Ever wonder what to do with your old cooking oil? A local Chicago university has an eco-friendly idea they’re deploying.
Since 2010, Loyola University Chicago has been using recycled vegetable oil instead of fossil fuels to operate its shuttle buses, and they’re giving an inside look into that process.
The cleaner-burning biodiesel is produced at the Searle Biodiesel Lab. The facility’s biodiesel processor recycles waste oil from Chicago area restaurants, museums, and other sources, including Loyola’s dining halls. Some people also drop off donations, according to Zach Waickman. who runs the lab.
“As long as it is a liquid vegetable oil, we can take that and turn it into biodiesel which is sustainable which is a renewable direct replacement for petroleum diesel fuel,” said Waickman.
Zach gave NBC Chicago a crash course on the process to convert the oil. He also explained how a byproduct, glycerin, is also being used on campus.
“It takes about two weeks to take the oil and take it into biodiesel fuel,” he said. “So it goes through a refining process, chemical reaction, further refining afterwards. There’s lots of chemical quality control testing because we’re making a standardized commodity that’s going to go into a diesel engine and get burned out on our public roadways. So we want to be very careful to make sure that we are making a very high quality, standardized fuel that’s going to work in any engine. We turn all our byproduct, glycerin, into a foaming hand soap used in all the restrooms across Loyola University.”
Waikman said oil donations are always accepted, but donors are urged to make sure those donations are in a sealed container. Finally, ONLY vegetable oil can be accepted, and that has led to some confusion when donors provide other types of oil.
“We probably get close to 1,000 gallons a year of oil just dropped off at our door,” he said.
