While on vacation in The Florida Keys I had a conversation with Jeff Lillie of Marathon BioDiesel. I met him through a string of chance conversations. The woman that we rent a house from likes my soaps, and she was telling me about a friend of hers that makes a hand cleaner and foot scrub out of glycerin byproduct from his BioDiesel production facility. She also is a customer of his, buying BioDiesel to run her truck. I was very interested in stopping in to meet him. So, Mr. Casco Bay Soap Co and I stopped by one afternoon and chatted with him for quite a while about BioDeeisel and his whole production process. I learned that glycerin is created while purifying BioDiesel. Biodiesel is a promising alternative and renewable, fuel. As its production increases, so does production of the principle co-product, crude glycerol or glycerin. For each gallon of BioDiesel about 1 gallon of glycerin is created. The whole process is very interesting and very very involved but the basics are this. Jeff collects used cooking oil from local restaurants in The Keys and converts it to fuel for cars, trucks and even boats. Fish restaurants, donut shops, pizza parlors, Conch fritter food stands and more! He is working with the local high school kids and they are learning much about running a business and all sorts of science facts.
A link to the website for more technical information:
Here are some pictures from around his Biodiesel yard:
His truck can easily recognized around The Keys!
Barrels of used oil(s) from restaurants....
the process of purifying...
examples in mason jars...
education is KEY!
Jeff filling up a vehicle at his filling station!
And the hand cleaner
Here is a link to the Website for the cleaners - featuring a non-toxic, biodegradable hand cleaner and foot pumice
Their process as explained by them:
The MPOD Trailer is a mobile processing plant. It is designed to be moved to various regional collection sites where the oil has been prepared for processing and will be finished.
Preparing the oil for processing involves cleaning the oil to remove impurities and drying the oil to remove moisture.
Finishing the fuel after processing involves drying the fuel again and finishing or polishing the fuel to further removes impurities.
Regional collection points serve as locations to take the oil collected from an area or town, prepare the oil for processing, finish the fuel after processing and store the fuel that is ready for sale and use. Visits from the processing trailer
MPOD are timed on a regular basis across several collection sites so that the MPOD is always working. The MPOD can produce between 200 & 400 gallons of High Quality ASTM Certified B100 per an 8 hour shift, 24/7 - 365
Clean, professional looking collection containers are provided to restaurants at no charge. These containers are cleaned upon each visit so that area remains tidy and professional looking.
Participating restaurants are not paid for the waste vegetable. Instead they donate the waste oil and in return receive a “Green Hand Certificate” to display in their store that lets everyone know that they are handling the waste they generate is responsible way that benefits the their community. The businesses are also provided All Natural High Quality Liquid Hand Soap, All Natural Dirty Hand Cleaner and All Natural Foot Pumice. The natural soap products are derived from the glycerin removed and processed in the making of the fuel.
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