Originally published December 3 2005
Project joins college students in drive toward biodiesel
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
A project called Bio-49 Degrees will teach technical college students from the U.S. and Canada how to refine used oil, such as cooking oils from restaurants, with mini refineries manufactured by Bruce Barbour.
The next time you get fries with your meal, consider that your car could be burning off the grease that cooked them, while improving global air quality.
A cross-border project will try to expand that possibility, converting used restaurant fryer oil into biodiesel that will be pumped into power companies' utility trucks in Whatcom County and British Columbia.
The project, called Bio-49 Degrees, will teach technical college students on both sides of the border how to refine used oil, using mini refineries manufactured in a Bellingham man's home garage.
Bruce Barbour, who works for the state Department of Ecology, invented the refining machine after working at Whatcom Creek in the wake of a deadly 1999 petroleum pipeline explosion.
"The fact that it's a single (cross-border) project supports the whole notion that we're breathing from the same airshed," said Wayne Elson, a Seattle-based environmental protection specialist with the EPA.
Winds blow from north to south in the summer, and south to north in the winter, carrying pollution with it, Elson said.
The Bio-49 project aims to help make biodiesel a common fuel source, said Jeff Morris, director of the Northwest Energy Technology Collaborative.
According to Bio-49 project information, switching from petroleum-based diesel to biodiesel can reduce the particulate pollution in auto emissions by 31 percent, carbon dioxide emissions by 24 percent and hydrocarbons by 50 percent.
NWETC is a joint effort of businesses, government, nonprofit and education with programs in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Alaska, British Columbia and Alberta.
It is a branch of the Washington Technology Center, a statewide economic development organization created by the Legislature and based at the University of Washington.
NWETC is buying four of Barbour's processors - the base units are about the size of chest freezers - and putting them in Bellingham and British Columbia.
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