Alternative Fuels

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Appstate Collaborative Biodesel Project
An interdisciplinary team of Appalachian State University students and faculty member Dr. Jeff Ramsdell have received a $10,000 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant to design and develop a sustainable biodiesel processor. For information on this project please view the Appstate Collaborative Biodesle Project web page.

Alternative Fuels Booklet
A pdf of the 2005 Alternative Fuels booklet will be availbale to download soon from this site.

EXPLORE SUSTAINABILITY OF BIODIESEL FUEL PRODUCTION

An interdisciplinary team of Appalachian State University students and faculty member Dr. Jeff Ramsdell have received a $10,000 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant to design and develop a sustainable biodiesel processor.

Biodiesel fuel is a clean-burning, renewable fuel made from virgin vegetable oil, used cooking oil or animal fats. Biodiesel can be used in any diesel vehicle without modification and can be used in its pure form or blended at any ratio with petroleum diesel.

The actual making and use of the fuel isn't a completely new concept. In fact, Chris Jude and Paul Feather, the two ASU students instrumental in receiving the EPA funding, have been producing biodiesel at Appalachian's Sustainable Development farm for more than a year. It is what to do with the byproducts of the fuel and the energy use to make the conversion that the students are most interested in now, as well as the long-term goal of encouraging the University and the community to use more biofuels. Jude and Feather, along with more than 30 other students from technology, sustainable development, chemistry, physics, anthropology and other disciplines, will research and test methods to make the conversion a "closed-loop" environmentally friendly process. Their goal is to develop a self-sustaining system that causes little environmental impact, uses renewable energy and recycles its own waste. Another piece of the project is determining the energy needed for the process. The 80-gallon processor will be built this fall near the University and will include a solar thermal collector and other renewable energy systems. The University's Renewable Energy Initiative will help provide funds for the processor's construction. "The project provides an important community partnership," said Dr. Jeff Ramsdell, associate professor of technology. "The waste vegetable oil is gathered from area restaurants, local farmers can grow oil crops and use the biodiesel in tractors and farm equipment, and area non- profit organizations can use the fuel to supplement home heating oil for local low-income families."

Ramsdell has been researching the viability and impact of producing and using biofuels in North Carolina for the NC State Energy Office for the last couple of years. He is an active member of the North Carolina Biomass Council and the North Carolina Alternative Fuels Consortium. His current work includes building community awareness of the benefits of biofuels in western North Carolina and holding workshops for those more interested in fuel science and production.

The grant to build the processor came from the EPA's P3 "People, Prosperity and the Planet" competition, a partnership between the public and private sectors to progress toward sustainability by achieving the mutual goals of economic prosperity, protection of the natural systems of the planet and providing a higher quality of life for people. The competition was initiated in 2004 with the awarding of 65 design project grants. This year, the EPA provided $10,000 each to 50 student design projects around the country. In spring 2006, teams will be invited to bring their designs to Washington, D.C. to compete for five $75,000 P3 Awards. Winners of the P3 Award will be eligible for additional funds from EPA to match contributions from industry or non- governmental organizations to help further develop the design, implement the project in the field and move the design to the marketplace.

Seven student teams from Oberlin College, Rochester Institute of Technology, University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill, University of Colorado at Denver, University of California-Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of Michigan were last year's P3 winners.

"This grant, along with other federal funding received in recent years, shows Appalachian's proficiency in renewable and sustainable energy technologies," explained Ramsdell.

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This page was last updated on Thursday, May 25, 2006 12:16 PM
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