Only a few days back, I was involved in a fierce debate at the lunch table about how biodiesel might end up creating a problem rather than being a solution to the existing problem. The fact is the present biodiesel is mostly coming from crops and as long as it does not find a substantially large alternate source, it might be an impossible balancing act between food for mouth and food for engines. But e now are talking about a process that experts say could free the United States of its dependence on petroleum diesel fuel. And it all started with a senior at Augsburg College.
Augsburg College Senior Brian Krohn found out there is a new way to produce the much needed fuel. Working together, Brian, his Augsburg professors and scientists from Anoka-based SarTec Corporation have come up with a process that scientists say has the potential to revolutionize the fuel industry. The new Mcgyan Process, as it’s called, puts alcohol and a variety of waste oils through a high-temperature, high pressure reactor. Inside, the oils from things like soybeans, coconuts, even algae react with a catalyst, creating 100-percent renewable biodiesel fuel.
This is exactly why you must work carefully and with some devotion when you are in that ‘Catalyst’ class. I always giggled sitting in the last bench when my chemistry lecturer taught me about catalysts and how they miraculously sped up stuff. He used to speak with such enthusiasm, that I was almost woken up from my mid day siesta. But now you see what Brian has done. Anyway, good luck to this young chemist and his amazing new and eco-friendly, cheap biofuel.
