Getting Grease Out of Sewer, Into Biodiesel
Columbia, South Carolina is the latest municipality that is getting waste grease out of its sewer system and into its vehicles in the form of biodiesel.
The Columbia Free Times says the city has set up a system to collect residents’ used cooking oil and use it in a trash truck:
When restaurants need to get rid of used cooking oil, they can usually donate or sell it to companies that convert it into fuel. Columbia’s backyard chefs, on the other hand, have had to throw away their oil — the Thanksgiving turkey-frying oil; the used oil from family fish frys; the gallons and gallons of oil it takes to perfect a fried chicken recipe or the world’s best raw fries.
Now, the City of Columbia wants residents to bring their used cooking oil to a new drop-off site at the city’s Public Works facility on Colonial Drive. Dubbed Southern Fried Fuels, the program is part of an arrangement with the local company Midlands Biofuels.
Brandon Spence, co-owner and CEO of Midlands Biofuels, says his company is paying for the oil collection itself; the city is only providing space for the collection tanks and then buying the biofuel.
“The containers are an investment,” Spence says.
The city will use a B20 blend of this waste grease biodiesel for the garbage truck and could use it in other equipment. Columbia’s fleet of other diesel vehicles is already running on B5.
In addition, the city says it spends $1.5 million a year dealing with grease, mostly from residents and not restaurants, in its sewer lines. Officials hope this will cut those costs down significantly.
2 Comments »
Vaibhav
Welcoming initiative by South Carolina municipality. Converting the waste grease and oil into a bio-diesel is a very innovative way to reduce the expenditure on cleaning and maintaining the sewer lines. It will not only help cut the expenditure on the sewer lines but also be a part of the movement of getting rid of fossil fuels. Considering the the huge contribution of fossil fuels to the environmental hazards, such a kind of initiative should be taken by all the local and municipal organizations across the globe to save the environment and work towards making the planet earth green and eco-friendly for generations to come.
I think it is high time we started taking nature and our planet earth seriously and do our bit about environment, sustainability, climate change, biodiversity, clean energy, green living and so on. One great place to start would be http://www.elpis.com. Elpis is an online community focused on responsible living and sustainable growth. You can measure, reduce and offset your carbon footprint; set up petitions, volunteering and fundraising projects for your favourite causes; help create action plans for sustainable communities; buy a range of eco friendly products and services; and network with other people who share a common interest in a low carbon, responsible lifestyle.
Daily News—09/07/10 | FEEDER
[...] Columbia, SC works on getting biodiesel from grease that would otherwise go into the sewer [...]
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