Biodiesel Lab Creates Fuel for Campus Shuttles From Cooking Oil

Loyola’s Searle Biodiesel Lab, built in 2013, collects and recycles used cooking oil to create biodiesel capable of fueling Loyola’s intercampus shuttle buses and producing glycerin byproduct used to create BioSoap on campus.

Zach Waickman, senior program manager for the School of Environmental Sustainability who oversees the biodiesel lab, said he was first involved in the project as an undergraduate in 2007. At the time, the biodiesel lab was just a class project at Loyola, but Waickman was then hired after graduation in 2008 to turn it into a larger education program.

In the lab, located in the Institute of Environmental Sustainability, Waickman said student workers complete all work necessary to run the program while he’s there to help them.

“Students run everything,” Waickman said. “My job is really to teach and mentor and empower students to take ownership of this program.”

While the main task of the lab is to create fuel, students use the primary byproduct of the fuel — glycerin — to create hand soap which Loyola uses throughout campus. Student workers complete quality control testing in-house to ensure the condition of their products hasn’t changed.

This academic year, the Searle Biodiesel Lab has been working to revamp the quality control testing procedure to ensure the lab is using the best equipment and processes, and to create a new soap formula.

Waickman said the lab creates a new soap formula every two to three years and is currently researching what will be the fifth version of soap on campus.

Nina Kroll, a second-year environmental science major and student worker in the Searle Biodiesel Lab, said she thinks it’s a really strong statement for Loyola to back up their stance on sustainability with in-house programs like the biodiesel lab which uses donated waste oil and waste from Loyola’s dining halls. 

“I think all the parts of it are very tangible,” Kroll said. “You see fries getting cooked in the dining halls and you see the shuttles running, and I think it’s cool to have the biodiesel lab there as kind of like a link between the two.”

Lily Walker, a fourth-year environmental science student and Searle Biodiesel Lab student worker said the university buys about 1,200 gallons of BioSoap made in the lab every year to be used across campus, which is how lab interns are paid. 

Walker said she applied to join the biodiesel lab because of her interest in alternative energy sources and her desire to find community at Loyola. She said she enjoys making products that benefit the entire campus. 

“I love the idea of leveraging our existing kind of resources and infrastructure to move towards a truly sustainable future,” Waickman said. 

Waickman said he loves how the biodiesel can be used in existing buses and created from waste from Loyola’s cafeterias rather than from a completely new system.

When biodiesel fuel replaces petroleum gas, greenhouse gas emissions are reduced by 85%, according to Waickman. He said the project’s goal is to chase the last 15% and get to zero. 

Last summer, the Searle Biodiesel Lab installed technology in two of Loyola’s shuttle buses which allow the buses to run completely on biodiesel rather than a mix of petroleum fuel and biodiesel like the rest of Loyola’s shuttle. 

The technology is provided by Optimus Technologies, a clean technology company based in Pittsburgh that specializes in enabling heavy duty diesel engines to run on 100% biodiesel, according to Optimus Technologies Project Support Specialist Harper York.

The shuttle buses weren’t designed to prevent the gas from freezing since only biodiesel and not petroleum fuel freezes, according to Waickman. The new technology will prevent the gas from freezing during winter months in Chicago, allowing the buses to run on 100% biodiesel. Waickman said the cost of biodiesel and petroleum round out to be about the same. 

The technology, called The Vector System, uses waste heat produced by diesel engines to warm the biodiesel, ensuring the vehicle can run in any weather condition.  

By installing the new technology into Loyola’s transit-style shuttle buses, York said the buses are the first of their kind to run completely on biodiesel. Optimus Technologies also provides 100% biodiesel technology for dump trucks and garbage trucks, according to York.

The American Lung Association and the Illinois B20 Club — a partnership between the American Lung Association and the Illinois Soybean Association — also work together to provide financial support for the biodiesel lab, according to Waickman.

Angela Tin, American Lung Association national senior director of the Clean Air Initiative, said sustainable fuel is important to the Lung Association because air quality heavily impacts lung health. Tin said in most cities, 60-70% of adverse air quality originates from transportation. 

In partnership with Loyola, the American Lung Association is conducting research on whether Loyola’s 100% biodiesel buses impact the air quality for people riding the bus and at bus stops, according to Tin. She said results from their research aren’t yet available.

The biodiesel lab also works with Al Warren Oil, a fuel logistics company that is installing 100% biodiesel technologies into their vehicles at their site, according to Waickman. He said the Al Warren Oil site is conveniently close to the MV Transportation site which runs Loyola’s shuttle buses.

Al Warren Oil Midwest Lubricant Manager Scott Piszczor said the company is building a biodiesel fuel-depot at their Chicago facility, using fuel from Loyola’s biodiesel lab which Al Warren Oil purchases. 

“We kind of understand the footprint that we leave, so we want to make sure that we’re leaving something better for the generation next,” Piszczor said. “Kind of a no-brainer for us with the green solution to help out where we can and do our part.”

Loyola students also advocate for the adoption of 100% biodiesel vehicles and biodiesel blends in Chicago, according to Waickman.

“This is a really big opportunity to reduce emissions from heavy duty vehicles,” Waickman said. “Think diesel engines, buses, large trucks, garbage trucks, snow plows, 18 wheelers. Those pieces, those are going to be the pieces of hardware that are going to be harder to electrify, but they are ripe and ready to use biodiesel.”

Waickman said business owners can get involved by switching their work vehicles to biodiesel, and community members can donate used cooking oil to Loyola who will use it for fuel. 

The community can also get involved by advocating for renewable fuel to be used by major public agencies like the CTA, according to Waickman. He said although the CTA has a plan to electrify decades in the future, there are still unknowns about how much the technology will advance and what it will cost. 

Waickman said Loyola is the first organization to adopt Optimus Technologies in its transit-style buses, so he hopes it demonstrates the value and opportunity available in biodiesel.

Like Waickman, Walker said she believes the biodiesel program will inspire students from other college campuses to create renewable fuel programs and strive to create more sustainable options. 

“It’s always been run by students,” Walker said. “It was started by students, so I’m sure that something like this could be started somewhere else.”

Kroll said while Waickman leads students, he prompts a lot of participation by encouraging interns to solve problems and dig deeper in their research to make improvements. 

Aaron Durnbaugh, director of sustainability at Loyola, said he sees campus as a laboratory in itself and a place where students can apply their own research and products, such as biodiesel and soap.

Durnbaugh said the most important aspect of sustainability is continuous improvement, meaning students reflect on what could be done better after each model and work to build better methods. 

Students in the lab have also led Loyola to take certain positions regarding environmental sustainable policy, even lobbying Loyola administration to sign onto a letter advocating for a federal carbon tax, according to Durnbaugh. 

Durnbaugh said he likes the biodiesel program because it moves in a lot of different ways to tackle multiple environmental issues at once, like recycling, reusing and reducing waste. 

“I think it’s a great model for ‘campus as lab,’” Durnbaugh said. “Because it really does demonstrate both the very physical, operational aspects of addressing a waste issue into some sustainable output, but also it really connects deeply to this academic endeavor. That’s what schools are for.”

Featured Image by Hunter Minné / The Phoenix