First Green Project of Its Kind: Utah to Make Biofuel from Highway Crops

What would you do if you maintained 100,000 acres of right-of-way along 5,000 miles of roadway that you owned, and you are sick and tired of paying high fuel prices? Maybe you would plant safflower, canola and perennial flax and in the Fall make your own dang biofuel! That is the plan for the Utah Department of Transportation (UDOT) in the nation's first experiment of its kind. The alternative fuel experiment was announced Tuesday by UDOT in partnership with Utah State University's (USU) College of Agriculture. The first crops were planted at a rest stop on Interstate 15 near Kaysville. If the green experiment works, the agriculture team will harvest the crops, press the seeds, and use the seed oil to make biofuel for the fleet of equipment used by UDOT.

UDOT Executive Director, John Njord, said in a statement to KSL News that, "We predict that if everything works out just right, we could take a mile of our right-of-way and generate about 500 gallons of biodiesel per year on that right-of-way." If the project works at the peak levels projected, the state could generate as much as 2.5 million gallons of biodiesel fuel each year, enough to fuel almost its entire fleet of dump trucks, graders and other heavy machinery. The effort will potentially save the state of Utah millions of dollars in operations and maintenance expenses.

Agriculture specialists from USU sowed the seeds on Tuesday of several crops along the right-of-way. "We picked western exposure and southern exposures because we figured this would be our most difficult seeding operation. If it grows here, we think it's likely it will grow in other places as well," said Dr. Ralph Whitesides with Utah State University's College of Agriculture. Initially, experts will convert the oil to biodiesel at a test site in Richfield, Utah. In the forward-thinking plan, they could ultimately use portable converters they on the side of the highway. Chuck Gay, from the USU Extension Program, says they will share their findings with other state and local governments when they know the results of the experiment. Gay also advises that if you want to grow your own crops at home to make biofuel, you may not get much from the typical backyard.

There are some home enthusiasts who have been making their own biodiesel fuel for the past several years with used cooking oils. One such enthusiast is Mike Pelly, who offers his recipe at journeytoforever.org.

For more information about the UDOT highway crop project, you can contact Adan Carrillo with the Utah Department of Transportation at 801-965-4706.