Driving Ahead With Waste Oil

1. Driving Ahead With Waste Oil Pam Reynolds Sustainability Officer

2. Summary • In July 2010 the College purchased a 50 litre biodiesel machine (fuel pod) from the company Green Fuels, to convert waste vegetable oil into biodiesel. • The College began recycling waste vegetable oil from the School of Catering and Food Production and the College’s refectories. • The production takes approximately 24 hours to complete, involves one simple chemical test and only 1 hour of staff time. • The oil is used to make biodieselfuel with virtually no additional resources required and there are no environmental impacts from waste oil transportation.

3. Partners For the initial trial period of 30 days, the College Estates team worked in conjunction with a Foundation Degree Eco-technology student. The College involved a variety of students from Engineering and Computing and Academic Studies in the production of the biodiesel as elements of the project were relevant to subjects such as chemistry, environmental science, motor vehicle and business studies. For the first 12 months of the project the Estates team produced biodiesel for the College delivery van. From September 2011 the motor vehicle students from the School of Engineering and Computing, began using the fuel pod to run a number of the school’s vehicles and teach the process as part of the course.

4. Project Goals • To raise awareness for environmental technologies and demonstrate the College’s commitment to improving the local environment. • To produce and utilise a fuel for College vehicles that is more energy efficient, less resource consuming and produces fewer pollutants than traditional diesel fuel production. • To demonstrate our commitment to environmentally friendly fuels that not only help maintain our environment, but do not negatively impact the health of the people around us. • To provide a learning resource and integrate the project into the motor vehicle curriculum to offer a unique learning experience for the students.

5. Obstacles and Solutions

6. Performance and Results • The table shows that the fuel pod will have paid for itself by year 3 of installation and made over £2,000 in fuel savings.

7. Lessons Learnt • The College decided to run the delivery van on a 70:30 biodiesel to mineral diesel ratio to minimise the chances of engine problems if a poor quality batch of biodiesel was used on a vehicle. • During the coldest months of the year, the biodiesel ratio was changed to a 50:50 ratio to prevent the biodiesel freezing in the engine. • Biodiesel is also the only alternative fuel that runs in any conventional, unmodified mineral diesel engine and should not be used on newer diesel engines. • Glycerine produced as a by-product can be recycled and can actually be used as a detergent for cleaning our own vehicle.

8. Top Tips • Select the award carefully and read the question • Consider word count – brief or is more detail required? • Clearly state the aims of the project and refer to how those aims have been achieved in the answers • Be specific about why this project was beneficial to the organisation as a whole, students, staff and stakeholders • What are the positive project outcomes, both qualitative and quantitative if possible • Focus on the benefits both short term and long term • Always consider has this project impacted on students and why? • Has the project raised the profile of the organisation?

9. Questions? Pam Reynolds Email: prey@blackpool.ac.uk Tel: 01253 504288

10. Your next steps – making the most of your EAUC Membership… • Now you’ve learned how to win… you need to enter! Want recognition for your sustainability excellence, enter the 2012 Green Gown Awards behaviour change category. Entries open in summer 2012 Categories mentioned in this session were: • Sustainable procurement • Green ICT • Space Efficiency • Learn more about previous winners and highly commended entries on the EAUC resource bank – here you’ll find lots of 2012 case studies and videos Membership matters at www.eauc.org.uk