Chicken Fat Biodiesel

Came across an interesting article about two Missouri men who have started a biodiesel plant which will create fuel using primarily chicken fat.

To be honest, I’m somewhat surprised I haven’t yet really heard all that much about the idea of using animal fat for biodiesel. I’m sure there must be an incredible quantity of this stuff available, and unlike the practice of growing plants for biofuel this concept simply utilizes a waste stream that already exists (ie. we’re not going to hear about animals being raised purely for the sake of removing their fat).

To me this just makes more sense, plain and simple!

Of course, it would be great to see North America moving away from the ‘factory farm’ approach yada yada, but until such time as we see a massive paradigm shift in the farming and food processing sector, why not at least take advantage of green technologies?

What’s funny is that the article mentions that it’s the rising cost of Soybean oil (which apparently accounts for approx. 90% of all biodiesel fuel stock) that is responsible for people starting to focus on animal fats. Why oh why do humans always tend to think like this? Oh well…

Here is an exerpt:

The nation’s biggest meat corporations haven taken notice. Tyson Foods announced in November it has established a renewable energy division that will be up and running during 2007. Competitors Perdue Farms Inc. and Smithfield Foods Inc. are making similar moves.

As meatpackers enter the field, they bring massive amounts of fuel stock that could make biodiesel cheaper and more plentiful.

The shift to animal fat as a fuel stock could be key to making the budding biodiesel industry a reliable fuel source for U.S. trucking fleets, said Vernon Eidman, a professor of economics at the University of Minnesota.

Eidman estimates that within five years, the U.S. will produce 1 billion gallons of biodiesel, and half of it will be made from animal fat.

Original article: Tapping chicken fat as biofuel ingredient

Anyway, I really hope we hear more about this and other similar ideas in the biofuel arena - biofuel from human liposuction perhaps? Lots of other posibbilities I’m sure.

Technorati Tags: chicken, fat, grease, biofuel, biodiesel, tyson foods, green fuels, green energy, alternative fuels, fuel, missouri

Written by Bentley on January 3rd, 2007 with 2 comments.
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