelson when Nels got my old Toyota T100 as a graduation present. At the time I booked out the T100 to get an idea of how much this promise was going to cost.

As we spent the last month or two looking for vehicles, I noticed that all the trucks and SUVs Hunter suggested were about twice the budget I allowed. Hmmm. I kept looking anyway. Last weekend I found a truck online that looked perfect: original owner, less than 100K miles, all maintenance records, etc. It was also within "the budget". So I called and we went to look last Sunday.

Although not perfect by any means -- it was repainted marginally well, the dash is horribly cracked, the stereo is convinced that a (phantom) tape is inserted at all times, the door locks are broken -- it started immediately, ran great, and sounded bitchin'. So I put a deposit down and we picked it up last Tuesday.

What does this have to do with DBI?

Well, everyone who sees it immediately notices that I bought Hunter a BIG truck. Yep. And I'm concerned about the environmental impact of driving, so I run biodiesel. Yep. And this 4x4 pig is thirteen years old, runs gas, and gets (optimistically and according to the EPA) 10 mpg city, 14 highway. Yep.

See, he has to fill it up. He got a truck, not a gas card. And with gas approaching $4.00/gal, and a 35 gallon tank, it will cost nearly $140.00 to fill the damn thing. How much driving is an 18 year old going to do when it takes 14 hours of work to fill his truck? Once! Sure, we need vehicles on the road that get better mileage. But more importantly, wherever feasible, we need to drive less. And a NAU freshman doesn't need to drive much at all. So Hunter got the truck he "needed", the one I promised, and now it's his problem. Maybe he'll even start reading the blog :-)