On campus conversion of waste cooking oil to biodiesel to power on campus vehicles Mark Riley, riley@ag.arizona.edu, 626-9120, Ag and Biosystems Engineering Stephen Poe, spoe@email.arizona.edu, Ag and Biosystems Engineering Michael Kazz, grecycler@gmail.com, CEO, Grecycle, Inc. The goal of this project is to collect waste cooking oil (WCO) from the UA Student Union and Park Student Union and convert it to biodiesel to power UA vehicles. The program will be performed in conjunction with an industrial partner (Grecycle) which already operates a small pilot scale facility at the UA s Campus Agricultural Center (CAC) located at Campbell and Roger Roads in Tucson. Students will gain extensive needed experience in production of this renewable fuel, in process engineering, leadership and logistics, and in QA/QC (quality control) procedures - areas of expertise desired by employers of UA students in engineering and science. Environmental impact will be substantial as a waste material produced on campus will be processed into a needed fuel also used on campus. Five hundred gallons of waste cooking oil can be collected per month from the unions thus reducing the amount of waste material which would normally be used as animal feed; this will replace approximately 500 gallons of diesel produced through normal petrochemical processing and reliance on imported oil. On campus vehicles including the UA CatTran fleet, campus agricultural vehicles, and others will be the primary users of the biodiesel. This program provides a number of tangible benefits including: 1) Reduction in the waste footprint of the UA, 2) Increased air quality as biodiesel has 56% less emissions than diesel, 3) Reduced engine wear and lower maintenance for lubricity properties of biodiesel, 4) Reduction in petrochemical diesel which must be purchased from outside vendors, 5) Experience for students in chemical processing, fuel testing, and logistics, 6) Strengthening partnership with a local industry, 7) Development of extension programming for the general public, 8) Integration in course activities at the undergraduate and graduate levels, 9) Research projects on process improvement, stability, integration of solar heating, 10) Net cost savings to the UA. Partners and participants in this program include the following: 1) UA Faculty in Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering (Mark Riley, Professor and Department Head; Steve Poe, Professor with an extension position & ASABE advisor) 2) Grecycle (Michael Kazz, CEO and MS Degree from ABE in 1992; Walterio Diaz, Engineer and MS Degree from ABE in 2006). Kazz is chair of the ABE Industrial Advisory Committee and has sponsored senior design projects in ABE and CHEE. 3) UA Student Unions; Campus Agricultural Center (CAC); UA Cat Tran
P a g e 2 Biodiesel production The conversion of waste cooking oil (WCO) to biodiesel (BD) is a relatively straightforward and mild chemical process in which fats are transesterified to methyl esters through use of a mild acid or base catalysis. The conversion enables fuel characteristics of the WCO to closely resemble those of conventionally produced petrochemical diesel. Grecycle, a Tucsonbased company, has pioneered the moderate scale conversion of WCO to biodiesel using oil collected from local restaurants. Grecycle and Pima County Wastewater host a well-publicized event the day after Thanksgiving to collect waste oil from turkey cooking. This oil would normally be landfilled or deposited in domestic sewers. In 2007, Grecycle constructed a small scale pilot plant with equipment for processing 100 gallons of WCO into biodiesel. This facility sits at the ABE Department s former Irrigation Laboratory and next to our machinery shop at the CAC. Grecycle uses the equipment to translate laboratory studies (Diaz s MS thesis) to a full scale production for which they will soon start construction in south Tucson. Grecycle currently has a no cost agreement for collection of WCO from the UA Student Union and Park Street Student Union and has pledged that this material could be utilized in our proposed program. Other opportunities for collection of WCO include the UA Hospital and small scale programs in the UA residence hall kitchens. UA CatTran utilizes approximately 4000 gallons of diesel per month in 16 vehicles. A reasonable starting point would be to use B5 (5% biodiesel and 95% petro diesel). At that percentage, CatTran would consume 200 gallons of biodiesel per month. UA Student Union and the Park Student Union together produce about 500 gallons of WCO per month. There is approximately a 1:1 volume:volume conversion of WCO to biodiesel. If CatTran utilized B10, they would use 400 gallons of biodiesel per month. Other users can also consume the BD. Planned activities We propose a staged process to be implemented over two years (7/1/11 6/30/12 as year 1). This is necessary as the potential users (CatTran, Parking and Transportation, and Campus Ag Center) want a demonstration that we can produce Biodiesel of consistent quality which meets ASTM standards before agreeing to long term use in their vehicles. Year 1 involves