Making Biofuel!

On Tuesday for our lecture we had Steve Moore, the small farm manager, came to talk to us about alternative farm practices and alternative energies. The work that he has done is extraordinary! He has been calculating how much energy it takes (man power) to do a variety of farm labors and used that amount to figure out the best use of time and personal energy. It is an important step to take when designing a small scale farm, especially a biointensive one. A biointensive farming system is one in which crops are grown very close together in a small plot of land. The biointensive plot on the small farm has enough diversity of crops and calories per crop to feed someone for an entire year! After the lecture we went to the mechanical building and learned how to make biofuel! We took some used vegetable oil and through a process of titration that involved using KOH to break down the oil and form a layer of glycerol and evaporation of water we converted the oil into something that could be used in a diesel engine. How cool is that! It's a fairly simple process but as usual it is difficult to sell because of political red tape. And the biofuel has shown to corrode engines more quickly than regular diesel fuel. Most engines that use biofuel are actually lined with glass, which costs an additional $300 at least. But this is amazing technology that is moving us in the right direction when it comes to reducing our reliance on fossil fuels.