High school students pioneer low-heat method for biodiesel

In Utah, two Salt Lake City high school students have invented a new way of making biodiesel, and have applied for a patent. Using leftover cooking oil from a Chinese restaurant owned by one of their parents, the students start with the traditional method of mixing oil with methanol and potassium hydroxide.

Then two students force the mixture through a tiny tube, with a diameter less than the thickness of a human hair, at room temperature. The tube’s small diameter causes the particles to collide and react, acting as a catalyst without using heat.

The students have also figured out a new way to extract waste glycerol and how to pack their biofuel set-up into a Tupperware box with a lid that doubles as a solar panel, which could produce biofuels in a developing country with limited access to electricity.