By TIM THORNBERRY
Kentucky Correspondent

LANCASTER, Ky. — As gas prices have risen during the past few years, more and more is heard about alternative fuels, one being biodiesel. With that in mind, Christian Wyler, a senior at Garrard County High School has literally done something about it.

Wyler serves as the vice-president of the schools FFA chapter and needed an SAE (Supervised Agricultural Experience) project when the idea of making the fuel came to him while watching a television show about it. SAEs are designed to give students real world experience, apply what they have learned in the classroom and earn money while they are learning according to the National FFA Organization.

In fact, his father was watching the same show only in a different location. The two had the same idea and the project was underway.
“I have always been interested in cars to an extent but mostly the mechanics of how things work,” said Wyler. “All the information we needed to build a processor was out there. So about a year later we were making biodiesel fuel.”

Wyler was a freshman at the time the project began and said the hardest part of the project would prove to be finding its main ingredient, used vegetable oil.

“Most of the big restaurants chains have contracts with large biodiesel companies so I began to collect the oil used at local events like fish fries,” he said.

For a while Wyler did come into an oil landfall after friends opened an eatery in nearby Danville, Ky. He collected about 600 gallons of oil from them only to have the place close and his source dry up.
But Wyler did not give up; he went back to the fish fries. With a modest investment of $1,000, he has managed to provide fuel for his father’s diesel engine car and his grandfather’s machinery on his Lincoln County farm.

“This is not new. The idea of biodiesel has been around for a long time. But when gas was still two dollars a gallon, it didn’t make sense to produce it (biodiesel) but now that it is around four dollars a gallon, it becomes more economical to use the biodiesel,” he said.

That may be an understatement since the cost of one gallon of Wyler’s biodiesel fuel only cost around one dollar to make.
As word of his project grew, many people have become interested in it. Kenneth Parson, Wyler’s FFA advisor said his student has a lot going for him.

“He’s a good student and has a lot on the ball and this has been a good project that has gotten a lot of attention. It is certainly worth taking a look at,” he said.

And that is exactly what has happened. Wyler recently spent some time with University of Kentucky (UK) experts at a biofuels conference.

UK’s Tracy Farmer Center for the Environment paid his way to the conference where Wyler set up his project and explained it to nearly 1,000 attendees.

“That has been one of the things that has amazed me most about this project; the attention people have given it,” said Wyler modestly. “I think I was the only one there without a Ph.D.”

That may change as the future rolls around for the bright student.
Wyler’s knowledge in chemistry helped as a lot of chemistry is needed to perfect the process and get the fuel just right.

Wyler was a Kentucky Governor’s Scholar, a program that began in 1983 and brings together outstanding students from across the state for five weeks during the summer to participate in an array of academic and personal growth projects and classes. Those attending generally receive some type of scholarship to the state school of their choice.

While biodiesel may be in his blood for the moment, Wyler has another interest, baseball. He plays for his high school team and hopes to continue his playing days into college.

“I’m not sure that making biodiesel fuel will be in my future, but I would like to go to a college where I can play ball,” he said. It sounds as if Christian has everything in perspective.