The Low-Down on Biodiesel for the Foodservice Industry
By Amelia Levin, Sr. Associate Editor -- Foodservice Equipment & Supplies, 10/28/2009 1:15:00 PM
As with “greenwashing,” an enormous amount of misinformation and confusion surrounds the process of sending commercial kitchen cooking oil for conversion into biodiesel. The goal of this article is to at least begin to address some of the common misconceptions about the process so that restaurants and other foodservice operators can make good decisions about where they send their cooking oil—if they choose to do so—and what follow-up steps they should take.FE&S spoke with Hoby Douglass, director of business development for General Biodiesel in Seattle. Douglass, who earned his certificate in sustainability from the Bainbridge Graduate Institute in that city, is for certain a “green-minded” individual; that was obvious after talking with him for some time. Douglass helped us wade through all the confusion regarding cooking oil reuse.
First, he explains how the biodiesel-making process works, at least at the General Biodiesel plant.
There are three different types of sources for biodiesel: yellow grease, tallow and brown grease. Yellow grease, the most common of the various sources, is often referred to as used cooking oil (UCO), Douglass says. Tallow is rendered animal fat which operators can collect from a meat roasting station. Brown grease, a less widely used source of grease or biodiesel, is found in grease traps in restaurants. “We’re exploring ways to use brown grease more, but the science hasn’t fully caught up with everyone yet,” Douglass says.
Vendors such as General Biodiesel pick up used cooking oil from local restaurant, hospital, hotel, B&I and grocery-store customers using trucks fitted with tanks that use a hose to connect to the foodservice operation’s grease storage receptacles. In some cases, the vendor will send a different truck to pick up smaller cases or gallon barrels filled with the grease. The exact method foodservice operators use to store their used grease depends on their volume of frying and cooking-oil use.
At the refinery, the grease goes through several steps, including water removal and separation of fat solids. This process is called esterification; as described by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, it’s a refining method that uses industrial alcohol (such as ethanol or methanol) and a catalyst substance to convert the oil into a fatty-acid methylester fuel (another term for biodiesel).
Once the cooking oil is thoroughly refined and cleaned, it’s sent to a biodiesel processing plant, which for General Biodiesel is about a mile and a half down the road, for pickup by a local petroleum distributor.
According to the EPA, as of this month, 600 fleets nationwide use biodiesel blends in their diesel engines, and biodiesel is available in various blends at more than 800 locations. “Biodiesel fuel vs. diesel fuel decreases significantly carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbon (HC), contributing factors in the localized formation of smog and ozone, amongst other health benefits,” the EPA states.
But it’s not all that simple. Douglass points out some of the misconceptions about biodiesel production and offers tips for restaurants and operators looking into the process.
Not all biodiesel is suitable or legal for road vehicle use.
Biodiesel must meet strict federal regulations to be approved for road use. In order to be recognized by the EPA as suitable for use on the road, biodiesel must meet ASTM International’s standard, ASTM D 6751, for legal use. For a list of approved vendors, visit the National Biodiesel Board’s Web site. They’ve set up the BQ-9000 quality-certification program to create a nationally recognized list of approved distributors.
In the EPA’s words: “Fuel-grade biodiesel must be produced to strict industry specifications (ASTM D6751) in order to insure proper performance. Biodiesel is the only alternative fuel to have fully completed the health effects testing requirements of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. Biodiesel that meets ASTM D6751 and is legally registered with the Environmental Protection Agency is a legal motor fuel for sale and distribution. Raw vegetable oil cannot meet biodiesel fuel specifications, it is not registered with the EPA, and it is not a legal motor fuel.”
Problems arise when biodiesel plants sell off noncertified biodiesel, otherwise known as renewable biodiesel, which some buyers use improperly as a cheaper fuel source. “You know that thick, black smoke that comes out of trucks sometimes?” Douglass says. “More likely than not, that’s a form of renewable biodiesel, and it’s spewing toxins into the air.”
Biodiesel is usually blended with petroleum before it’s used in vehicles.
Most diesel engines can run on biodiesel without needing any special equipment, but to get federal tax credits, which is important in helping biodiesel businesses survive financially, biodiesel makers must blend their product to some degree with petroleum, Douglass says. Even though General Biodiesel produces B100, also known as “neat biodiesel” or “pure biodiesel,” the company still must blend it with petroleum to be able to sell itf for vehicle use. “It can be B99 even, but it must be a blend,” Douglass says. B100, he explains, is 100-percent pure biodiesel, and B99 is 99-percent biodiesel, 1 -percent petroleum.
