AU to support city’s biodiesel efforts
By Michele Gerlach
Friday, April 11, 2008 10:27 PM CDT
Officials from Auburn University’s Natural Resources Management and Development Institute were in Andalusia Friday to discuss with city officials a plan to convert restaurant and household cooking oil to biodiesel fuel.
The fuel will then be used to power the city’s fleet of diesel vehicles, Mayor Jerry Andrews said.
Dr. Steven Taylor, director of the AU Institute’s Center for Bioenergy and Bioproducts, said in Alabama, 4 million tons of logging debris is left on the ground every year. That debris could be used to create 240 million gallons of ethanol, which could offset 10 percent of the gasoline currently used in Alabama. Similarly, the state deals with two million tons of poultry litter each year. Taylor said the center is looking for uses of these and other Alabama products and byproducts to create fuel.
Taylor said AU has worked with the City of Gadsden to set up recycling of cooking oils, and that similar programs are in place in Hoover, Montgomery and in Daphne.
Andrews said preliminary estimates show that the City of Andalusia can produce enough of the biodiesel products to cut in half its consumption of 60,000 gallons of diesel fuel a year. Other cities are producing biodiesel for $1 gallon, while the current price of diesel is $4 per gallon.
Initially, the city will collect used oil from local restaurants, but the long-term plan is to also provide small containers for reclaiming residential cooking oils.
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“If we could recover one tablespoon of household oil per day, that would be four 55-gallon barrels we wouldn’t have to treat in our sewage system lines,” Andrews said.
He said that in Daphne, schools are taking the byproduct of the biodiesel process, glycerine, and using it to make soap, which is in turn given away to promote the recycling program. In Hoover, the glycerine is used to make lye soap which is used in the city’s shops.
Also on hand for the discussion were assistant Commissioner of Ag and Industries Glen Zorn, Sen. Jimmy Holley (R-Elba) and former Auburn University president Dr. Ed Richardson.
Holley stressed the need for a greater sense of urgency in dealing with energy problems.
“I have a message on my machine from a man who wants to know about state rules for driving bicycles,” Holley said. “He said that gasoline is so high, he has parked his car and begun riding.
“With $4 a gallon diesel and $3.25 a gallon gasoline, we have a real urgency for helping everyday people find more efficient fuels,” Holley said.
