CHARLOTTE -- Aug. 26, 2009 -- UNC Charlotte, together with Charlotte Mecklenburg Utilities, Central Piedmont Community College and the Centralina Council of Governments, recently was awarded a Green Business Fund Grant presented by Gov. Bev Perdue at a reception held this month. The $85,000 grant, along with a $99,850 grant from the Biofuels Center of North Carolina will aid in the study and development of a highly integrated biodiesel production facility for Charlotte Mecklenburg Utilities.

The regional partnership will cultivate an oil seed crop on five acres of land owned by Charlotte Mecklenburg Utilities and irrigated with reclaimed water to produce biodiesel fuel.

According to Charlotte Mecklenburg Utilities, technology for converting virgin seed oils and yellow grease into biodiesel is well proven, however much less study has been done on brown grease currently removed from restaurant grease traps and black grease collected in sewer lines. Often grease is taken to landfills because it is mixed with wastewater. Grease poured down drains is the leading cause of sanitary sewer overflows in the Utilities 4,000-mile wastewater collection system.

The work will be conducted through UNC Charlotte’s new Infrastructure, Design, Environment and Sustainability (IDEAS) Center; Center director, Helene Hilger will serve as the principal investigator of the project. The Center will determine how much brown grease is generated in the county, its chemical makeup and how much biodiesel could be produced from the region. The funding also supports a vetting process to identify qualified vendors with brown grease-to-biodiesel technology.

Students from UNC Charlotte and Central Piedmont Community College will assist with various aspects of the projects. Central Piedmont’s Center for Sustainability will produce learning modules from the agricultural and biodiesel production activities to strengthen the Charlotte region’s green workforce.

Centralina Council of Governments is administering the grants through its Clean Fuels Coalition.

For more information, contact Helene Hilger, hhilger@uncc.edu.