construction of infrastructure, several demonstrations, and planning of project logistics in fueling these vehicles in a manner which does not impede current procedures. WCO will be collected from the UA Student Union and Park Student Union kitchens every 1-2 weeks. The WCO will be collected by students first using Grecyle s equipment and then with the ABE department truck and a trailer modified in this project. The WCO will be taken to the biodiesel pilot plant at the CAC and pumped into a holding tank. WCO of about 100 gallons per batch will be chemically converted to biodiesel using procedures developed by Grecycle. Training of the students will be done initially by Kazz and Diaz. Supervision after this initial training will be done by Poe and Riley with assistance from Charlie Defer (ABE machinist
P a g e 3 who is stationed at CAC). Produced biodiesel will undergo stringent testing to ensure that ASTM standards for quality (QA/QC) have been met. It is necessary to ensure stability of the oil to oxidation, that water content is below a set level, and that glycerol levels are below tolerances. Equipment will need to be purchased for each of these tests. Produced biodiesel will be delivered to the filling station for CatTran vehicles and placed into an above ground storage tank of 1,000 gallons (about twice as large as needed today, but permits growth) and blended so as to yield B5 (5% biodiesel + 95% standard diesel). We anticipate that it will be necessary to charge CatTran for the produced biodiesel so as to cover costs of chemicals to generate the biodiesel and to address federal regulations on production of biodiesel for larger than individual use. We anticipate indexing the cost of the produced biodiesel at $0.50 to $0.75 per gallon less than locally available commercial biodiesel. Sale of biodiesel currently generates a tax blender credit, since Grecycle is a Certified Blender by the IRS and EP; this will be credited to Grecycle as partial compensation for using their equipment and their process. Grecycle also has a pilot scale greenhouse for heating the oil prior to processing. This has been built and tested as part of a student senior design project in 2009 an indicated that solar can provide 25% of the process energy needs. Risk Management approval is necessary for production to reach full scale and beyond. RM approval will be sought and no large scale production initiated until such approvals are gained. The largest concern from RM will likely be the amount of acid stored on site (which is kept below the allowable 10 gallons) and the methanol which is brought for each reaction and kept in a flammable storage cabinet. These concerns were addressed with RM for the Grecycle pilot plant at CAC several years ago and the facility has been maintained up to code ever since. No vehicle fueling will be performed at CAC but will be done at the filling stations used by partners. We will also develop outreach and extension activities to educate the public. Sustainability of this program This program, once up to speed, is highly sustainable as costs for biodiesel production are covered by the sale of BD to users. Utilizing WCO as the feedstock reduces the cost of biodiesel production by about $0.50 to $0.75 which is then passed along to the users (this is the approximate street value of the feedstock). No additional funds will be needed to continue this project. Grecycle is licensed to sell biodiesel and as a long term partner of the ABE Department will use this as a signature collaboration. In the event that biodiesel quality does not reach ASTM standards as required by partner users, Grecycle will utilize all of the fuel produced from WCO collected on the UA campus. There are many potential on campus users of the produced biodiesel and the amount of BD used could increase by many paths. First priority will be for use by CatTran buses for on campus routes. Biodiesel could also be used on the campus agricultural centers such as at the new Red Rock Ag Center which alone would use over 500 gallons / year. The Red Rock Ag
P a g e 4 Center is an energy hub and so integration with WCO-Biodiesel is a natural fit. Development of such contracts will commence once users are convinced of the produced BD quality. We have had preliminary discussions with each of these users and have received strong support although none are willing to sign contracts until we can prove biodiesel quality. Over the course of 12 months, assuming that we utilize B10 at a rate of 500 gallons per month, this program would save the UA on the order of $4,500 in fuel costs per year. The project could readily be increased in size by processing WCO to biodiesel at a higher rate per month using the same equipment. The more biodiesel used, the greater the savings to the UA. Biodiesel currently sells for approximately $4.75 / gallon (as of 2/2/11); 500 gallons sold per month would lead to $28,500 of revenue / year (if sold at the street value) used first to cover costs of BD production. Net revenue gained will be returned inside the project to support professional activities of the involved students (to attend