Cook County Jail Inmates Turn Vegetable Oil into Diesel Fuel

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January 30, 2020

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by Evan Garcia (WTTW) A new program at Cook County Jail teaches inmates how to make biodiesel fuel from cooking oil used in the jail’s dining halls.

Two of the Cook County sheriff’s utility trucks, which transport supplies throughout the county, run exclusively on the biodiesel produced at the jail.

Unlike petroleum diesel, which is made through a process of refining crude oil, biodiesel is a clean-burning and renewable fuel made from vegetable or animal-based fats.

Corrections officer Tony Lordo first explored the idea in January, when he began processing the fuel with a homemade kit.

After months of research and experiments, the jail invested $11,000 in a biodiesel processor in November and started its first class soon after in the jail’s Mental Health Transition Center.

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Lordo’s first class has five students: three are inmates within the MHTC, which offers therapy and job training; another is on probation and the fifth participates in the jail’s work diversion program.

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The process starts with week-old vegetable oil used to fry food in the jail’s officer dining hall or the county’s juvenile detention center. The waste is transported to the MHTC, where it’s strained to remove excess bits of food.

“The material is there – the county has to purchase the oil in order to cook the food to begin with, throughout all the county facilities that have kitchens,” Lordo said. “If we could reclaim that oil and process it into fuel, it’s a win-win.”

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What’s left is biodiesel, which is bottled up and ready to fill in a truck’s diesel fuel tank.

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Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart estimates the program will save the jail $15,000 to $20,000 a year in diesel fuel costs, but underscored its rehabilitative value on inmates who return home after serving time.

“It’s giving people this view of their ability to impact the environment,” Dart said. “That you alone can do something here that’s going to bring back all these benefits to our communities around us.” READ MORE includes VIDEO

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