KU News Release

KU research drives at improving biodiesel production

LAWRENCE — What if used grease from the University of Kansas cafeterias and food courts could be put to better use rather than just tossed out? It could be trucked over to a pilot plant on west campus, where students would turn it into biodiesel. Then university buses could burn it as fuel.

“We’ve got a closed loop,” said Susan Williams, associate professor of chemical and petroleum engineering at KU. “We don’t have to pay to ship that grease off anywhere and have anything done to it. We have our own students on campus working in chemistry, physics, engineering and even in the business aspect of it.”

Though reaching that goal is a long way off, Williams and students in her lab are working to get there, eventually, in one of multiple biorefining research projects under way at KU.

Her lab is studying ways to use waste oils, instead of refined oils, to make biodiesel. Refined oils, such as canola oil, produce a good product, Williams said, but they drive up the cost of biodiesel because they have already been through an expensive treatment process.

Williams said many companies have a lot of waste left over after manufacturing their products. That waste is called soap stock and contains a lot of free fatty acids.

“Those are really cheap,” she said. “If we could use those materials, that would drive the cost of biodiesel down to where it would be acceptable for consumers to buy it and put in their vehicle.”

At a gas station in Kansas City, a gallon of biodiesel costs $2.39, compared to $1.99 for regular unleaded gas. In the Midwest, regular diesel averages $2.448 per gallon as of Oct. 9.

“If you could bring the cost of biodiesel down so that it is competitive, then you could really drive that market,” Williams said.

Those waste feedstocks, waste products used for biorefining, are cheap and abundant but hard to process. Because the biorefining technology is still fairly new, scientists have a lot to learn about those processes.

“We’ve been so petroleum-based that we really understand those technologies well,” Williams said. Feedstocks used for biorefining include sugar, corn or soybean but can have more variables, such as water content, potential side-products or impurities.

Part of the conversion process requires using sulfuric acid, which is highly toxic, corrosive and difficult to work with, said Williams. Even after the acid does its job, it still must be separated from the other chemicals, another intensive process that could mean losing some product.

Williams is searching for more environmentally benign but affordable alternatives, as “cost drives everything,” she said.

“Obviously, with gas prices going up, it really helps to drive some of the research that we’re doing,” she said.

The research is funded through the Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis at KU. When Williams began three years ago, there was little national interest in biodiesel production, she said. But in recent years that interest has ballooned, and more researchers are working in the field.

“Once you get the critical mass of people working in an area, you start to see results a lot faster,” Williams said.

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