technical conferences such as the National Biodiesel Board Conference (this Feb 2011 in Phoenix)) or similar activities with professional development benefits. Some funds will be used to refresh and replace equipment that becomes worn or broken, thus making the project self-sustaining. Substantial matching funds are available for this project including: Grecycle, personnel time and use of Grecycle s equipment and process UA ABE Dept, personnel time: Mark Riley, Stephen Poe, Charles Defer Use of ABE equipment and facilities (machine shop, truck for transportation), including a small enclosed facility and a small building which will be used for this program. We will seek federal funding for expanding this program with research projects for USDA and DOE research programs. The high student participation would be a very strong positive for funding decisions. Kazz and Riley have submitted SBIR proposals on process development projects and will pursue these with more vigor as the current project gains momentum. Ensuring consistent BD quality and performance is critical for success of this program and so represents a large proportion of the budget request to purchase analytical equipment that is specific for ensuring that ASTM standards are met. This equipment is not available on campus. Testing normally would be addressed by sending out periodic biodiesel samples to a third party testing facility. We aim to avoid that approach for several reasons. Using a third party laboratory leads to less frequent sampling and could raise quality issues. By testing on site and as part of the standard operating procedure, we can ensure consistent quality of product from each batch. Students also gain practical experience in testing and validation procedures. Since production will be performed by many students and will evolve over time, such testing and fastidious record keeping is critical in addition to developing professional skills. Benefits to students Students will benefit in many ways. Those involved in activities (either as part of club events through the student chapter of ASABE; as part of the regular curriculum (ABE 284, ABE
P a g e 5 296a, ABE 447); or as an independent study) will gain hands on experience in process engineering, QA/QC (a key skill employers frequently mention), logistics, biofuels, and green chemistry. Once self-sustaining we will develop a new class Biodiesel quality validation or similar for students to get recognition on their transcript for participation. We will not restrict student participation to any major but will take any student showing interest in a continued level of activity. There will most likely be a layered participation with students learning the basic techniques hands on in 200-level courses, student participants connected through student clubs, and then those students who have supervisory roles gaining academic credit (as for the required ABE 393 internship). The ABE department is updating our curriculum to integrate topics in bioenergy, environmental sustainability, green chemistry, and related topics. This program will be a cornerstone of our academic activities, for student recruiting, and for industrial partnering. Timeline The proposed project is an aggressive start up program which once up to speed will be self-sustaining with continual positive experiences for students while at the same time reducing the environmental impact of current UA activities. This requires developing logistics, technical information on processing, assessment by risk management, and agreements from end users. Given the time frame of activities requiring many layers of approval we aim to develop this program in two distinct stages. Stage 1: development of protocols and procedures, attainment of approvals, testing and validation of biodiesel quality and consistency. Stage 2: full scale production and delivery of biodiesel to on campus users. Stage 1 will be in year 1: (7/1/11 6/30/12); stage 2 will begin in year 2: 7/1/12- and beyond). Outcomes The productive outcomes from this project are substantial. The UA converts a waste material into biodiesel used in on campus vehicles. Students are trained in a biochemical processing scheme and gain leadership experience. Outreach activities are developed for educating the public in the production of biodiesel from WCO and serves as a platform for a new extension program in renewable energy. This project also will connect well with other ongoing renewable energy activities within the ABE department and across campus. We see the WCO->BD project as a means to build an area of excellence to educate students and provide skills that will be useful throughout their careers. The closest related activity is at Clemson University which uses a $125,000 mobile processing plant to convert waste oils to power a generator (not for transportation fuels). Our program will go much beyond those activities, have a lower cost, more directly impact students, and provide an ongoing cost and environmental benefit to the university. Our students will gain practical experience with skills sought by employers far beyond the biofuels industry.