Student-driven biodiesel project contributing to research for cleaner alternative energy source

By Daniel Schemer

Efforts to bring biodiesel to UMass Dartmouth, whether for fueling the Dart Vans or using it as a blend for heating buildings, have not yet come to fruition. The advantages of biodiesel and blended products over regular diesel fuel or heating oil are that it burns cleaner, reduces soot buildup in heating systems, improves air quality, lowers carbon emissions, increases the life span of fuel injection equipment, and is biodegradable. It also reduces dependence on foreign oil, hence strengthening the economy, since it is made from most vegetable oils, especially waste vegetable oil (WVO).

Henry Bratcher, a junior in marketing with minors in operations management and sustainability, has been working with Mass BioFuel, a company that creates, sells, and installs biodiesel products and heating systems all over the state, to pick up waste vegetable oil UMass Dartmouth produces so that it can be used to heat homeless shelters in New Bedford during fall/winter months.

"We're still figuring out the logistics to set up the project, but we hope to expand to hospitals and any other organizations willing to donate their waste vegetable oil," said Henry Bratcher about the ambitions of him and Mass BioFuel.

UMass Dartmouth currently produces around 150-160 gallons of waste vegetable oil each week. After a meeting between Mr. Bratcher, Mass BioFuel, and Dennis Batcheller, Operations Director for Sodexho, Mass BioFuel began picking up WVO free of charge. Since biodiesel must be blended when used in heating systems, Mass BioFuel will convert it into bioheat, what they call an 80/20 Green Blend, composed of 80% regular heating oil and 20% biodiesel. Once they calculate the percentage of retained bioheat necessary to cover production costs, they'll donate the rest to shelters in New Bedford and give estimates of savings and price protection plans. "We don't know the return costs for shelters yet, but it will be lower than regular heating oil," said Bob Warren, owner of Mass BioFuel. WVO for this project is also being supplied by St. Anne's Hospital in New Bedford, which produces 150-175 gallons a week.

This is not a student project for Henry Bratcher. "I've been interested in this since high school." Mr. Bratcher started working on a small-scale biodiesel project over a year ago. His initial plan was to set up a biodiesel processor at the Greater New Bedford Regional Vocational Technical High School with the hopes that students could learn how to process WVO themselves. Unfortunately, the plan fell through due to space restrictions at the school. Efforts to bring a biodiesel plant to UMass Dartmouth didn't work out because of costs and how much space necessary to build a processing facility. Large-scale, 200-gallon biodiesel processors can fit in almost any room and cost, depending on brand and accessories, $6000-$10,000. Mr. Bratcher was aiming for a $6,000 processor, but "it still needed a facility which, because of things like fire codes and sprinkler systems, would have ended up being more expensive than the processor."

Because of how slow and indeterminate the initial stages of this project were, he decided to forego the possibility of course credit, find other like-minded students and focus, passionately, on its necessity. "They're using it everywhere else, so why not here? There are so many uses for it and it's a lot more helpful for the environment."

Mr. Bratcher states that Congressman Barney Frank has showed support for the project. "Barney Frank's office was very helpful in providing information and support to push the project along."

Mr. Bratcher is continuing establishing direct contact with New Bedford shelters with hope they'll start using bioheat by September. According to Bob Warren of Mass BioFuel, weekly pick-ups for WVO on campus will go until the end of May. Summer pick-ups will resume as needed with the hopes that it can go back to a regular schedule by the start of the fall semester. Mr. Bratcher hopes the project could lead to further biodiesel efforts on campus, possibly turning it into an outside charity where students, free enterprising, can take over. More student involvement is necessary to make this a reality. "Students who want to get involved just need to be able to communicate with shelters and also find new sources of waste vegetable oil." Though it is currently called Community Biodiesel Project, Mr. Bratcher hopes to rename it as a proper organization. "Hopefully, the name for us will be BioLife because we want to provide green energy for social problems."

Henry Bratcher has his fingers in many endeavors; in addition to his commitments to classes and various other projects related to sustainability, he works for Clean Energy Design, a company based in Falmouth that provides design, construction, installation, and maintenance of solar panels and wind turbines for businesses and residential areas. He's also been offered a summer job at Mass BioFuel's production facility, which he plans on taking in order to learn more about the industry. "I try and dabble in everything green."

"I think he's fantastic. He has a lot of enthusiasm, has a lot of good ideas, and is very organized," said Bob Warren about offering Mr. Bratcher a job at Mass BioFuel.

For more information about biodiesel, go to massbiofuel.com or biodiesel.org.