[Homestead] Waste Vegetable Oil vs. Biodiesel

Clansgian at wmconnect.com Clansgian at wmconnect.com
Sun Aug 17 11:40:35 EDT 2008


> >I do not have the figures at hand but there is not enough fryer oil to
> replace Diesel fuel.  Producers of WVO are seeing a revenue stream as
> Biodiesel becomes more popular and waste haulers are getting into the act.

There is not enough WVO in existence ot replace one hundred thousandths of 
the Diesel fuel used.  

Waste companies are already in the act and have been for some time.  I worked 
at a Burger King thirty-five years ago and even then all the used oil and 
grease were spoken for.  A rendering company had contracts with most fast food 
chains and came around on a regular basis and picked up all the discarded fats.

Someone I know runs a local fast food fish place (Captain D's, I don't know 
how widespread they are).  They generate about twenty gallons of waste oil a 
week and the food services company from whom they buy the oil picks up the spent 
oil in the same containers as part of their contract.

One fellow I know bought that Greasecar conversion kit for his diesel car and 
THEN approached the snak food producer in town sure that they would have 
thousands of gallons of WVO and be begging him to haul it away.  They gave him a 
tour of the facility and showed him that they indeed had NO waste oil.   The 
oil was run though an elaborate filtration system and returned to the fryers. It 
was never changed and simply eventually left the facility in the potato chips.

My guess is that restaurant with gallons and gallons of discarded oil and the 
manager who is so grateful that you are willing to haul it off for him is 
largely a myth.  Sure, there are examples here and there of people actually 
running vehicles from discarded restaurant oils but those are isolated curiosities. 
 My business endeavors generate buckets full of hardwood scraps.  So when we 
grill something on the hibachi, those scraps are the fuel.  But scraps from 
woodshops will never be a factor in overall cooking fuel.  Same with restaurant 
oil, thinks I.



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