Local politics, the county, and the world, as viewed by Tammy Maygra

Tammy’s views are her own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Bill Eagle, his pastor, Tammy’s neighbors, Wayne Mayo, Betsy Johnson, Joe Corsiglia, President Trump, Henry Heimuller, VP Pence, Pat Robertson, Debi Corsiglia’s dog, or Claudia Eagle’s Cats. This Tammy’s Take (with the exception of this disclaimer) is not paid for or written by, or even reviewed by anyone but Tammy and she refuses to be bullied by anyone.

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Image result for biodiesel  using cooking oil is it profitable

From fryer, to plant to car, hopefully the facility at Port Westward

will be a bit more modern than this.

Diesel Fuel

Dr. Rudolf Diesel actually invented the diesel engine to run on a myriad of fuels including coal dust suspended in water, heavy mineral oil, and, vegetable oil. Dr. Diesel’s first engine experiments were catastrophic failures. But by the time he showed his engine at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900, his engine was running on 100% peanut oil. Dr. Diesel was visionary. In 1911 he stated “The diesel engine can be fed with vegetable oils and would help considerably in the development of agriculture of the countries which use it.” In 1912, Diesel said, “The use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today. But such oils may become in course of time as important as petroleum and the coal tar products of the present time.” No doubt, this statement has come to stay. Since Dr. Diesel’s untimely death in 1913, his engine has been modified to run on the polluting petroleum fuel we now know as “diesel.” Nevertheless, his ideas on agriculture and his invention provided the foundation for a society fueled with clean, renewable, locally grown fuel. Today throughout the world, countries are returning to using this form of fuel due to its renewable source and reduction in pollution.

 

Increasing energy demand, climate change and carbon dioxide (CO2) emission from fossil fuels make it a high priority to search for low-carbon energy resources. Biofuels represents key target for the future energy market that can play an important role in maintaining energy security. It is primarily considered as potentially cheap, low-carbon energy source. Most life-cycle studies of biofuels have found that bio-ethanol made from corn or sugarcane generally reduces greenhouse gases, replacing gasoline. Biofuels have been increasingly explored as a possible alternative source to gasoline with respect mainly to transport. Global biofuel (bioethanol and biodiesel) production tripled from 4.8 billion gallons in 2002to 16.0 billion in 2007, but still accounts for less than 3% of the global transportation fuel supply. It is worth remembering that Henry Fords Model T vehicles were originally designed to utilize corn-oil as fuel.

Used cooking oil causes severe environmental problems, “a liter of oil poured into a water course can pollute up to 1000 tanks of 500 liters”. It’s feasible to demonstrate the contamination with the dumping of these oils to the main water sources. The oil which reaches the water sources increases its organic pollution load, to form layers on the water surface to prevent the oxygen exchange and alters the ecosystem. The dumping of the oil also causes problems in the pipes drain obstructing them and creating odors and increasing the cost of wastewater treatment. For this reason, has been necessary to create a way to recover this oil and reuse it. Also due to the wear and tear resulting in sewer pipes may cause overflows of the system, generating diseases that can cause mild stomach cramps to diseases potentially fatal, such as cholera, infectious hepatitis and gastroenteritis, due to the sewage contains water which can transport bacteria, viruses, parasites, intestinal worms and molds.

Vegetable oil and its methyl esters are the prominent candidates for alternative diesel fuels. These fuels are now under its initial stage of commercialization they are technically feasible and economically competitive as compared with convectional diesel fuel .

Used cooking oils/waste cooking oils/waste frying oil and fat residues from meat processing may be used as raw materials which are obtained after repetitive frying of the food products. Previously the waste vegetable oil was used as an ingredient in animal feed but, it was banned by European Union due to animal health hazards. The disposal of waste cooking oil is a problem since, it contaminates water resource and blocks the drainage systems. So, using it as an alternative fuel is therefore found most suitable solution not only for disposal but also to manage the fuel crisis. In Some instances the waste cooking oils are used to manufacture soaps and detergents but a major volume of waste cooking oil is discharged to environment.

The Energy Information Administration in the United States estimated that around 100 million gallons of waste cooking oil are produced per day in USA, where the average per capita waste cooking oil was reported to be 9 pounds. The estimated amount of waste cooking oil collected in Europe is about 700,000-100,000 ton a year.

While there some companies in the US doing this type of manufacturing already,  they seem to be struggling to stay in business, constant changes in pricing, regulations and availability of oils have all directly  affected this business.

Do I support the biodiesel company courting the Port of Columbia? The jury is still out on that one, the amount of research required on this topic is quite vast because we not only have used oils to read about but other bio related fuels as well such as from algae. Algae can be used to make product as well but it has its draw backs as well.

We have a company courting the port, a company which does not have a track record in this kind of venture, it has not even had one company up and running, yet they claim they have several well know big backers to build the facility.

I guess we should wait and see who the backers are? I guess as I write this article I am getting more and more sceptic of our port being another guinea pig regarding new ideas.  But then I know we need the jobs. I hope the port does a lot of research before agreeing to any proposals from Next Energy until they provide the current data proving that they will be a strong company, a company with $$$$$ backers so the people of Columbia County will not be holding the bag again for failed promises.

 

 

Tammy 

 

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