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Mobile Biodiesel Education Demonstration

Demonstrating Biodiesel Production to Farmers, Students, and the Public

This project was funded through a USDA-NIFA Capacity Building Grant in 2012.  Project members include Dr. Jason de Koff (PI), Mr. Chris Robbins (Collaborator), Dr. John Ricketts (Co-PI), Dr. Prabodh Illukpitiya (Co-PI), and Mr. Alvin Wade (Co-PI).  Our demonstration trailer includes a seed press for crushing oilseeds like canola, sunflower, and soybean.  This releases vegetable oil and produces a meal that can be used as an animal feed.  We also have a biodiesel processor where the vegetable oil is converted to biodiesel through a chemical reaction called transesterification.

Number of direct contacts to date (since July 2013): 2,355

We would like to thank AgStrong for donating the canola seed used in our demonstrations.

This project was a National Finalist in the Search for Excellence in Crop Production by the National Association of County Agricultural Agents in 2016.

Workshop slides:
The biodiesel process
Agronomics of sunflower and winter canola
Federal Assistance Programs and Economics

Videos for step-by-step process of biodiesel production:
Step 1.  Producing oil from oilseeds
Step 2.  The degumming process
Step 3.  Determining the amount of chemicals to use
Step 4.  Making biodiesel
Step 5.  Separating and cleaning the biodiesel

Biodiesel factsheets:
Small-scale biodiesel production
Maximizing the biodiesel process
Sunflower for biodiesel production
Federal assistance programs for biodiesel production
Economics of small-scale biodiesel production

Oilseed press for making oil from canola

Biodiesel processor for converting vegetable oil to biodiesel.