Chick-Fil-A partners with company to convert used cooking oil to renewable fuels

Rendering is a tough business. Finding feedstock for biodiesel is difficult, I'm sure CF will be well paid for the used oil.
 
Rendering is a tough business. Finding feedstock for biodiesel is difficult, I'm sure CF will be well paid for the used oil.

I've heard that there are used oil poachers looking to make their own, to the point where tanks are generally locked now. They get good money for the used oil.

I guess one of the more interesting ones is the Disneyland Railroad operating off of B98, using mostly used cooking oil from its own restaurants. They claim it saves up to 200,000 gallons per year. However, I was under the impression that they would normally use dyed untaxed off-road #2 fuel oil for these applications, even though it's really similar to diesel. From what I've heard, Disneyland blends in road-taxed diesel to make their B98.

https://disneyparks.disney.go.com/b...ilroad-steam-trains-fueled-by-french-fry-oil/
 
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At some point all cooking oils could be recycle into any fuel. The main problem is having the infrastructural for collection point.

The same thing could be said for any any engine oil regardless of its application.
 
Our CFA is a "public nuisance" and has to move to a different location because it is too popular.

I heard about that. The main problem is that the City of Santa Barbara doesn't allow new drive-thrus. The only reason why CFA got a permit to operate a drive-thru was because it was grandfathered in from an existing drive-thru (used to be a Burger King?). The only place they could build a new drive-thru would be in unincorporated areas or Goleta. Or maybe some other location in SB with an existing drive-thru.

I tend to agree that it isn't safe with vehicles blocking a traffic lane (there is no street parking) and the sidewalk. I'm not even sure how anyone gets into the parking lot when it's backed up like that. And then there's Rusty's Pizza Parlor next door and the Jack in the Box two doors down that have their parking lots blocked when it backs up.

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Our CFA is a "public nuisance" and has to move to a different location because it is too popular.
Wow. I have never been to one, none are convenient to me. I can't even imagine waiting in a drive-thru line that long. What's so special about it?
 
I've seen used cooking oil used in diesel engines. Great program and idea, but it needs to be refined down to a useable product.
 
Wow. I have never been to one, none are convenient to me. I can't even imagine waiting in a drive-thru line that long. What's so special about it?

Not sure. I've had it on occasion and it wasn't bad. But I was paying nearly $5 for a breaded chicken breast topped with iceberg lettuce. The supposed secret is to ask for one of their sauces. However, the key to their breading is that they use a lot of MSG.
 
I don't see anything new here. They started using biodiesel around 2006 or 7, sourcing it from McDonalds. Haven't you ever followed a truck and smell french fries?

Anyway, even though it was a good idea, it turned out that using soybean oil was easier and cheaper. Also didn't have to worry about salt and other impurities.
 
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I don't see anything new here. They started using biodiesel around 2006 or 7, sourcing it from McDonalds. Haven't you ever followed a truck and smell french fries?

Anyway, even though it was a good idea, it turned out that using soybean oil was easier and cheaper. Also didn't have to worry about salt and other impurities.

It can certainly be made from raw oils, but part of the reason for using cooking oils is that the "feedstock" is cheaper and that it helps divert what would otherwise be a waste product. But apparently there other purposes for used cooking oils/fats, including as animal feed. Apparently one of the issues with used cooking oil is that they end up producing soap that has to be removed.

The main challenge to biodiesel production from used oils and greases is the high percentage of free fatty acids (FFAs) in the feedstock. Fats and oils are composed of triglycerides – three fatty acid molecules attached to a glycerol molecule. In used oils and greases, some of the triglycerides have broken down so that the fatty acids are separated from the glycerol molecule. These are called free fatty acids. These free fatty acids tend to react with the alkali catalyst in biodiesel production to form soap instead of biodiesel. This reduces the level of free catalyst and thus reduces the speed of the transesterification reaction. Soap formation tends to inhibit the separation of the ester from the glycerin and slow down the reaction. In addition, because the soap must be removed and discarded, more soap formation means less biodiesel.​
 
I actually heard of that issue on KFI AM.

It's a problem at a lot of drive-thru locations along city streets where there was no practical means to absorb the vehicles in line such that they didn't wait on public streets. But I've heard of locations where there was no permit for a drive-thru citing traffic concerns.
 
If they really wanted to impress the drones they would close their drive throughs because of all the gas wasted idling inline waiting to place the order and food.
 
I don't go there purely because my stomach doesn't agree with something they use.

That was a Burger King before and was never an issue. I will go to the Jack in the Box for lunch usually once a week, I work just down the cross street from there, and I get stuck in the traffic a lot. It has been a lot better recently though. CFA wants to take over the IHOP in "NoLeta" which is SB County and not SB or Goleta so they can have a drive thru. There would be a Starbucks with a drive thru right next door with an In N Out across the street. They both backup into eachother so that will be awesome.

As for the original issue, I will keep using diesel from Shell. Ford is iffy on the biodiesel thing on a 6.0 and I don't want to chance it.
 
I don't go there purely because my stomach doesn't agree with something they use.

That was a Burger King before and was never an issue. I will go to the Jack in the Box for lunch usually once a week, I work just down the cross street from there, and I get stuck in the traffic a lot. It has been a lot better recently though. CFA wants to take over the IHOP in "NoLeta" which is SB County and not SB or Goleta so they can have a drive thru. There would be a Starbucks with a drive thru right next door with an In N Out across the street. They both backup into eachother so that will be awesome.

As for the original issue, I will keep using diesel from Shell. Ford is iffy on the biodiesel thing on a 6.0 and I don't want to chance it.
Old IDI diesels can run on just about anything, like my F-450 (little risky with a Stanadyne rotary IP), but the old Mercedes & P-pump Cummins with the inline pumps do better. Glycerin is the biggest issue, it will jam up piston rings eventually.
 
Wow. I have never been to one, none are convenient to me. I can't even imagine waiting in a drive-thru line that long. What's so special about it?
That’s the thing. Chick Fil A is exponentially quicker than any fast food place you’ve ever been to.

They have it down to a science - even with the volume of customers, you don’t wait long, because they spend the $$$ to hire enough workers and put the system in place to serve all those people quickly.
 
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