Butter as a Fuel?

Dr. Michael J. Haas, a research biochemist for the United States Department of Agriculture proposed converting an 800 pound butter sculpture into usable biodiesel. He worked alongside BlackGold Biodiesel to do so. The process began with the dismantlement of the sculpture; the butter was then melted and the water was removed. The dehydrated butter then underwent BlackGold's chemical conversion process.

Butter, essentially fat, is composed of a glycerin compound with several fatty acids attached. Generally speaking, the conversion process replaces the glycerin compound of the fat with a methanol molecule, producing diesel fuel. BlackGold has used this process to convert a wide range of materials, including cooking oil, to produce biodiesel.

BlackGold’s process produced less than 75 gallons of fuel, and researches are not suggesting using more than one billion pounds of butter a year to produced fuel due to cost and supply limitations. However, BlackGold’s process can be applied to other waste fats, oils, and grease. The glycerin compound waste can be used in water treatment plants. Low grade bunker fuel is produced as a byproduct of BlackGold’s conversion process; this bunker fuel can be used to power ships. Though it may not be completely cost effective to convert butter into biodiesel, the process that BlackGold has developed has several applications, and the wastes associated with their process can be used elsewhere.

Currently, BlackGold’s technology is being used in a San Francisco biodiesel plant that aims to convert brown grease (dirtier than cooking oil) into usable fuel. If successful the plant could use approximately 12000 gallons of waste grease to create 330 gallons of biodiesel a day.