2009 Earth Day St Louis (Muny / Forest Park) April 26th

I had a really good time meeting up with members from the St. Louis Biofuels Club who volunteered to work the biofuels booth. Many people had stopped by our booth to find out more and Maud (moderator of the St. Louis Biofuels Yahoo groups) prepared small batches of used waste vegetable oils for the younger audience to mix with methanol and lye and to be clipped on a retort stand for the final biodiesel + glycerol separation.

The demonstration unit was also displayed and powered on for washing for a prior biodiesel batch. The generator which supplied the power was fueled by biodiesel too.

It was interesting to meet many people from all walks of life from College Professors (Principia) to home brewers and others who are simply interested or have always been wanting to find out more about biodiesel production or looking for a forum to post and find out more information on renewable energy / biofuels. We even had a couple who were trying the cutting edge by growing a pilot oily algae system.

It was a pretty windy day and the portable tents had the tendency to fly away even though it was weighed down.

I did get a chance to visit other vendors and displays and there were other interesting booths and showcases of renewable energy, even the local Ameren UE utility company had a large display, tips for energy conservation and their hybrid utility truck on display.

http://s170.photobucket.com/albums/u264/bambi_seller/2009_04_26_Earth_Day_2009_St_Louis_MO_Muny/