Trap grease as a source of hydrogen.

"Presently, hydrogen is produced commercially, mostly
from natural gas, liquified petroleum gas (LPG), and
naphtha, by catalytic steam reforming and from heavy
oil fractions by partial oxidation. Consequently, hydrogen
production, because it is based on fossil fuels, is a
net contributor to carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and
the greenhouse effect. For example, life-cycle analysis
of the production of hydrogen in a steam reforming plant
based on natural gas with a capacity of 1.5  106 Nm3/
day shows that the amount of fossil CO2-equivalent
released into the atmosphere to produce 100 kg of
hydrogen gas is 1374.5 kg.11 An environmentally preferable
alternative is to produce hydrogen from renewable
resources (for example, via the thermal conversion of
lignocellulosic biomass2). The rationale behind this
approach is the fact that the CO2 released into the
atmosphere during thermochemical conversion of biomass
is offset by the uptake of CO2 during biomass
growth. The challenge is to convert those materials into
hydrogen at a cost similar to that from existing hydrocarbon-
based reforming technologies. Because of the low
hydrogen content in biomass, this condition can be met
by integrating the production of hydrogen with highervalue
biomass-derived byproducts, as discussed elsewhere.
3,4
Another way to improve the economics of the production
of hydrogen from biomass is through the use of lowcost
feedstocks, especially wastes and byproducts, which
also provides additional environmental benefits. We
have been studying hydrogen production from a variety
of byproducts, such as hemicellulose-rich liquid effluent
from wood fractionation or glycerin from biodiesel
production.5 This research explores the application of
waste grease as a feedstock for producing hydrogen.
“Trap grease” that is widely available throughout the
country has significant potential for producing hydrogen.
It is recovered from two main sources: (i) traps
installed in the sewage lines of restaurants and food
processing plants (from which it is pumped into trucks)
and (ii) wastewater treatment plants, where it flows in
through municipal sewage systems. Presently, trap
grease is largely treated as a waste stream: for example,
grease-trap-pumping companies in the Boston area pay
tipping fees of $0.11/gallon for discharging pump trucks
at waste processing facilities."

An ACS ASAP article from Energy and Fuels.

This one is actually from American Scientists at the DOE, at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

It's tragic that these guys are all about to lose their jobs.

I'm reading Robert Kennedy, Jr.'s Crimes Against Nature now and the deep corruption, cavalier dismantling of environmental laws, closing down of environmental departments and the number of Americans killed each year by Bush's policies (24,000) are enraging and sickening.

Your posting reminded me, too, of how many people are now using cooking oil to fuel their cars -- how long before the Bush-ites enact a "Move America Forward" law that derails this movement and forces us to depend only on Saudi Arabian oil?

Here's the article from the NYT:

October 27, 2004
GREEN AND COMFY
Got Grease? Then Fill It Up!
By GEORGE P. BLUMBERG

AVE DUNHAM, a Web master from Fayetteville, Ark., proclaims he is not an environmentalist, but just "incredibly cheap." Since 2001, he has fueled his cars with waste cooking oil he gets free from restaurants. After being used to make french fries, chicken fingers, egg rolls or tempura, the vegetable oil gets a new life, running his 1998 diesel Volkswagen Beetle.

While the practice of using vegetable oil to run diesel engines has attracted attention in Europe, it is largely unknown in the United States. But Mr. Dunham is part of a small, expanding network of do-it-yourselfers, environmentalists, farmers and others who see logic in using vegetable oil — referred to as straight vegetable oil, or S.V.O. — rather than diesel fuel, which is refined from petroleum, or other alternative renewable fuels like biodiesel.

Mr. Dunham, 24, was attending Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., in 2001 when a news article inspired him to convert an earlier car, a 1985 Golf diesel, to run on S.V.O., which can be waste or new vegetable oil. While determining the parts that were needed, he came across a Web site, Grease car.com, that sold conversion kits. Mr. Dunham installed the kit, which today costs $795, in eight hours.

After 25,000 trouble-free miles, he opted for the more powerful Beetle, which he also converted. Mr. Dunham said he averaged 46 miles a gallon on used oil, and burned 400 gallons a year.

Straight vegetable oil has some advantages over biodiesel, which is derived from vegetable oil or animal fat by processing with alcohol. Biodiesel is available at more and more suppliers around the country, but it is expensive and taxable as a motor fuel. Because of cost, it is usually mixed with diesel fuel, but can be burned by itself. S.V.O., by contrast, is not taxable, and when collected from restaurants, it is essentially free. (New vegetable oil can be used, but it costs at least $2 a gallon.)

S.V.O. has some disadvantages. For one, few people are inclined to scrounge for waste oil, carting it home from a local Chinese restaurant, say, in plastic jugs. But the oil also has properties that make it less than ideal as a fuel.

