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Biodiesel not the answer, professor says

RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. — Dr. Robert Allen's laboratory looks like something out of a bad sci-fi film: cluttered work desks, funnels and tubes, beakers filled with various substances.

But if you can look past the cliche, you'll see that this Arkansas Tech University professor is on the cutting edge of a subject that is becoming increasingly important to Americans: alternative fuels and energies.

For years, Allen has been interested in alternative fuels, and this interest has led to grant-funded work with biodiesel. As he explained it, biodiesel is just what it sounds like: diesel fuel created from biological matter, in other words, plants — most commonly soybean oil.

While most biodiesel is created from virgin oil, Allen said discarded oil from restaurants has become increasingly popular over the years. Most restaurants must pay a disposal company to haul away used oil, but with the demand for fuel increasing, biodiesel companies are buying the used oil, he said.

In order to use the oil, however, it must be converted.

"The only problem is, there are things that happen to the oil when you cook it," he explained. "It starts decomposing a little bit, you get some water in there ... Basically the chemical composition of the waste oil changes slightly. Not a lot, but it's enough that you have to change the process of how you convert it into fuel."

While an Arkansas Energy Office grant has run out, Allen is continuing work in a related vein, he said. Soybean oil is comparatively expensive, he said, and fuel created from it is only made feasible through a tax credit given to biodiesel companies. If the credit were to end, soybean biodiesel would virtually disappear, he said.

He also pointed out that converting soybean oil isn't very efficient. Enter the castor bean.

"Not only are these (castor beans) more attractive because they're more productive, but the process to convert them to biodiesel is simpler," Allen said.

Castor beans yield three times the oil of soybeans, he said.

So is biodiesel created from castor oil a viable alternative fuel for the future?

"I would have answered this question differently a few years ago," Allen said. "But I've been looking at the details of this, because if I do this, I've got to be sure I'm doing the right thing."

As it turns out, he said, biodiesel is probably not the next big thing.

"Biodiesel made from soybeans, to be quite honest, is not very efficient," Allen said. "You can get about 50 bushels of soybeans per acre, and convert about one bushel to one gallon of biodiesel."

That is nowhere near enough, according to Allen. If soybeans were planted on every arable acre, they would only fill about 5 percent of America's fuel needs, he said.

Biomass for fuel is more of a local or community type project. Instead, Allen said solar and battery technology, coupled with reduced demand, will be the wave of the future.

"Production of energy via photosynthesis relying on plants to make it for us, is remarkably inefficient ... we're taking (the oil created by) 300 million years of photosynthesis and using it up in something like a century," Allen said. "You can get 300 times as much energy per acre per year by mounting photovoltaic panels than you can with growing soybeans for biodiesel."

He said that, if that energy was planned for automobiles, the efficiency would grow exponentially because of the inherent inefficiencies associated with internal combustion engines when compared with electric cars.

Allen said he's willing to put his money where his mouth is. He currently drives a biodiesel vehicle and is working on outfitting his house with solar panels. The panels, combined with reduced energy needs, will provide all the electricity he needs to exist off the grid.

"I'm not only going to talk the talk, I'm going to walk the walk," he said.