Green Guide

GREASE TO GOLD
Finding Fuel Down the Drain

STORY BY FRANCES CERRA WHITTELSEY

In a small building in an industrial neighborhood in Bohemia, a remarkable transformation takes place every day. Trap grease, the ugly sludge left behind when restaurant wash water goes down the drain, is put through filters, high-speed centrifuges, and treated with catalysts. It emerges as biodiesel, the non-petroleum equivalent of ordinary diesel fuel that cuts greenhouse gases and can be used in existing diesel engines without modifying them.

The facility, run by North American Biofuels Company, Inc., is the first on Long island to make transportation fuel, a development that may portend a new energy future of fuel production based on locally available waste resources. It is also the first in the country to successfully make fuel from trap grease, which, unlike used fryer oil, was thought to be unusable because of its large water content and contamination with everything from coffee stirrers to strings from floor mops.

Last summer, Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony inaugurating the start-up of the facility by North American, which soon began producing 1,000 to 2,000 gallons of biodiesel a day. Now the company is seeking land on Long Island to build a factory that will make 10 to 15 million gallons a year, according to C. David Butler, North American’s chief executive.

It was Butler who recognized the potential of trap grease. The Oyster Bay resident began looking for a business opportunity in alternative energy in 2004, he says, considering and then rejecting wind, solar, geothermal and other liquid fuels. Then he saw a newspaper article about trap grease and decided”to apply (my) skills to the problem.” Butler, whose colleagues refer to him only half-jokingly as ”the genius” and who has only associate degrees in chemical and mechanical engineering, figured out a way to process trap grease for which he now has patents.

What made trap grease attractive is that North American gets it free. Gary Weiner, president of Rusell Reid, a regional hauler of non-hazardous wastes, says neither sewage treatment plants nor landfills on Long Island will accept trap grease. “Giving the trap grease to North American is “a saving to us, absolutely,” said Weiner, because the company does not then have to truck the grease away. In a partnership with North American, Russell Reid has also provided space for the start-up facility at its compound in Bohemia.

Disposal of trap grease is a major problem for municipalities everywhere because it literally gums up sewage pipes and causes fires, among other problems.

North American sells the biodiesel it produces locally. Among its customers is Burt’s Reliable, a heating oil dealer based in Southold. Home heating oil is the same as diesel fuel. “This is fabulous,” said John Romanelli, owner of Burt’s, referring to North American’s operations.”By using trap grease they are solving a waste stream problem and producing fuel.” Romanelli says his company sells home heating oil to its customers with 5 percent of biodiesel mixed in at no additional cost and without causing any problems to their heating systems.

Production and use of biodiesel instead of petroleum diesel cuts emissions of carbon dioxide by 78.5%, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. It also cuts emissions of particulate matter implicated in asthma as well as other pollutants including sulfur and carbon monoxide.

How much fuel could be made from trap grease on Long Island and the New York Metro area is not known exactly. One estimate says restaurants in New York City alone produce 60 million gallons a year of it. An unknown quantity is disposed of illegally as food service companies try to avoid paying between 25 and 35 cents a gallon to have it hauled away.

North American also uses used cooking oil, known as yellow grease, to make biodiesel.

All together, the potential is huge. “Other biofuel producers use corn or virgin oils like soybean,“ said Alan Ellenbogen, vice president for business development at North American. “Instead, we farm the urban landscape.”

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