OBERLIN, Ohio -- The campus at Oberlin College smells a little like a fast-food restaurant when the grounds crew is mowing. That's because two weeks ago the tractor was converted to run on vegetable oil.

Oberlin Grounds Services Manager Dennis Greive and his crew mow about 120 acres with the same tractor they have been using for the past four years. It simply has an added tank for vegetable oil.

The conversion was done by Sam Merrett, who owns Full Circle Fuels in Oberlin. He is a 2005 graduate of Oberlin College.

"When I graduated, there was a defunct gas station in downtown Oberlin and it seemed like the perfect model to see if I could make something there," said Merrett.

He definitely has made it work. He sells regular diesel as well as vegetable oil for vehicles and bio-diesel. He said the difference with bio-diesel is that a tank modification doesn't need to be done. Merrett points out there is so much restaurant grease that can easily be made into fuel by letting it sit outside for three to six months. That allows settling to take place and what you're left with on the top is a clear liquid that can be put into cars, trucks, and tractors.

When Merrett and his crew convert a vehicle they keep the diesel tank in tact. They add the alternative fuel tank for the veggie oil because of the temperature factor. Greive explained, "When the motor is cold the diesel flows freely. When the motor warms up, the veggie oil is also warmed up and the fuel system is turned over to veggie oil."

The shop has done more than 200 fuel tank conversions and Merrett made sure he could perform the conversions by using his own vehicles as guinea pigs. "We have a lot of customers who have very nice expensive trucks so I wanted to be able to say I did it." His 2003 Dodge has 50,000 miles on vegetable oil and 100,000 miles on the motor and he said it runs perfectly.

Typically, the tractor at Oberlin College uses 3,000 gallons of diesel fuel a year and this conversion will not only cut the amount of fuel, it will save them about $1,500 and help the environment.

Greive said, "This tractor uses 700 gallons (of vegetable oil) so we can save 7 tons of carbon from being emitted into the atmosphere."

Full Circle Fuels