A group of 11 students from different majors are planning a cross-country road trip this summer in a vegetable oil-powered school bus to spread ideas of environmental awareness and responsibility.
The group of friends began by planning a road trip to Washington state over the summer in a 1995 Ford school bus they purchased in March, but they soon discovered an opportunity to raise environmental awareness by converting the bus to run off of used vegetable oil from restaurants.
The conversion kit will allow the bus to run off of used oil and is comprised of a separate tank for the fuel, a series of filters to eliminate excess residue, a unit to remove water and an element to heat the oil to 89 F.
“Above all else, the vegetable oil is a waste,” group member Liz Kazal, a junior chemical engineering major, said. “We’re finding a second use for it.”
The bus will have two fuel systems; diesel will initially start the engine and run for around 20 minutes to heat the vegetable oil that will then feed into the engine. The diesel will resume powering the engine again to clean out any residual vegetable oil.
In an effort to remain as environmentally conscious as possible, the group is considering using biodiesel for the times when the engine is either heating up or cooling down.
Justin Liddell, a senior mechanical engineering major, said the mileage of the bus running on vegetable oil will not be as high as it was on standard diesel, the release of harmful chemicals, such as sulfur dioxide, will drop dramatically.
“There’s a misconception that mileage and carbon footprints go hand-in-hand,” Liddell said. “The main goal is to keep the emissions as clean as possible and find a use for the waste.”
Running the bus off of vegetable oil will use more filters, but because the alternate fuel self-lubricates, there will be less wear on the engine as well as less oil burned.
The group has already rebuilt the inside of the bus so all 11 members have a place to sleep. They still have to install the necessary parts of the conversion kit.
“Our tentative leave date as of now is May 21,” Louis Rosa said. “But once summer session starts, we will be able to work on it a whole lot more.”
A professional diesel converter told the group the full conversion can take up to 40 hours of labor.
During the trip, the group plans to stop at several colleges to show other students how teamwork and determination can accomplish large tasks and make a difference.
“I really feel like if we can do it, anyone can do it,” Kazal said. “It started out as just friends who are environmentally conscious and wanted to go on a road trip, and now it’s happening.”
When the group returns from their trip, they plan to take all of the data they collected on the road to local school districts and show that after a small initial investment, there is a cleaner and possibly healthier fuel source for school buses.