Incubator company turns cooking oil into biodiesel fuel

There is life after French fries and chicken fingers for used cooking oil in USC’s dining halls and the Greek Village.   

         Midlands Biofuels, a start-up company in the University’s Technology Incubator, is collecting the oil from Carolina to convert it to biodiesel fuel, a waste vegetable oil–based biofuel.

          “Waste cooking oil is the ultimate recycling product: blending biodiesel with regular petro-diesel results in a cleaner burning fuel that’s better for the environment and our wallets,” said Joe “Bio Joe” Renwick, co-owner of Midlands Biofuels.

          In the process of setting up South Carolina’s only operational biodiesel plant in downtown Winnsboro in 2009, Midlands BioFuels consulted with USC chemical engineering professors Thomas Stanford and Francis Gadala-Maria, who made design and chemical process suggestions for the facility. Two mechanical engineering students have worked as interns. 

         Midlands Biofuels is South Carolina’s only operational biodiesel plant plans to crank out about 500,000 gallons per month of blended B5 Biodiesel, which contains a 5-percent biodiesel/95-percent petro-diesel blend.

          “Being in the incubator has provided us with a lot of opportunities in terms of gaining expertise—both engineering and business,” Renwick said. “We’re also getting the opportunity to help USC students see the possibility of a future in the biofuels industry.”