|
11/8/2005
Contact: K.E. Schwab -- 724-738-2199;
e-mail: karl.schwab@sru.edu
SRU TO HOST FIRST BIODIESEL REVIVAL SATURDAY
TO EXPLAIN ALTERNATIVE FUELS
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa.
– Expanded interest in Slippery Rock University’s first
Biodiesel Revival, featuring Greg Boulos, co-founder of Steel City
Biofuels, a company dedicated to promoting the use of locally
manufactured fuels in the western Pennsylvania region, as speaker,
has prompted plans for a second program.
The first session,
already at capacity, will be he at SRU’ Robert A. Macoskey
Center for Sustainable Systems Education and Research at 1 p.m.
Saturday [Nov. 12]. The second will be held at 1 p.m. Dec. 3.
Reservations for the second workshop may be made by calling the
center at 724-738-4050.
Boulos, a May SRU
graduate in the master’s of sustainable systems program, will
demonstrate how to make diesel fuel from waste and virgin vegetable
oils as well as answer questions about local production and on-farm
feasibility. The presentation will expand on an informal
biodiesel workshop presented at the center as part of last April's
Earth Festival.
The revivals,
organized by Robert Burns, a master’s student in SRU’s
MS3 program, is open to students and community members interested
in learning more about all aspects of biodiesel fuels with the
workshop offering both education and production components. He
points out student and public response to the initial program
forced organizers to add a second workshop. The program’s
educational component will include background information about
biodiesel, discussion of the uses and benefits of biodiesel and
will address the preparation process, evaluate resource and safety
precautions as well as the future of fuel.
The
workshop’s production component will allow participants to
work in small groups to calculate titrations and perform
small-batch reactions. The focus will be in demonstrating the
feasibility of producing biodiesel in usable quantities. In
advance of the workshop, participants are encouraged to secure
their own 500-1000 ml (about a quart) samples of oil from a local
source, such as a restaurant or home, to bring to the
workshop.
The center is
located on Harmony Road across from the N. Kerr Thompson Football
Stadium. For other details call Burns at the center.
PN, PGN, WPN, PR, TV
Biodiesel.kes.doc
|