Abstract
The Biodiesel Initiative is a plan to create a self-sufficient, sustainable, student run biodiesel production system at Vanderbilt University. The biodiesel processing system will be used to convert waste vegetable oil from Vanderbilt Dining services into environmentally responsible biodiesel fuel that can be used in any diesel engine. On campus, applications might include student activity vans, buses, or landscaping machinery. The ultimate goal of the project will be to curb the consumption of petroleum-based fuel by the Vanderbilt and Nashville community, and to educate others about the viability of biodiesel as an effective alternative fuel. The group also hopes to serve as a model for other campuses, by documenting and publishing the ongoing work at http://dorediesel.blogspot.com.Copyright for articles published in this journal is retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to Vanderbilt Undergraduate Research Journal under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (linked here). By virtue of their appearance in this open access journal, articles are available for wide dissemination at no cost to readers, with proper attribution (acknowledgment of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal), in educational and other non-commercial settings. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process.
Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository, in a journal or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal. However, for undergraduates authoring a manuscript under the guidance of a faculty member or research mentor, we strongly encourage the student to discuss with the faculty mentor and the Editor if prior publication in the Vanderbilt Undergraduate Research Journal will constrain future publication efforts in professional journals. To this end, all authors must submit a signed mentor consent form at the time of submission..