Spring Break
UMKC student impacting society: Biodiesal
Biodiesel's time is now
Joanne Godfrey, UMKC student
Issue date: 9/12/05 Section: Forum
- Page 1 of 1
|
Sound like a bad dream? But that is what some consumers were faced with this past week because of the effects of Hurricane Katrina.
What is it going to take for America to realize that we have to find forms of energy other than petroleum oil to rely on?
As a mechanical engineering student at UMKC, I am trying to make a difference - and that difference is Biodiesel.
Biodiesel is a fuel, usually made from a vegetable oil such as soybean oil. It is renewable, biodegradable and clean burning; something that petroleum diesel is not.
Biodiesel can be used at 100 percent, but currently you will find it mixed with regular diesel in a 2, 5 or 20 percent blend.
Blending only a 20 percent Biodiesel mixture with regular diesel would reduce carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere-which is present in a low concentration and acts as a greenhouse gas-by 20 percent.
Biodiesel also is a great replacement for sulfur in diesel. Sulfur is a major pollutant and by the year 2007, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is requiring huge sulfur reductions in diesel. Diesel engines require a certain amount of lubrication in the fuel so engines running smoothly. Biodiesel can be a direct replacement for sulfur.
Another benefit of Biodiesel is the lack of a premium price on a diesel vehicle, since most diesel engines built after 1995 can burn some blend of Biodiesel. In fact, the new Jeep Liberty has a diesel option available and Chrysler actually fills the fuel tank at the factory with a 5 percent Biodiesel blend.
This year I am very excited to be involved with a project that will produce 30,000,000 gallons of Biodiesel per year in Missouri alone. Not only does Biodiesel offer excellent benefits for our environment and helps reduce America's dependence on foreign oil, but it also offers Missouri farmers a local market for their soybeans.
Every year, millions of bushels of soybean are shipped overseas for processing. Why not keep them here in the United States and make our own fuel?
My project is organized as a producer's cooperative, which will take the whole soybean from the farmer, extract the soybean oil from the beans and then refine the soy oil into Biodiesel.
The aftereffects of Katrina have not fully been realized. With refineries closed and crude oil unloading facilities closed, America is forced to consider other sources of energy to drive our mobile economy. One of those sources is Biodiesel.
In 2003, America used 63,000,000,000 gallons of diesel.
Everything you can think of has been transported by diesel - the food you eat, the clothes you wear, and the plane, train or bus you ride in. Even the gas you put in your car must be transported to the station where you fill up. The use of Biodiesel to replace even a small portion of the petroleum diesel would benefit everyone.
Doesn't it make sense for us to use a product that helps our environment, supports our local economies and reduces America's reliance on foreign oil?
You decide.
More information on Biodiesel can be found at www.biodiesel.org or contact njg5yc@umkc.edu.
Joanne Godfrey, junior, is a mechanical engineering student at UMKC. This summer Godfrey assisted Prairie Pride Inc. in completing a feasibility study to build a combination 21 million-bushel per year soybean oil extraction and 30 million-gallon per year Biodiesel production facility near Bates County, Mo.
