From frying chicken to moving students, reprocessed oil as fuel

By Christopher Quinn

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The used cooking oil that sometimes clogs Cherokee County's sewer lines could be put to a good use, a Woodstock businessman believes.

It could be collected instead of being illegally poured down drains. Then, at a plant he wants to build locally, it could be reprocessed into biodiesel and mixed with diesel to run school buses.

Gary Martin, a representative of DSI Fabrication in Florida, told Cherokee County's commissioners Tuesday that using the biodiesel fuel produced by his plan could save the school system $75,000 to $150,000 a year compared to its current fuel expenses..

A plant designed by DSI is already helping cut fuel costs in St. Johns County in Florida, Martin said.

Martin asked the commissioners for a letter of support for the plan. He would share the letter with restaurants, asking them to donate used oil to a for-profit business that would own the plant and sell the biodiesel to the school system or others nearby. One part of biodiesel would be mixed with four parts of diesel before use.

"We would basically have a marketplace we would be able to depend on, and they would have a dedicated fuel source that would not fluctuate [in price] as much as the current market," Martin said.

The county commissioners considered it a no-risk, no-cost venture and reacted positively.

Cherokee Commissioner Harry Johnston said the idea is worth considering, but final approval would have to come from the school board.

Schools were closed for spring break this week. A schools spokesman could not confirm Martin's statement that he had spoken with the school district about the plan.

"We don't have to make an investment," Commission Chairman Buzz Ahrens said. "They just want us to help market the idea to local restaurants."

Restaurants often pay to have used oil hauled away. Oil poured in drains is a major cause of clogs and sewage spills, Ahrens said.

Clogs have been reduced in St. Johns County, Fla. There, the county collects oil and converts it into fuel at a plant designed by the CEO of DSI Fabrication, who is also a county employee. Vehicles from fire trucks to backhoes use the product.

"We have not seen any difference at all in the performance of the vehicles," said Joe Stephenson, the St.  Johns County public works director. "We are very pleased with our product."

The Florida plant now produces biodiesel for less than $2 a gallon. It meets national standards that mean its use will not void warranties on engines, Stephenson said. He estimated the county makes about 5 percent of its fuel and that percentage will go up, he said.

The retail cost of diesel in Atlanta ranges from $2.75 to $3 a gallon.

The resulting one-to-four mixture would result in the savings he presented to commissioners.

Others in Georgia are using or have used biodiesel, such as the state forestry commission, Floyd County schools and the city of Lawrenceville.

Lamar Hall, Lawrenceville's fleet superintendent, said the city used it from 1997 until it got to be more expensive than diesel about a year ago.

"I would love to run it again," Hall said. "If I could get it at the same price, I would use  it."

Jill Stuckey, the director of alternative fuels at the Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority, said that raw materials such as soybean oil used by biofuel makers rose in price, making the final product more expensive.