“Waste Into Fuel” is a plan that will allow the Berkeley campus to harness the energy potential of the waste cooking oil that it currently disposes to replace various diesel-using appliances and utilities on campus — resulting in an overall savings of $30,000 annually after the first year of use. “Waste into Fuel” proposes that the campus convert waste cooking oil into bio-diesel by investing in 55-gallon steel drums and a Freedom Fueler Deluxe w/ Drywash, a machine which will conveniently carry out the process to create the biodiesel. The project will also use a MR-50 Methanol Recovery System to separate the byproduct of the energy extraction process into methanol. This will lower costs of the needed methanol and potentially result in a monetary gain, as the glycerin could then be used to make soap on campus or even sold to companies that process it. The goal is to not only create a system that can produce and use biodiesel, but also to execute the idea in a way that is most optimally cost-effective and environmentally friendly for the Berkeley campus.
Students-Community Collaborative Design Challenge (UC Berkeley)
This project will enhance community engagement on campus on three levels: practice, education, and research. A collaborative process between design students on campus, a nearby
June 29, 2011
