The mission of chemistry juniors Hunter Fontentot, Michelle Chatelain and Brian Hays was to turn a wasted resource into usable fuel.

Since the beginning of the spring semester, they have been creating biodiesel fuel from vegetable oil as part of their Biodiesel Generation project.

Fontenot thought of the idea last fall after a conversation about energy crisis with his friend’s dad, a chemistry enthusiast.

From that initial conversation, Fontenot applied for and received the Richard Frank grant through the Student Government Association. The grant gave $8,000 to cover all of the equipment expenses.

The idea was simple: to recycle vegetable oil left over from the Orleans Room, turning it into fuel for any diesel engine.

This oil is then converted into biodiesel through a process called trans-etherification, which uses a catalyst called meth-oxide.

“The by-product of this reaction is glycerol, which can be used as a composting agent,” Fontenot said.

The students meet up twice a week to work on the project, making about 40 gallons per week.

“Thirty gallons are biodiesel, while 10 gallons are glycerol,” said Michelle Chatelain, chemistry junior. “We store the 10 gallons of glycerol for another project we plan on working on later — to make soap out of it.”

The next step they plan to take is to test the biodiesel fuel. They do not have a diesel engine, but the students said they are confident they have been successful based on lab tests.

Since Loyola does not have any diesel-powered vehicles, the students are offering their fuel for free to anyone in the Loyola community who has a diesel-powered engine and is willing to participate in the project.

One of their barrels recently went missing – the oil collection barrel behind the Orleans Room.

“The barrel was either stolen or thrown out, we are not too sure,” said Hays.

“We think it must’ve been thrown out by accident,” Chatelain said.

Since then, the students make sure their barrel is chained near the dumpsters by West Road Garage.

Their goal is to get more chemistry students involved in their project, but also to encourage awareness of conservation within the Loyola community.

The students will present their project at a seminar March 23 at 3:30 p.m. in Monroe Hall Room 127.

Mai Bader can be reached at [email protected].

An Erlenmeyer flask of converted biofuel glistns in the afternoon sun, a product of vegetable oil run through the reactor. ((Photo by Tom Macom/The Maroon))