Oregon Swap

It’s hard to imagine that the dirty, used oil you see at the bottom of a frying pan could actually have any functional purpose. Even more baffling is the thought of driving a car powered by this grease. Not only can used cooking oil and trap grease be converted into a form of diesel, but it burns significantly cleaner than regular diesel, releasing less than 25 of the amount of CO2 that is expelled by petroleum diesel. Pacific Biodiesel is one of the west coast’s leaders in producing this alternate fuel source. Their Salem plant can now produce up to 5 million gallons of biodiesel per year.Biodiesel can either be made from crude vegetable oil or used waste oils. These substances must then undergo a chemical reaction and can then be blended with petroleum diesel or used alone. Often times when waste oil is used, a diesel engine will have to be converted to use biodiesel. The “B factor” is a method of designating the percentage of biodiesel in fuel. If there is no combination with petroleum, and the fuel is entirely biodiesel, it would be referred to as B100. If there is a mixture of 20 biodiesel with 80 petroleum, the fuel is called B20.Oregon is leading the way in biodiesel use. Last year, the state enacted a mandate that all diesel fuels sold be at least B2 (2 biodiesel). This was nothing new for Portland, who began requiring the use of B5 or higher in 2007. Biodiesel can produce slightly less energy than petroleum diesel but the difference is so small that it would probably only be noticed with the use of pure biodiesel. These mandates, along with regulations for the required use of 10 ethanol in gasoline, are all part of Oregon’s Renewable Fuel Standard.