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Success story of Biodiesel Converter
Wednesday, 04 May 2011

Tucked away in a corner of an empty warehouse at McDonnell Horticulture is a $500 homemade contraption that could save the business and its customers thousands of dollars.

The device is a biodiesel converter. It is a gently used water heater and two 55-gallon barrels connected with nongalvinized pipes, valves and tubing. There are a bubbler, a compressor, a heater and a motor.

The converter is a high school science fair project that earns a D-minus for appearance but an A-plus for effectiveness.

It converts old cooking oil that commonly comes from deep-fat fryers at local restaurants to biodiesel fuel for the 16 tractors at the 225-acre nursery on old U.S. 1 in Cameron.

Biodiesel is made by chemically altering the oil -- essentially thinning it down -- to allow it to run in an unmodified diesel engine.

Pat McDonnell, who owns the business, is an innovator who grows ideas as well as he grows plants. He challenges his employees through cutting-edge projects.

"I saw this as an opportunity to take the business to a new level," McDonnell said.

McDonnell, who also has a degree in chemistry, began kicking around the idea of building a biodiesel converter last year. He said it was not a dollars-and-cents decision.

"It started as a summer project for an intern, not as a way to make or save money," O'Donnell said.

In the process of pitching his idea to others, one name -- Daniel Dayton -- stuck out. Dayton was a recent college graduate who has a degree in sustainable agriculture from Warren Wilson College.

Learned on Internet

Smart and inquisitive, he had the right background, a genuine interest and limited time on his hands.

"He was ideal for me," McDonnell said. "Come June or July, I don't have a lot of work for extra people, so he was perfect for the job."

Dayton is a Peace Corps volunteer who leaves for Mali in West Africa this July. McDonnell describes the tall redhead as someone with "with a little mad scientist in him." Not surprisingly, Dayton took to the project right away.

He learned how to create the homemade device on the Internet. Hours of research and experimentation performed over several months were fraught with ups and downs, successes and failures, and some unintended outcomes.

 

"One time we made soap," Dayton said.

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Sudden Oil Price Increase
Sunday, 27 February 2011

The sudden crisis in the Middle East has make the world crude oil price increase. The sole depends to crude petroleum and diesel give us no option left, which could contribute the sudden price increase in all industries.

The usage of hydrogen in the public transportationas an alternative to petroleum and diesel, has proven to be the major shift to Iceland. The small country has gained respect to be the World´s Greenest Country thus set us example how we can actually swift from the traditional fuel to a new and environmentally safe energy.

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Links Updated!
Saturday, 06 February 2010
I have updated the Links section with more company and government agencies. Highlight Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (www.poic.com.my) Located in south-eastern Sabah, the Lahad Datu Palm Oil Industrial Cluster (POIC Lahad Datu) is the first dedicated industrial cluster of its kind in Malaysia. It is a model project that will entrench Malaysia's global status in the palm oil industry. POIC Lahad Datu is strategically located in the oil palm belt of Sabah. Its proximity to major palm oil plantations in neighbouring Indonesia's Kalimantan Provinces (Malaysia and Indonesia combine to produce some 80% of the global palm oil output) and lauric oil production areas in the Southern Philippines makes it potentially the international focal point for vegetable oil-based industries. POIC Lahad Datu was established in 2005. The initial 1,150 acres in the first phase of the 5,000-acre cluster have received overwhelming responses especially from investors in biodiesel. Foreign and Malaysian investors are planning biodiesel plants with combined capacity of over 1 million tonnes per year. Some of these plants have begun production since 2007. POIC Lahad Datu is also aggressively promoting industries utilizing the large volume of biomass generated from the oil palm plantations in Sabah.
 
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