OXFORD, Miss. – If you find the air smells downright appetizing on the
University of Mississippi campus this fall, then you might not be far
from a lawnmower.
As of last week, Landscaping Services is operating all campus mowers on
a mix of regular diesel and biodiesel fuel made from used cooking oil
by research technicians at the UM Mississippi Mineral Resources
Institute. Thus, the oil used to prepare food in the cafeteria may be
the same stuff running the lawnmowers weeks later.
The fuel mixture is 20 percent biofuel and 80 percent regular diesel.
This should cut the pollution created by campus lawnmowers as much as
50 percent, according to MMRI research technician Brad Crafton. MMRI
runs a university van on a biofuel mixture and Crafton usually runs his
own 1980 Mercedes Benz on 100 percent biodiesel.
As the amount of biodiesel is increased in this diesel cocktail, the emissions actually smell more and more like what was originally cooked in the cooking oil. At 20 percent, however, the odor may appear relatively faint.
Seven Toro 328 industrial lawnmowers on campus are running on the fuel, said Jeff McManus, landscaping director. The landscaping crew is also experimenting with applying this use of biodiesel to small engine machinery such as weed trimmers and blowers. This summer they successfully tested using the fuel mixture to run a mower and a weed trimmer.
Besides the environmental benefits, this new fuel is proving to be financially beneficial to the university.
“We’ve found in the first week (the mowers) actually use more fuel,” McManus said. However, the cleaner burning fuel actually cleans the engine, and after a cleansing period, the engines run more efficiently, based on their observations.
Between July 14 and Aug. 4, a mower running on regular fuel burned 2.25 gallons an hour and the mower doing approximately the same job burned 1.2 gallons per hour using the biofuel mixture. The regular fuel mower ran 63.3 hours in two weeks and burned 52.6 gallons of diesel. The biofuel mower ran 90.2 hours and burned only 40 gallons of fuel.
Actual savings are still being determined, as they will also factor in savings on engine maintenance because the biofuel burns cleaner. The department usually spends $3,000 on fuel for mowers every two or three weeks, said David Hodge, chief mechanic.
McManus has ordered decals for the biofueled mowers to indicate they operate on environmentally friendly fuels. He estimates that after a year of operation, the department can increase the mixture to 50 percent biodiesel.
Supply will determine the extent of the biodiesel project, but Crafton is confident he can keep the fuel pumping as needed. He is running a small-batch operation in which he produces around 100 gallons of fuel per week to mix with the regular diesel. He said he can produce the fuel for about a dollar a gallon. The cooking oil comes from local restaurants and campus locations, including cafeterias and fraternity houses.
“Usually they pay to have this stuff hauled away,” he said. “This way they save a bill and I save a bill.”
This move comes less than four months after Chancellor Robert Khayat signed the American College &University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. Sponsored by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, the initiative calls for colleges and universities to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions over the course of five years.
Greenhouse gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane and ozone. All are natural components of the Earth’s atmosphere, but excesses of these gases cause the planet’s temperature to slowly climb, contributing to what is known as the “greenhouse effect” or “global warming.”
For more information about the Mississippi Mineral Resources Institute, visit http://www.olemiss.edu/depts/mmri .