Sustainable Ithaca

Credit to Linda Stout in the Ithaca Journal:

ENFIELD — Meghan Murphy figures she’s one of the only people she knows who’s happy to see petroleum diesel jump in price. She’s a member of Ithaca Biodiesel, a cooperative that turns old French fry oil into fuel. “It makes it easier for us to compete in the market,” she said.

She said petroleum diesel and gas were previously artificially low-priced because taxpayers subsidized infrastructure like fuel pipelines.

“There’s no infrastructure like that for biodiesel,” Murphy said. “These companies have huge advantages.”

The operation in Ithaca is still tiny, making about 100 gallons of biodiesel for those who pay a $25 lifetime membership.

But it’s a start, she said. Biodiesel manufacturing from waste oil potentially helps the local economy keep the money local in comparison to petroleum fuel, where only 2 percent, she said, is made locally. For instance, the money the cooperative spends goes to Bishop’s, a local hardware store, or into the pocket of the local welder working on the manufacturing equipment.

Murphy said that creating biodiesel from used restaurant oil keeps waste oil out of sewers and landfills, which she said accounts for 40 percent of sewer backups.

Diesel prices are up because of the relatively low value of the dollar and supply and demand, said Clayton Boyce, vice president of public affairs for the American Trucking Association.

In addition, he said, “Speculators are betting the dollar will continue to weaken in the future, and they’re buying with the hope of selling at a higher price in the future.”

Truckers are trying to improve fuel efficiency, he said.

The truckers’ association wants new refineries, but also supports biodiesel. Boyce said there are some concerns about ratios of biodiesel to petroleum diesel, which usually start at 5 percent biodiesel, and there’s interest in the development of hybrid trucks.

Dirty and difficult

Making biodiesel, Murphy said, is a somewhat dirty and difficult business. Ithaca Biodiesel worked carefully with Town of Enfield Code Enforcement Officer Ron Clark since moving last year to Gray Road in Enfield from the Renovus Energy Building on Cherry Street in Ithaca. Murphy said fire code issues made it hard to operate a biodiesel business in the City of Ithaca.

Although the end product is non-toxic, the process uses lye as a catalyst and methanol to dissolve the vegetable oil, she said.

Not being chemists, members found learning this trade a challenge, Murphy said. But she and her colleagues entered the not-for-profit co-op, she said, because they’re environmentalists.

Operating the processor requires skill and measuring chemical properties, such as the acidity of the vegetable oil. Water and bits of French fries and Thai food remaining in the oil make a difference in processing.

For instance, some fast-food restaurants don’t change their oil very often, which affects acidity, she said. If oil becomes rancid, it doesn’t just hurt a human’s stomach — it also isn’t good for an engine.

“There’s a lot of nuances,” Murphy said.

The left-over glycerin from the processing gets industrially composted, by Cayuga Compost, members said. If they couldn’t compost, which gets picked up for a fee, they’d be paying more to a renderer, Murphy said.

Ithaca Biodiesel contracts with Cayuga Compost, which picks up the byproducts, glycerin and fried food debris.

If the oil recycled for biodiesel or straight vegetable oil engines has water or bacteria in it, it’s not ideal, either; they try to avoid that from the start to prevent using a biocide.

The smell at Ithaca Biodiesel is similar to that of French fries, unlike the odor of a petroleum station.

Until this week, the price has been $3.50, below the price of petroleum diesel, but the co-op recently raised the price to $4 per gallon.With plans of gaining national certification for the biodiesel and expanding the venture, business aspects are also challenging, Murphy said.

“It’s a really hard business. You’re competing with petroleum,” which has tax and other financial advantages, she said.

Straight vegetable oil

Despite the name, biodiesel is not the only fuel Ithaca Biodiesel sells. Another product — filtered straight vegetable oil, or SVO, to run in vehicles like Volkswagen Golfs and Mercedes Benz sedans converted to use vegetable oil instead of diesel — is $2 a gallon.

Like biodiesel, straight vegetable oil should be clean.

Some people in Ithaca filter their own straight veggie oil, several Ithaca Biodiesel members said.

Murphy has a 2003 Volkswagen Golf converted to use straight vegetable oil by Ithaca Biodiesel member Mark Wienand.

Murphy said the conversion kit for her vehicle was $950, and labor was $500 or $600 last year.

D.D. Stevens, a former social worker with mechanical inclinations, learned from Wienand and has converted three vehicles.

Stevens said that converting a diesel vehicle to run on vegetable oil means installing a second fuel tank for the oil, and the oil fuel lines have heating coils to warm the oil, which could otherwise clog up fuel injectors. There’s also a filter added. There are multiple pre-made conversion packages available, she said.Stevens was initially interested in electric vehicles, having seen the 2006 film “Who Killed the Electric Car?” Her research on alternative fuels led her to convert a 1988 Volkswagen Beetle to run on vegetable oil, which she can choose to use with diesel.

Gregg Wicken creates his own systems as owner of Veg Power Systems and Supply in Brooktondale. He designs parts to convert diesel vehicles to vegetable oil and created an on-the-road oil filtration system. His systems have gained so much interest he just sold his systems to a fleet of trucks in Florida and has interest in Colorado.

Stevens said she likes having options in fueling her Beetle.

“It’s very flexible. You can go on regular diesel if you run out of vegetable oil,” she said.

Murphy is enthusiastic about running her car on straight vegetable oil.

“I just finished up a couple road trips where I went most of the way on vegetable oil, and the diesel gauge stays perfectly still,” she said.