Two 3,000-gallon biodiesel storage tanks will provide renewable fuel as part of the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry’s ongoing green initiatives.

ESF President Cornelius Murphy and Rep. William B. Magnarelli, D-Syracuse, conducted a final test Sept. 16 on the two storage tanks. The test was required for the plant to be deemed fully operational.

The tanks were installed last winter behind Walters Hall on ESF’s campus. The fuel will provide alternative energy to vehicles used for maintenance and transportation.

The project is one of 40 initiatives outlined in ESF’s Climate Action Plan, proposed Sept. 15, detailing the school’s goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2015.

Magnarelli secured the start-up funding for this project through $500,000 in grants from the state. The funding was used to purchase a processor that converts waste cooking oil to biodiesel, as well as the two storage tanks and two buses that run on biodiesel.

‘By bringing such energy alternatives to campus vehicles, ESF is showing Central New York residents the available opportunities to save the environment through entrepreneurial and scientific advancements,’ Magnarelli said.

One of the storage tanks holds gasoline and ethanol, and the other holds biodiesel and diesel fuel. Each tank is equipped with a blending pump to allow for custom fuel mixtures.

‘We wanted to have the ability to have custom blends of ethanol and gasoline so we can fuel the different vehicles to maximize the amount of sustainable and renewable fuels used,’ said Michael Kelleher, director of renewable energy systems at ESF.

The biodiesel is made from waste cooking oil from Syracuse University dining halls and is mixed with varying amounts of diesel, depending on the temperature. In the summer, 100 percent biodiesel can be used, but because of the lower temperatures in winter, only 20 percent can be used with diesel making up the remaining 80 percent.

Although SU produces the waste oil, it will not use biodiesel because it could compromise the warranties on their vehicles, Murphy said.

Ethanol is also being used to fuel ESF’s flex-fuel vehicles. Virtually every new vehicle bought for ESF is flex-fuel, Kelleher said. Flex-fuel vehicles can run on E85 fuel, a mixture of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. The majority of the ethanol used is purchased from local companies, but ESF hopes to expand its ethanol production in the future.

‘We have researchers looking into producing ethanol on a lab scale,’ Kelleher said.

ESF plans to expand its current biodiesel production system, which can produce only about 50 gallons at a time, to a system that can produce 250 gallons at a time. The new system will be operational by fall 2010, Kelleher said.

‘It’s a great project because it’s something that was initiated by student ideas,’ Kelleher said. ‘They made it a reality and other students came along and made it better and enhanced it.’

The tanks are not in use yet and construction is still underway on the gasoline and ethanol tank.

‘We’re still wrapping up some loose ends,’ said Brian Boothroyd, assistant director of Physical Plant for Facilities, the group that will be in charge of maintaining the plant. ‘We’re looking for a completion date within the next couple weeks.’

Along with the completion of construction, the Physical Plant staff still needs to be trained before the tanks can be used. The basic operational training will be given to the maintenance staff in charge of the vehicles, administration and people involved in biodiesel production, Boothroyd said.

A $25,000 Kauffman grant sponsored by SU also funded the project.

‘The purpose here is to demonstrate what’s possible. That’s what an academic institution does,’ said Murphy, ESF president. ‘We want to demonstrate to the community that we can turn waste into useful biofuel.’

jlsiart@syr.edu

Published on September 23, 2009 at 12:00 pm