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Our Goals
The UNH Biodiesel Group is an inter-departmental group focusing on a variety of projects related to this alternative fuel. Intra-UNH useOne of our first projects focuses on building a processor at the UNH campus to be used for converting waste vegetable oil from the campus dining halls into biodiesel for use in UNH vehicles. As part of this project, we are also looking into using an inline flow-through centrifuge for streamlining the process, and providing a more pure product. New Hampshire AgricultureWe are currently pursuing funding to begin a project working with New Hampshire area farmers on crops most suitable to this climate for biodiesel production. This will focus both on crops that New Hampshire farmers can grow for making their own biodiesel for use on their farm, as well as crops to be sold for biodiesel production. For the former case, we hope to set up co-ops of farmers who can share biodiesel processors (and oil extraction presses) for making biodiesel from their crops, so that they all don't need to have their own. For the latter case, we will investigate options for setting up crushing operations in the state for extracting oil from mustard seed, and investment in refineries to turn the oil into biodiesel. One crop to focus on will be mustard seed - it grows well in this climate, yields a good amount of oil per acre, and after extracting the oil, the mustard meal remaining makes an excellent organic pesticide. So, an organic farmer could dedicate a couple acres of his land to growing mustard, which would yield him both with fuel for his tractors as well as pesticide for the rest of his acreage. OutreachWe are always happy to give presentations to the public to demonstrate to them the benefits, and availability of biodiesel. We are also hoping to work with New Hampshire high school teachers to help them incorporate projects related to biodiesel and other alternative fuels into their science curriculum. Public PolicyOne of our main efforts thus far has been educating government officials and working with them to help bring the biodiesel industry to New Hampshire. Last year, Minnesota passed a bill that will require all diesel fuel sold in the state by 2005 to contain at least 2% biodiesel. But, the bill only goes into effect if at least that much biodiesel is being produced WITHIN the state to meet that 2% requirement (which works out to around 8 million gallons per year). The bill has already proven successful, as an organization recently announced plans to build a 30 million gallon/year biodiesel plant in the state. It will create thousands of jobs, significant tax revenue, and provide a guaranteed market for crops grown by Minnesota farmers. We are hoping to develop something similar here in New Hampshire. The biggest thing corporations look for before investing money in anything is wanting to know if there will be a market for the product. This is where the legislature can help out, as was demonstrated by Minnesota. The cost to consumers won.t be noticeable, but it will have a very beneficial impact on Minnesota.s economy. The same could be done here in New Hampshire. Algae ponds at wastewater treatment plantsMicro algaes present the best option for producing biodiesel in quantities sufficient to completely replace petroleum. While traditional crops have yields of around 50-150 gallons of biodiesel per acre per year, algaes can yield 5,000-20,000 gallons per acre per year. Algaes grow best off of waste streams . agricultural, animal, or human. Some other studies have looked into designing raceway algae ponds to be fed by agricultural or animal waste. We are now pursuing funding to investigate redesigning wastewater treatment plants to use raceway algae ponds as the primary treatment phase . with the dual goal of treating the waste and growing algae for biodiesel extraction. We also plan to investigate the possibility of using the algae mush (what is left after extracting the oil) as a fertilizer. |