Student Team to Convert Used Vegetable Oil into Biodiesel

Derek Riley is shown holding an early batch of biodiesel. Derek is an Engineering graduate student, Wilskills instructor and is lead organizer of Vandy Biodiesel Initiative.

Used vegetable oil from Vanderbilt Dining Services and the Vanderbilt Medical Center will be turned into biodiesel fuel by the Vanderbilt Biodiesel Initiative students.

The group includes students from WilSkills, a student-run outdoor class which takes weekly trips to explore nature through camping, hiking, canoeing, and caving, and the student environmental organization Students Promoting Environmental Awareness and Recycling (SPEAR). The biodiesel will be used to fuel the WilSkills vehicle as well as Plant Operations Equipment.

WilSkills’ plan is to collect used vegetable oil from Vandy Dining Services’ kitchens, filter it, and combine it with potassium hydroxide and methanol to produce biodiesel fuel. Biodiesel can be blended with diesel fuel, and it is actually superior to diesel in that it burns cleaner, lubricates better, and smells like fried food. The team hopes to eventually produce 1,000 gallons of biodiesel fuel per month, potentially eliminating 20,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions each month.

The Vanderbilt Biodiesel Initiative student team was one of ten finalists in the 2007 national MTV-U Ecomagination Challenge, rising to the top from among more than 100 applicants. Although the team was not named the top finalist for the Ecomagination grant, the student team is still moving ahead with the design and construction of the biodiesel system in cooperation with Vanderbilt Plant Operations and Vanderbilt Environmental Health and Safety. To watch the application video and for more information on this project, please visit the WilSkills Biodiesel Initiative webpage.