Old van with a fast food diet
Restaurant grease is quickly becoming a more popular fuel source for diesel engines

The Canola Strolla, an '88 Ford Club Wagon, a true beater, rolled-off the highway into Winslow and left some college girls standing on the corner. Aislinn Johnson, 20, and Sara Cook, 20, both from New Hampshire, pulled their van into town because their muffler fell off. 3C's Auto called the newspaper because there was something unique about their van.

After being purchased for only $300 and brought up to par with a little mechanical help back home, the Canola Strolla was quickly and cheaply converted to run on used grease from restaurants. The diesel engine was originally designed to burn many different fuels for a more utilitarian and military application. Any type of vegetable oil can be used and alcohol, too. More people are discovering biodiesel to be a beneficial option to conventional diesel because biofuel is non-toxic, produces no harmful emissions, and may be home grown; reducing dependency on foreign oil.

Typically the market has been small; existing for a handful of enthusiasts who were willing to reclaim grease from restaurants. Now city governments in places like Phoenix and Flagstaff are purchasing in mass the refined vegetable oil to run their garbage trucks, fleets and buses.

With popularity growing about this fuel, there was concern that if this was to become a viable market, the country could not grow enough corn or soy to meet the demand. An acre of typical oil-yielding crops may produce about 50-150 gallons; however, the girls said that back in their home state at the University of New Hampshire, research is discovering that an acre of algae grown in ponds may produce 5,000-15,000 gallons of oil, which could be used for fuel.

Johnson and Cook said they only had the resources to begin simply.

"After being home from college on break, we wanted to do a road trip. We did some research and thought this would be the cheapest way to do it and a good way to get the word out on something so exciting," Johnson said.

Getting across the country on grease given to them has not been as hard as one would think because restaurants usually pay to have a service dispose of it, she said. The girls left from New Hampshire only 13 days before their van lost its muffler while driving into Winslow.

In larger cities they have faced more difficulty because biodiesel collectors are now competing with businesses that have typically collected restaurant grease to in turn sell it to be added to cosmetics, skin care products, soaps and livestock feed.

"Large cities for some reason have the dirtiest grease. Chinese food restaurants for some reason have the best," Cook said.

The few adjustments made to the van, is a simple and cheap mechanical system. After the van runs on diesel for about 15 minutes to heat the engine, so is the used grease in a separate tank from the diesel. Then it is filtered on board and then fed to the engine. The diesel feed is then cut and the van drives on 100 percent recycled grease.

"We estimate that on this trip from coast to coast, it will have saved us over $1800 in fuel costs," Johnson said.

"We also get the same gas mileage and speeds as regular diesel. In fact, we have noticed a slightly better performance," Cook said.

"Mission Playground is an amazing clothing company that helped support us for this trip. They make sweet clothing using organic and recycled materials, and it is made in factories with respectable labor practices. Definitely check'em!"

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