"Vegetable oil congeals when cold," said Justin Carven, 27, founder of Greasecar Vegetable Fuel Systems in Easthampton, Mass., and the Greasecar Web site. Mr. Carven's system, like other vegetable oil conversion kits, uses heat from the engine to warm the oil so it flows. The Greasecar kit includes a round 15-gallon aluminum tank (it fits in the spare-tire well), lines connecting to the engine to warm and deliver the oil and a filter to clean impurities from the oil.

When the engine is cold, an S.V.O. system needs some help. In most cases, cars that run on vegetable oil must keep their conventional diesel fuel system. The Greasecar kit includes a valve so that the driver can switch between the two.

"Start your car on the diesel tank," Mr. Carven said. "After a short warm-up, push the button, switching to the S.V.O. tank. Before stopping the engine, push the switch again, to shut down on regular diesel fuel." This clears vegetable oil from the fuel system, so it cannot clog fuel injectors.

Mr. Carven says he has 400 customers. Other companies offer conversion kits, including Greasel Conversions of Drury, Mo. (www.greasel.com), and Neoteric Biofuels in British Columbia (www. biofuels.ca). Regionally, authorized Greasecar installers do conversions for $600 to $800.

Vegetable oil consciousness is mostly concentrated in pockets on the East and West coasts. The idea spreads by word of mouth, across the Internet and at alternative energy fairs.

Generally, S.V.O. users pour the oil into a settling drum, let the gunk settle and decant the upper layers through a filter into a clean drum. They refilter that into containers that fill the car tank.

As for which oils are preferable, most restaurants use partially hydrogenated soy oil, which works fine as a fuel. But aficionados favor certain oils and collection rituals.

"Straight canola's best in cold weather," said Max Penta, 34, of Randolph, Vt., an engineering technician who installs dual-fuel systems and drives a '96 oil-fueled Passat with 235,000 miles on it. "Asian restaurants are great — they seldom reuse tempura oil." His overall favorite, he said, is peanut oil that has been used to deep-fry a turkey. "I usually get 10 gallons at Thanksgiving," he said. "It smells great out the tailpipe."

Mr. Dunham originally got much of his oil from the Tulum Mexican restaurant in Bethlehem, Pa. "First we thought it strange," said Walt Diller, 37, who runs the restaurant. "But we saw Dave's car and we said, Why not?

"When we'd change our nachos and wings fryer oil, we'd funnel it into containers, put a smiley face on them and Dave would pick up about 20 gallons a week and leave empties." Restaurants ordinarily pay to have their waste oil removed.

When Mr. Dunham moved to Philadelphia, he sought out Asian restaurants, but had trouble communicating. A Chinese friend wrote a note for him that translates as "Dave who takes your used cooking oil for free for his car which burns the oil and you must put it in containers for him." With that note, Mr. Dunham says, he gets 100 percent cooperation.

The underground veggie network is growing. When Dave Dunham left Bethlehem for Arkansas, miraculously, Dave Rosenstraus — a musician/S.V.O. car driver/veggie converter — ate at the Tulum restaurant and asked for oil. "It was coincidence," he said, "they had the system all worked out."

Said Mr. Diller, "Dave 2 has taken Dave 1's place."

Lou Preston, 62, owner of Dry Creek Vineyard in Healdsburg, Calif., wanted to run his tractors and other equipment on vegetable oil, but wasn't ready to take the full plunge. So he bought a system from Mr. Carven, as a test, converting an old Mercedes 190D he found on eBay.

"It ran great, but my skepticism was still alive and well because I ran new oil," he said. "So I tried used fryer oil from a fish-and-chips joint that changes oil only once per week. The Mercedes ran great, and I upped the ante and converted an '03 Jetta."

He has since converted some of his tractors, too.

"Now I'm confident in the technology, but had to get the human part right," Mr. Preston said. "I held a workshop for my Spanish-speaking tractor drivers to make sure they switch back to diesel when cooling down, so the injectors don't clog. They think I'm crazy."

Will the government eventually tax vegetable-oil fuel? Justin Soares, who runs a biodiesel fuel co-op in Corvallis, Ore., said he thought the rendering business, which carts away used oil, may eventually complain about lost customers and push for some kind of tax. And S.V.O. may catch on with more people who are currently buying taxed biodiesel. "So maybe when the government smells the french fries," he said, "it'll get involved."

at which trap grease might provide energy. According to the paper, there is enough trap grease to provide 0.5 million tonnes of hydrogen. This sounds like a lot until you recognize that the average amount of recoverable trap grease per capita that is believed to be recoverable from these sources is about 6 kg per person. This is less than two gallons each.