Steps Towards Sustainable Community, Winter 2005

Footprint Recycling

Footprint Recycling makes biodiesel fuel from local waste vegetable oil. Footprint’s founder, Andy Cooper, made his first batch of biodiesel in a blender as an undergraduate at Humboldt State University (HSU). The company, now four years old, grew out of Cooper’s masters’ thesis on the “Economic Feasibility of a Community Scale Biodiesel Production Facility.” He talked two friends, Greg Bender and Chad Christensen-Woods, into helping him and now all three are co-owners of the business. At the end of 2001, Footprint moved to its current location, a larger facility which allowed them to expand production from 100 gallons a month to about 3,500 gallons.

“We are a fully licensed and permitted rendering facility,” notes Christensen-Woods. “We collect about 3,500 gallons of used vegetable oil a month from about 80 local businesses including restaurants, hospitals, casinos, and a school cafeteria. We provide them with 110-gallon or 240-gallon tanks which we empty.” Footprint also gets about 200 gallons every two months from household drop-offs at the Arcata and Eureka Recycling Centers.

Making and Marketing Biodiesel
The process of making biodiesel starts with filtering the waste vegetable oil to remove bits of food and garbage. The oil is then heated to dry off any water. It then moves through a series of finer filters en route to a reactor tank. Methanol and lye are added to break free the glycerin which settles to the bottom of the tank and is removed. This reduces the thickness of the oil and improves its flow properties. The fuel goes through more settling tanks and eventually through a very small filter. It is then chilled, a process in which wax flocculates, settles to the bottom, and is removed. The remaining fuel will then burn at a lower temperature, important for cold weather.

New biodiesel customers should be aware that there are differences between biodiesel and petroleum diesel which can affect their vehicles. Cars made before 1985 may have original rubber gaskets that can be corroded and require replacement. “Methanol is very aggressive to rubber,” notes Cooper. “But if biodiesel is mixed with regular diesel, the wear is reduced.” The age of a car does not necessarily predict whether there will be problems. “Even new vehicles of the same year and model may respond differently,” says Cooper. “Some can run on 100 percent biodiesel and others run better on a mixture of diesel and biodiesel.”

Christensen-Woods also notes, “Petroleum diesel is a dirty fuel. Not all the fuel is burned, so it leaves a residue. Biodiesel cleans out these residues, which end up clogging the fuel filter. We recommend changing the fuel filter after 10-12 tanks of biodiesel.”

Footprint does not produce enough biodiesel to meet local demand so it encourages customers to run a mix of biodiesel and regular diesel. Footprint sells the biodiesel at its production location for $3.50/gallon for on-road vehicles and $3.25 for off-road. The off-road price is less because road taxes are not charged.

Using Glycerin: Biodiesel’s By-product
Footprint is working on marketing and developing new products from biodiesel’s only by-product, glycerin. When it first settles out of the fuel making process, glycerin contains both excess methanol and lye (which is caustic). The glycerin is heated to remove and recapture the methanol. Footprint then adds more lye and orange rinds (for fragrance and for enhanced cleaning properties) to most of the glycerin to make soap. Footprint sells soap to a local nursery, for workers to wash their hands in the fields, and to a newspaper publisher, to clean soy-based ink printing presses. Footprint is experimenting with mixing some of the glycerin with sawdust to make fire logs, a by-product of nearby lumber and furniture businesses.

Footprint has the capability to at least double its present output. The limiting factor is supply. “We collect oil from about 60 percent of the businesses in Humboldt County,” notes Christensen-Woods. While a few people make their own biodiesel, their major competition is a rendering facility in Chico, about four hours away.

The Biodiesel Choice
“Many people in this community support biodiesel because it is much more environmentally sound than petroleum,” notes Cooper. “One customer, Environmental Restoration Services, is restoring part of Jolly Giant Creek. The contractor chose biodiesel because it is less toxic than petroleum diesel. The equipment operator breathes in less dirty exhaust and if there were a fuel spill, the river habitat would be subject to much less pollution.”

Footprint is a local business, which is important to customers like Doug Kelly, who says, “I choose to buy Footprint’s biodiesel because it is a locally produced alternative fuel that uses locally generated waste. That helps make us a more responsible and sustainable community.”

In the bigger picture, Christensen-Woods acknowledges that “Biodiesel is a short-term alleviant to a long-term problem: America’s dependency on fossil fuels. Biodiesel is an immediate opportunity to diversify our fuel supply while we continue to work on conservation and other alternatives.”

Contact Information:
Andy Cooper
Chad Christensen-Woods
Greg Bender
Footprint Recycling
4701 West End Road
Arcata, CA 95521
(707) 826-2606
footprintrecycling@hotmail.com

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Last updated: August 01, 2008