Project Description
The Biofuels Technology Club (BTC) at UC Berkeley's College of Chemistry has a clear mission: to achieve a zero-waste campus by producing biodiesel from campus dining hall waste cooking oil. Since its founding in 2015, the club has successfully produced over 500 gallons of high-quality biodiesel, which has been tested extensively in the lab and for 12,000 miles in a car. The club's ultimate goal is to power the UC Berkeley campus fleets, closing an important loop within the school's consumption and waste streams. However, the club's current processing setup has limited capacity, preventing it from producing the significant quantities of biodiesel needed to achieve its goal.
Therefore, the club aims to build the High-Output Parallel Biodiesel Processing System (HOPBPS) to expand its processing capacity and allow for staggered batch production. By building the HOPBPS, the BTC can reliably supply UC Berkeley with clean, high quality renewable biodiesel fuel to help meet its goals of being carbon neutral by 2035 and reducing air pollution. The club's proposed timeline is achievable, assuming funding is secured. The construction will commence in the summer of 2023 and last into the fall semester. By Spring 2024, the club aims to demonstrate that the HOPBPS is functional, reliable, and produces high-quality, renewable biodiesel fuel suitable for use in campus vehicles.
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