Oak biodiesel: State building and fire codes affecting biodiesel manufacturing

Abstract

Long chain mono alkyl esters or Biodiesel is a renewable energy efficient fuel manufactured from basic vegetable oils and recycled cooking greases. For the environmentally conscious home manufacturer or home brewer, the Discovery Channel, The Learning Channel, and Ebay encourage biodiesel usage and manufacturing by offering how-to-tips as well as do-it yourself kits. This paper focuses on the Oak Biodiesel company formerly located in High Point, North Carolina that was shut down because the "biodiesel business did not comply with the state fire and building codes" (Jarboe, 2007). This research surveys news reports about four biodiesel fires as a basis for query into biodiesel fire and building code regulations, biodiesel fire safety, and the associated ethical dilemmas facing the home and smallscale manufacturers. It also stimulates discussions about how local, state and federal policies may have to be adjusted to accommodate the increased homemade biodiesel trend. The current canon of scholarly biodiesel research does not address how emissions and fire and building codes affect the in-home manufacturer, the small less than 100,000 gallon per year producing companies, as well as the communities surrounding those facilities. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2009.