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UR Biodiesel officially kicked off last Wednesday at a well-attended kickoff celebration. Thanks to all of you who were able to attend! We are now hard at work getting set up for the bus to be in a regular rotation. ...
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Check out the link to the Biodiesel Kickoff Press Release: http://www.rochester.edu/news/show.php?id=3353 The kickoff is next Wednesday, April 22nd, at 1:30pm. Please join us! Here is some more information:
What: The UR Biodiesel Kickoff Ceremony
Where: On Hutchison Road (the road between the Hopeman Engineering Building and the Goergen BME/Optics Building) on the U of R River Campus and in the Goergen BME/Optics Building Atrium.
When: Wednesday, April 22nd (Earth Day). The ceremony will begin at 1:30pm, and a reception including tours of the facility will follow until 3pm.
Why: Three years in the making, UR Biodiesel is ready to officially kick off and begin running a campus bus on biodiesel, fueled by the grease from River Campus dining centers. Join us at the ceremony to learn a little bit about the history of the project from those involved and to hear President Joel Seligman discuss the University's commitment to sustainability. From 2-3pm, you can be among the first to ride the biodiesel bus as it drives across campus where you can get a close look at where we make biodiesel and get a tour of the UR Biodiesel lab. Also, feel free to stop by the Goergen BME/Optics atrium for some refreshments, an opportunity to learn about the biodiesel process, chat with the students, faculty and staff involved, and get a coupon for some free french fries to keep our "fuel" supply strong! For more information, visit www.urbiodiesel.com. ...
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Thanks to the help of American Fleet, the Biodiesel Bus is currently being professionally painted, sanded and repaired. Also, we are using environmentally friendly water-based paint! By the end of this week, the bus will also have the decals installed as well...
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The Biodiesel Bus has been moved to the American Fleet garage, as they will be prepping, repairing and painting it for us to prepare for the kickoff. (Also, big thanks to American Fleet for their generosity and support!) Meanwhile, we are still working on our first batch in the lab. The biodiesel spent the weekend in the settling tank, and tomorrow we plan to drain the glycerin and pump the biodiesel into the wash tank. Things are certainly moving quickly with UR Biodiesel! ...
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Yesterday, we transferred the WVO from the storage drum into the processor. Today, we added lye and methanol and started running the processor to allow the chemicals to mix with the WVO. We will let it sit in the processor overnight, and then continue the process tomorrow. Stay tuned for another update soon...
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After long last, we plan to begin our first batch of biodiesel tomorrow (Wednesday) at 1pm. Anybody is welcome to join us. I'm sure there will be hiccups, but hopefully it will work!...
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We need your help! We will be sanding, cleaning, priming and painting the bus on Saturday and Sunday (THIS weekend). We could use all the help we can get! Email me at eric.weissmann@rochester.edu if you think you can help us out!...
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We are very, very close to finishing all of the piping and the processor. We need to complete one more small section of pipe, and then we are basically done. All of our electrical work is done, we have tightened a few sections with leaks and fixed a few problems, and we are almost ready to go. After a few labels and safety measures are completed, we expect to actually produce our first batch of biodiesel on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. Stay tuned for an update on how that goes....
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As it turns out, it is a little too expensive to have the Biodiesel Bus professionally painted. So instead, we are going to paint it ourselves! If you or your organization are interested in helping with this, please let me know. We plan to paint the bus next weekend (April 4-5). We already tested out the paint color and look on a corner of the bus, and it looks fantastic. ...
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Sorry it has been a little while since the last post. The UR Biodiesel Kickoff is officially scheduled for Wednesday, April 22nd at 1:30pm (Earth Day). The event will take place outside the Goergen BME/Optics building on the River Campus (across from the Hopeman Engineering Building).
From 1:30-2pm, a few individuals will speak for a few minutes about this history and significance of UR Biodiesel. Then, from about 2pm-3:30pm, anybody interested can take a ride on the UR Biodiesel bus and take a tour of the UR Biodiesel Lab. At the same time, others can join us in the Munnerlyn Atrium in the Goergen BME/Optics building for refreshments, photos, conversation and general sustainability information. ...
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