Colleen Crowninshield, manager of Tucson Regional Clean Cities at the Pima Association of Governments, is working with a Mexican border city to turn restaurant grease into biodiesel.
Sponsored by the Ambos Nogales Air Quality Task Force, the plan is part of the E.P.A.'s (EPA) Border 2012 Initiative, a federal plan to address health and environmental issues along the United States-Mexico border. For the last 4 years Crowninshield has actively participated in the task force, which focuses on improving air quality conditions in the sister cities of Nogales, Arizona, and Nogales, Sonora (Mexico), just 60 miles south of Tucson.
The 1st step in the plan was for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) to identify issues in the Nogales area. One concern it cited: restaurant grease in wastewater--one of many culprits contributing to sanitary sewer overflows from the wastewater conveyance impacting Nogales Wash, which runs north into Arizona.
"Although the wastewater utility is developing a pretreatment program, it doesn't yet enforce a system to properly dispose of restaurant cooking oils. Therefore, many businesses just pour it down the drain," says Crowninshield. "We are trying to alleviate the problem by creating incentives for people to recycle this material for the manufacture of biodiesel."
In late 2005, the University of Arizona, the Nogales (Sonora) Technical Institute (NTI), ADEQ, and Tucson Regional Clean Cities teamed up to coordinate the effort. Together, the partners identified how restaurateurs handle their waste grease. Based on a survey conducted by NTI students, 53% dispose of their grease down the drain, 35% dispose of it in the sewer system, and 12% dispose of it via pick-up service."
When the students followed up the survey by asking restaurant owners if they would allow a company to pick up their grease for free, the owners responded with an "overwhelming yes," says Crowninshield. At this time, the students were already experimenting with converting waste grease into biodiesel and tested different formulas to ensure a high quality product.
The next step was to find area businesses willing to use the biodiesel. Word spread of the project, and 2 local fire districts from the sister cities expressed interest in using it in their trucks. As a result, a suggestion was submitted and approved to gain $90,000 through EPA's Border 2012 Program. When the contract is signed early next year, the money will fund source characterization of waste oils and establish 2 biodiesel rendering facilities--one on each side of the border. These sites will produce a total of 1,000 gallons of biodiesel over 2 years. The biodiesel will be mixed with petro-diesel at a 20% blend for use in the fire districts' emergency response equipment.
"You know the old saying, 'It takes a village to raise a child?' Well this is no different," Crowninshield says. "No one entity can take on these tasks and be successful. But when everyone joins forces, combines backing and knowledge, we can build the foundation to make a huge difference."
