Professor takes zeal for biodiesel on the road.

Byline: Greg Bolt The Register-Guard

David Hackleman won't be the first person to drive across the country using nothing but pure biodiesel, but he might be the first one to do it with a clarinet.

The instrument is one way the Oregon State University chemical engineering professor will pass the time during pit stops as he zigzags through the states on a mission to prove that wherever you go, biodiesel can get you there. A longtime advocate of the alternative fuel and faculty adviser to the OSU Biodiesel Initiative, Hackleman decided it was time to put his biofuel where his gas tank is.

"I talk about it a lot, but I figure unless I do it myself it's just talk," he said during a stop in Eugene last week. "So here I am."

Hackleman is making the trip in his 3/4 -ton Dodge 4x4 pickup truck with an unmodified Cummins diesel engine. The only thing he has done to the truck is add a pair of 50-gallon gas tanks so he's able to carry almost 140 gallons of fuel, a prudent addition given that biodiesel stations are still few and far between.

The truck, which has run on 100 percent biodiesel since Hackleman bought it a few years ago, gets up to 20 miles per gallon on the fuel despite its size. So, with 140 gallons on board, he could cover more than 2,500 miles if he averages 18 miles a gallon.

The ultimate destination is the National Youth Science Camp, which is already under way in West Virginia's Monongahela National Forest and wraps up July 16. The camp brings together some of the nation's top high school science students for three weeks of advanced workshops and activities, and Hackleman said those are the kids who need to know that biodiesel can be part of a better future.

"I'm doing it because I want to and I want to show it to a bunch of young people who can make a difference," he said. "It's just a phenomenal group of students."

Hackleman is convinced that biodiesel is the nation's way out of its dependence on foreign oil, at least for the portion used to make gasoline. Biodiesel, he says, is cleaner, can be made from plant material that can be grown here, is more environmentally friendly to refine than petroleum, puts no additional carbon into the existing carbon cycle and isn't nearly as hazardous when spilled or mishandled.

But most of all, biodiesel is homegrown.

"I feel it's insane to not use your own existing product," he said. "That's what we're doing. We're throwing away a product that already exists and importing another product."

Biodiesel does have some drawbacks. While any newer diesel engine can handle 100 percent biodiesel with no modifications, older diesel engines could be damaged by the pure stuff and can use only biofuel blended with standard diesel.

Also, although biodiesel emits less of almost every category of pollutant than its petroleum counterpart, it does produce slightly more nitrogen oxide than standard diesel. Hackleman believes that modest advancement in catalytic converter technology would solve that problem.

But the biggest obstacles are those of scale. Right now, far too little biodiesel is produced to make even a tiny dent in petroleum use, and many question whether the United States could produce enough soy or canola or other crop source to feed the demand for fuel.

Hackleman disagrees. Biodiesel doesn't have to be made from farm-raised crops, he said. The plant oils needed for the fuel also are produced by certain algae.

What's more, he said, that algae could be grown in municipal waste water and would consume the waste materials, producing both the raw material for biodiesel and clean water at the same time.

The spent algae also could be used to grow more algae and start the process over. And unlike hydrogen power or fuel cells - two other talked-about energy alternates - biodiesel doesn't require special equipment or a whole new infrastructure. "All you have to do is pour it in your tank and go," he said. "Anybody with a diesel vehicle can run biodiesel."

That's the message Hackleman hopes to spread on his trip. He's making the journey entirely on his own dime and doesn't have a firm route, but he plans to stop at a couple of national parks to deliver biodiesel talks, visit biodiesel collectives and check in with the National Biodiesel Board.

Hackleman hopes he can at least get biodiesel into the public vocabulary. "We have to educate people," he said. "That's the key."