Mobile Biodiesel Education Demonstration

Demonstrating Biodiesel Production to Farmers, Students, and the Public

Biodiesel trailer

This project was funded through a USDA-NIFA Capacity Building Grant in 2012.听 Project members include Dr. Jason de Koff (PI), Mr. Chris Robbins (Collaborator), Dr. John Ricketts (Co-PI), Dr. Prabodh Illukpitiya (Co-PI), and Mr. Alvin Wade (Co-PI).听 Our demonstration trailer includes a seed press for crushing oilseeds like canola, sunflower, and soybean.听 This releases vegetable oil and produces a meal that can be used as an animal feed.听 We also have a biodiesel processor where the vegetable oil is converted to biodiesel through a chemical reaction called transesterification.

Number of direct contacts to date (since July 2013): 2,355

We would like to thank AgStrong for donating the canola seed used in our demonstrations.

This project was a National Finalist in the Search for Excellence in Crop Production by the National Association of County Agricultural Agents in 2016.

Workshop slides:
The biodiesel process
Agronomics of sunflower and winter canola
Federal Assistance Programs and Economics

Videos for step-by-step process of biodiesel production:





Biodiesel factsheets:
 Small-scale biodiesel production
Maximizing the biodiesel process
Sunflower for biodiesel production
Federal assistance programs for biodiesel production
Economics of small-scale biodiesel production

Seed press for crushing oilseeds 听 听 听

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Oilseed press for making oil from canola


Biodiesel processor for converting vegetable oil to biodieselBiodiesel processor for converting vegetable oil to biodiesel.





webpage contact:
Agricultural and Environmental Sciences