KU News Release

KU state fair booth features biodiesel fuel researcher, demonstrations Friday

LAWRENCE — A University of Kansas professor who leads a campus program that refines used cooking oil into pure biodiesel will visit the Kansas State Fair in Hutchinson on Friday, Sept. 12, for hands-on, kid-friendly demonstrations.

Susan Williams, associate professor of chemical and petroleum engineering, will be at KU’s booth in the Meadowlark Building. Her visit is sponsored by the KU Energy Council, which coordinates energy-related research and educational activities at KU and has a major presence in the booth.

Williams will be demonstrating various properties of the biodiesel fuel produced on the KU campus. The demonstrations will be aimed at educating younger children and include activities with viscosity and clouding factors.

KU’s biofuels research program integrates research with refinement of biodiesel in the university’s two reactors, which produce 40 gallons of biodiesel every five days and operate continuously.

Once a week, used canola oil from a popular student dining commons on the Lawrence campus is pumped into a 55-gallon drum and delivered to the KU Biodiesel Initiative’s new refining lab. There the discarded oil is refined, washed and tested, metamorphosing though this process into pure biodiesel capable of powering any conventional diesel engine.

Currently, the project’s impact is limited to the Lawrence campus. KU’s biodiesel runs test equipment — like a Volkswagen Jetta, a John Deere tractor and a diesel aircraft engine — allowing investigators to perfect refinement techniques and measure fuel performance and emissions.

A video feature about the program is online at www.features.ku.edu/biodiesel.

The KU Energy Council is the primary coordinating unit of energy-related research and educational activities at KU. Its objectives include elevation of the importance of energy within the research and educational mission of KU; cross-discipline collaboration in the research and development of new innovations in the capture and use of energy; and the application of these innovations in industry settings that will ultimately benefit the state of Kansas.

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The University of Kansas is a major comprehensive research and teaching university. University Relations is the central public relations office for KU's Lawrence campus.