On one hand, Esteban Tovar rages against the petroleum industry. On the other, he drives a Mercedes. And what may appear to be a hypocritical situation, Tovar says, could be a lesson for others. That’s because his 1983 Mercedes runs on vegetable oil.
It’s an interesting idea, and I suppose it could certainly cut down on emissions from fossil fuels, but there are still some questions I’d like to have answered before I go converting a car to run on used french fry oil. For one, am I always going to be hungry if I have the windows rolled down? If the exhaust always smells like french fries, will I always be looking for ketchup packets?
All silliness aside, I suppose there’s nothing wrong with wanting to do something to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions. And while biodiesel is still very much a minor novelty at this point in time, who’s to say that it won’t become more popular? Willie Nelson sees biodiesel as the future, and is even selling his own brand, BioWillie. Could it be that, as gas prices creep ever higher, that this sort of thing could actually catch on?
The other question I have is about pollution. You don’t burn any substance without producing some sort of unwanted byproduct. Gasoline and diesel produce hydrocarbons that contribute to the decay of the ozone layer. Biodiesel is not without it’s drawbacks in this respect, though. The Environmental Protection Agency has said that while biodiesel reduces hydrocarbon and particle emissions, it produces more nitrogen oxide, a key component of smog. So, is the tradeoff worthwhile? Does the burning of biodiesel produce less of a long-term deleterious effect than burn conventional fossil fuels? And would you like fries with that??
Since 2004 ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ when he converted his diesel Mercedes to run on used fryer grease ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ Tovar’s car has cooked more than 10,000 miles….
“I want to spread the word,” Tovar said. “It’s kind of a grassroots movement with technology.”
Scientists and activists say interest in “biofuels” has grown with rising oil prices, global warming and a distaste for the politics surrounding crude oil.
“When the price of gasoline shot up to over $3 a gallon after (Hurricane) Katrina, it turned out that biofuels (such as ethanol) were actually cheaper than oil during that brief period,” said Mark Holtzapple, a chemical engineering professor at Texas A&M University. “That sharpened the focus for a lot of people.”
Tovar figures he’s converting waste into energy and reducing emissions by driving his car. And the fuel is free. He just needs permission to siphon used fryer oil from containers in the back of restaurants. He prefers used fryer oil from vegetarian and Thai restaurants.
Every journey begins with a single step, I suppose, and for the $600 cost of a conversion kit, you too could have your diesel engine running on vegetable oil. Given that Tovar uses waste oil that would normally be discarded anyway, one could reasonably argue that his Mercedes is making a net contribution to the environmental balance in that his vehicle is burning a commodity that would simply be discarded anyway. And the cost is certainly good, since at this point most restaurants are probably just glad that they don’t have to pay someone to haul away their waste grease. Just wait until restauranteurs discover that there is money to be made off their used grease. That might change the equation a wee bit, eh?
Vegetable oil reaches the viscosity of diesel fuel when it is heated to 150 degrees. Tovar’s kit includes a battery-powered pump that siphons oil from grease traps through a hose that feeds into a filter. A small device warms the filtered grease before it fuels the engine.
The popularity of the kits has surprised Charles Anderson, founder of Missouri-based Greasel Conversions Inc.
“I never thought our business would grow this fast, but more people are becoming aware of this technology,” Anderson said. “In our state of current affairs, people are fed up and looking for alternatives.”
His company has sold more than 4,000 kits since 2001.
Anderson began tinkering with a conversion after learning that Rudolph Diesel used peanut oil to power the engine he developed in the 1890s. Diesel envisioned a day when vegetable oil would be a major fuel source, but the petroleum industry stymied its growth when crude oil proved to be more efficient and profitable.
Used vegetable oil will likely remain a small niche in the growing use of biofuels, some experts say.
“You could put a million guys in their garages working on these cars, and it still wouldn’t make a noticeable dent in the nation’s fuel supply,” said George Douglas, spokesman for the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. “That said, these cars are still displacing some petroleum, though a tiny amount.”
Margaret Mead once cautioned that we should never doubt the ability of a small but committed group of people to change the world. Indeed, it’s the only way most major changes ever come to pass. Is biodiesel an idea whose time has come? With the rising price of gasoline, will consumers eventually begin to look for alternatives to gasoline and diesel fuel in an effort to save money? I suppose it’s too early to make an informed and intelligent prediction, but there are a small, and apparently growing, group of people out there who think that biodiesel really is the future and are committed to leading the way.
Someday, a growing number of us may be driving vehicles that smell like french fries or egg rolls…and we’ll have people like Esteban Tovar to thank. It’s an interesting idea, and one that may eventually prove to be economically viable in an era of rising gas prices. What I’m particularly interested in at this point is how the major oil companies will react when they discover that an ever-growing number of people are no longer hostage to them for their fuel needs. A brave new world, indeed….
