Ithaca Company Makes Fuel from Vegetable Oil

Meghan Murphy of LiquidSOLAR, an Ithaca-based conversion company, has learned the ins and outs of biodiesel and vegetable-oil powered engines, leading her to eschew conventional gasoline.

"I was originally concerned about the petroleum situation as a political issue. Once I learned the environmental aspects of it, I was totally taken," said Murphy, who also researches and edits for the publication "Biodiesel America."

Biodiesel is the chemically advanced cousin of vegetable oil, both of which are non-fossil-fuel-based alternatives to gasoline. The oft-cited environmental advantages of the two include fewer greenhouse gas emissions and reduced reliance on petroleum-based fuels, which is considered a nonrenewable resource.

Lye, methanol and vegetable oil are the three necessary components in homemade biodiesel. The procedure, in simplified terms, requires combining lye and methanol to create sodium methoxide, a dangerous product that can burn skin while killing nerves so you don't feel yourself getting burned. Methanol is also highly flammable "so you don't want to set off any fireworks while you're doing it," joked Murphy.

"It's really not that daunting once you get a handle on it," Murphy added. "It's not as scary as it sounds."

Read the full article in The Ithaca Journal