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AARC 



Alternative Agricultural Research & Commercialization Center 



Turning Waste Animal Fats into 

 Clean-Burning Fuel 



The fat you don't want in your fast-food 

 hamburgers may be just what's needed 

 to clean up America's cities. 



This potential for turning waste animal 

 fats into a clean "biodiesel" fuel for the 

 nation's bus and truck fleets has created a 

 partnership linking public and private research 

 groups. The expected result is a fuel that will 

 enable major urban areas like Los Angeles, 

 Denver, Chicago, Boston and Atlanta to meet 

 the increasingly stringent air-quality standards 

 set by the federal Clean Air Act. 



To speed development of a new low- 

 cost alternative fuel, the non-profit Fats and 

 Proteins Research Foundation of Ft. Myers 

 Beach, Florida, has launched a cooperative 

 research effort. Joining the foundation in the 

 drive to turn fats into fuel fast are Stratco, a 

 private engineering company in Kansas; the 

 Agricultural Utilization Research Institute of 

 Minnesota; the National Livestock and Meat 

 Board; and the Alternative Agricultural 

 Research and Commercialization (AARC) 

 Center, a branch of the U.S. Department of 

 Agriculture. To bolster the $33,500 plus in- 

 kind services being provided by the other 

 groups, the AARC Center is investing S 1 0,000 

 to support the research. 



The key to the project is Stratco "s propri- 

 etary technology focused on turning fats and 

 oils into clean-burning methyl ester diesel 

 fuel. The Fats and Proteins Research Foun- 

 dation, supported by the U.S. rendering indus- 

 try, is hopeful that Stratco 's technology can be 

 used to develop a commercially competitive 

 process for turning rendered animal by-prod- 

 ucts into a major feedstock for diesel fuel. 



Currently "biodiesel" is a blend of soy- 

 bean oil and conventional petroleum-based 

 diesel fuel. The advantage is that biodiesel 



gives off significantly lower levels of particulates, sulfur, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide. An added 

 environmental bonus is that the biodiesel — whether produced from vegetable oils or from inedible animal 

 fjts — draws on renewable resources rather than non-renewable petroleum. Another major incentive for 

 the AARC Center to invest in this project is that it holds the promise of creating new jobs both in farming 

 communities and in the rendering industry as oil imports are reduced. 



Fats & Proteins Research Foundation Inc., FL 



Sponsor's Contact: Fred D. Bisplinghoff, (813) 463-4744 

 Raw Material: Waste Cooking Fats & Oils, Inedible 



Tallow, Lard, Inedible Greases 



& Poultry Fat 

 Product: Methyl Ester Commercialization 



AARC: $10,000 



Cooperators Contributions (est.): $61 ,000 



USDA-AARC CENTER • 12th & C St. S.W. • Washington, DC 20250 

 Telephone: (202) 401-4860 • Fax: (202) 401-6068 



Pnnled on recycted paper using soybean-based ir 