Even though General Biodiesel has the capability to make B100 for road use, the fact is, most petroleum distributors require only B5, B10 or B20 blends (20 percent biodiesel/ 80 percent petroleum). Though that blend is not as optimal as using pure biodiesel for road use, “Even with B20, you’re still making a huge carbon dioxide reduction in the atmosphere,” Douglass says. Citing EPA findings, he adds, “If we converted all diesel to biodiesel in this way, we’d have a 73-percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions nationwide.”
Douglass hopes one day to see more tax credits, or even federal and state mandates, for stronger biodiesel blends or for pure biodiesel sales to replace petroleum altogether.
Know where your cooking oil ends up after it leaves the biodiesel plant.
It’s an unfortunate fact that some biodiesel byproducts, such as rendered animal fat and other cooking-oil byproducts can end up in pet food or be sent overseas, where its final destination remains a mystery.
Although some byproducts, such as glycerin, are considered harmless and are used for pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, operators should nevertheless try to determine what end-purpose their cooking oil will have, Douglass says.
“That’s why we acquired the biodiesel plant nearby,” he says. “We wanted to take more control over where our refined cooking oil was going, and to make sure we were supporting local companies.”
Investigate whether the biodiesel plant uses food, not oil, as fuel.
This is an extremely controversial topic at the moment, but there has been a movement to discourage the use of seeds, including soybeans and corn, in the production of biodiesel and ethanol.
“The argument is, if there is one hungry person on the planet, those seeds would be better off used for food rather than biodiesel,” Douglass says.
From an economic viewpoint, subsidizing commercial farmers to produce more seed product solely for biodiesel or ethanol production has caused commodity seed and corn prices to increase tremendously, to the point where they’re hurting smaller farmers and other businesses.
On top of that, Douglass notes, transferring the seed stock to biodiesel plants requires a significant amount of energy because it often entails cross-country trucking. In Douglass’ opinion, using waste for biodiesel is a better option because it prevents further production of carbon dioxide and of greenhouse gases as well as further wasted material. “The truth is what it’s going to take to move people in this direction of renewable energy and waste reduction is going to be government subsidies, private enterprise and more partnerships,” he says.
Be wary of cooking oil-stealing pirates.
You heard correctly. There are people out there who raid the disposal areas behind restaurants to steal cooking oil from tanks. Last year, MSNBC reported one such story, from California. Restaurants in Kansas have reported similar thefts.
Some foodservice operators have begun to install locks on their tanks or invest in more secure ones. Operators who use smaller containers to store smaller volumes of cooking oil therefore should keep these containers locked inside their facility if possible or in a secured place outside the restaurant before pickup.
On the flip side of this situation, the existence of cooking-oil pirates means that cooking oil can be something of a hot commodity. More biodiesel plants are buying the grease at good prices for use as a profitable and environmentally friendly alternative fuel source. Still, operators should be wary of those biodiesel plants who choose to buy from pirates, or from sellers without legal or proper identification.
Here’s a list of some restaurants and other operators sending off their cooking oil for legal biodiesel production:
Burgerville is considered a pioneer on the biodiesel front. Pipes attached to the fryers at Burgerville restaurants send used oil to larger containers outside, where trucks from a local biodiesel rendering plant hook up their hoses, collect the oil and haul it away. The setup allows Burgerville to save on the high cost of hauling away the grease while also serving as a revenue generator as more biodiesel producers compete for grease.
Finz Seafood & Grill in Salem, Mass., and the Eat Drink Laugh Restaurant Group in Boston, which operates The Blarney Stone, West on Centre Restaurant, The Paramount and The 21st Amendment, participate in a program whereby offsite oil vendors pick up the oil and convert it for use vehicle fuel.
Philadelphia Fry-O-Diesel is focused on making biodiesel fuel from restaurant trap grease. (That's the brown grease mentioned earlier.)
Harvard University invested in a custom-designed fryer waste oil system that pumps fryer oil directly to a holding tank at the loading docks. Campus delivery trucks then pull up and vacuum out the waste oil so it can be sent to biodiesel refineries.
Spinx/Stewart’s Chicken & Biscuits, a convenience-store foodservice operator, collects used cooking oil at 41 of its locations to send off to biodiesel refineries. Aside from reducing pollution, they say, doing so helps increase jobs for farmers, transporters, engineers, manufacturers and others on a local level.
For more information about biodiesel, visit:
National Biodiesel Board
Facts on biodiesel by the Board
EPA’s about-biodiesel page
Interesting online article dispelling biodiesel myths
National Renewable Energy Lab
NREL about-biodiesel
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy
U.S. DOE Alternative Fuels Data Center and Biomass Program
Related FE&S articles:
Alternative Energy Heats Up
Waste Not, Want Not
Waste Management Sparks New Conversations
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