Gaston County Schools Make Biodiesel for Buses

Gaston Schools lead the way with biodiesel
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With fuel costs rising and thecall for environmental awareness,
the Gaston County School System has taken the lead as they begin production of biodiesel fuel for theirfleet.Used vegetable oil from the schools food service department is combined with methanol and sodium
hydroxide creating a chemical
reaction that produces biodiesel
fuel. That fuel can be combined
with diesel to create a biodiesel
blend.
The Gaston County Schools’
Transportation Department produced
its first
biodiesel fuel
in mid-
October using
the recycled
oil. Two local
restaurants,
The Shrimp
Boat and
China King’s
Buffet, have
already joined
in partnership
with the system
to donate
used vegetable
oil. The system hopes to get
other local restaurants to provide
used oil.
Superintendent Ed Sadler says,
“It’s a win, win situation—the benefits
for the environment are tremendous
and economically it will save
us thousands of dollars. We are
extremely proud of our transportation
department for being on the
cutting edge in producing biodiesel
fuel by recycling used oil from our
nutrition department.”
Gaston County Schools is the
first district in the state to produce
its own biodiesel fuel. Using the
clean burning, alternative fuel reduces
air pollution and decreases
the school system’s dependency on
petroleum based fuels. “It is a
rather simple process,” said assistant
transportation director Grady
Truett, who is coordinating the innovative
effort.
School
officials began
researching
and
studying the
idea of producing
biodiesel
fuel
last spring.
Members of
the Transportation
Department
worked
closely with
the Centralina
Centralina Clean Fuels
Coalition to learn about the benefits.
The district uses about 300,000
gallons of diesel fuel a year for bus
transportation. As the 6th largest
school system in the state Gaston’s
206 buses travel 11,000 daily.
A program of Centralina Council of Governments in cooperation with
Catawba Regional Council of Governments
November, 2005
Containers used to produce the fuel were donated by Ices, Inc.,
Stanley.
Initial production is planned for
12,000 gallons of biodiesel fuel
this year for a savings valued at
$30,000 to the system. Production
of each gallon costs the system 60
cents, a tremendous savings over
the current price of diesel fuel.
Over the next two years, the
district plans to expand the process
to more than 60,000 gallons a
year or about 1/5 of the fuel the
system uses for a savings of
$150,000 at current prices.
Gaston’s Transportation Department
was recently chosen as
one of the Top 10 School Bus
Fleets Across America. Their efforts
will be featured in the November
2005 edition of School Bus
Fleet.