Laughing Stock Farm, Freeport, Maine

Adaptation of Commercially Available Multi Fuel Waste Oil Burners to Allow Use of Restaurant Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) for Greenhouse and Other Agricultural Heating.

Abstract of project goals, objectives and results expected:  This project will demonstrate the use of commercially available multi fuel waste oil burners to burn restaurant WVO for heating commercial vegetable greenhouses in Maine.  Results will include initial capital and operational costs as well as economic benefits.  Demonstration will include equipment for collecting, processing, and storing WVO for fuel; burner and boiler components necessary for burning WVO; and analysis of BTU and constituents listed in 40 CFR 279.11 to demonstrate energy potential and regulatory implications of burning WVO as fuel.  It is expected that agriculture will benefit from reduced energy costs and restaurants will benefit from reduced disposal costs.

Identification of Need, Opportunity, and Justification:   Many sectors of the agriculture industry in Maine rely on burning fuels for heat energy.  In the case of Laughing Stock Farm (LSF), heat for our 17,000 square feet of greenhouse area is our greatest non-labor cost on an annual basis.  Regardless of the percentage of operational costs that heat fuel represents, it is a large, highly unpredictable cost for every agricultural enterprise in Maine.  We propose this project to provide a cost effective, reliable, and predictable locally available alternative that is more environmentally sound to make our business and Maine agriculture more sustainable.

Need - Maine agriculture has a need for lower energy costs so that it can increase profitability and compete more effectively.  This project will fulfill the need for lower energy cost by demonstrating restaurant waste vegetable oil (WVO) use as a readily available, low cost, sustainable, and environmentally safe material for fuel. Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) is used fryolator oil.  This project will be limited to vegetable oil as opposed to shortenings because shortening would require transesterification (biodiesel processing with hazardous materials) to convert the shortening to a liquid material with appropriate viscosity at ambient temperatures, where WVO can be burned directly.

Opportunity - An opportunity exists due to the current high cost of petroleum fuels ($1.65/gal for No. 2, and $1.40/gal for No. 4), the desire of restaurants to reduce their WVO disposal cost ($0.20 to $0.50/gal), and the ready availability of commercial multi fuel waste oil burners designed, tested, and certified to burn vegetable oil. 

There are approximately 20 vegetable growers in Maine producing winter greens and root crops or early season tomatoes in greenhouse structures who could apply this technology.  This technology will also be readily transferable to greenhouse seedling and bedding plant operations and space heating for dairy farms.  The fact that the greatest concentration of vegetable greenhouses in North America (over 550 acres) exist in Ontario, Canada for greenhouse vegetable production suggests that this technology has great potential for the State of Maine, provided heat energy can be obtained at a reasonable cost.

Justification - This project is justified because energy costs have never been higher or less stable than this year, waste oil burners have been improved significantly in recent years, restaurant’s costs for WVO disposal have never been higher, and WVO has not previously been demonstrated in Maine as an agricultural heating fuel.  WVO processed with crude, undocumented, and expensive ($1.00 to $2.00/gal) transesterification using hazardous chemicals has been demonstrated, but is not necessary for WVO used as heating fuel.

Project Goals and Objectives:

Goal - The goal of this project is to demonstrate that:

1) WVO can be economically and reliably burned as fuel for agricultural activities,

2) there is economic benefit to both the agricultural and restaurant industries in Maine, and

3) there is environmental benefit to burning WVO as an alternative to petroleum fuels. 

Objectives - The objectives are to build systems that can be successfully used on a local scale to:

1) collect WVO from restaurants,

2) process the WVO to remove water and solids,

3) store the WVO in easily heated and cleaned tanks, and

4) burn the WVO in a commercially available burner mounted on a standard hot water boiler. 

Send mail to lisa@laughingstockfarm.com with questions or comments about our farm

Send to ralph@rturner.com with questions or comments about our energy project. 

Copyright 2009, Laughing Stock Farm
Last modified: February 04, 2009