From Deep Fryers to Diesel Fuel: Company Converts Neyland Stadium’s Used Cooking Oil into Biofuel

by Logan West (The Daily Beacon) ... During football season, Vols fans place thousands of orders at Neyland Stadium. With 30 commercial fryers, the venue can use over 14,000 gallons of frying oil each season.

Filta Environmental Kitchen Solutions of Tennessee specializes in reducing oil consumption and recycling waste.

Trevor Higgins, president of Filta Environmental Kitchen Solutions of Tennessee, leads the charge — sharing the company’s mission when it comes to filtration.

“If the oil’s within its half life, we can filter it,” Higgins said. “Our goal is to double its life. Sometimes that’s possible, sometimes it’s not, but it definitely extends it past one game of usability.”

Employees travel to each kitchen in the stadium to assess the purity of the cooking oil. If it is determined to be safe enough to filter, workers move the oil into a specialized machine that performs microfiltration. Once the oil is removed, the fryers are detailed with food-safe cleaners.

Out of a tube, freshly-filtered, golden oil returns to the frying vats, free of crumbs and debris. Now, the kitchens are ready for the next home game.

After repeated use, cooking oil degrades chemically and exits its phase of peak performance. The period of time where the oil is usable is referred to as its half life.

When frying oil is past its half life, it is no longer safe for food preparation. Instead of disposing of it, Filta utilizes a process called transesterification to convert the unusable oil into biodiesel for heavy machinery.

“We take all the old oil when it can’t be filtered, and it goes to biofuel production facilities,” Higgins said. “They blend it with regular diesel fuel, and it gets a second life.” READ MORE