by David Bennett (Delta Farm Press) Surrounded by educational posters and a large dry board full of mathematical equations, Kevin Humphrey sits explaining how the biodiesel lab in adjacent rooms came to be.
“I’ve been here since 1993,” says the associate professor of agricultural education at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro. “We began this lab project in earnest in 2008 and finished in 2010.
“We worked with electricians and plumbers, but, since I was in construction prior to getting into education, we did all the framing, dropped ceilings and the like. We actually began making fuel in 2010.”
At first, Humphrey’s aim was to analyze biofuels, biodiesel. The problem was access to biodiesel was rather limited in the state. “So, if I was to analyze it, I had to produce it as well. One thing led to another and here we are.”
Humphrey is speaking in the lab’s office of data collection where he normally works with students. “This is for engine testing — right now we’re working with a Kubota single-cylinder diesel that allows us to test soy biodiesel or any other.”
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It isn’t just university students that Humphrey is attempting to reach with his work. He works with high school students in hopes they’ll understand the possibility of setting up an entrepreneurial biodiesel facility, become their own boss.
Towards that end, Humphrey has taken a lab model into classrooms across northeast Arkansas. High school chemistry, technology and agriculture teachers have also benefited from workshops he’s run showing how to incorporate a biodiesel lab in their classrooms.
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Humphrey and students use five feed stocks: soybeans, canola, camelina, cottonseed and waste vegetable oil.
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Putting together a small processing facility like this one in farm country municipalities makes sense, says Humphrey. “Look at what we can do in this small lab. Some entrepreneurs and/or farmers could put together a facility in town that would benefit so many.
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“I’m not an economist, but my hope is to stay even-keeled through the ups and downs and investors with long-term goals are attracted. Right now, I can make a gallon of biodiesel from waste vegetable oil for roughly $1. When diesel is $2, or higher, that looks pretty good.” READ MORE