A friend of mine was talking to the owner of a local restaurant about their WVO. Everything sounded good except that they don't dispose of it in liquid form. Their WVO leaves the fryer and mixes with another chemical, turning it into a sold block that they can throw out. So far, I haven't found out what the chemical is. Has anyone heard of such a process, and if so, what is invovled in converting it back to a liquid for Biodiesel?

This sounds extremely unusual. We haven't encountered this problem after talking to about 300 restaurants. My guess is that your friend was misinformed by whoever they talked to and no chemicals are added to solidify the oil. Rather, it is probably either lard or chicken fat.

The employee who passed on the wrong info was probably referring to some cleaning compound used to clean the fryers that they might mistakenly think solidifies the oil. Could you have your friend someone else (preferably in management) at the store outrightly what type of oil they use and how it is disposed of so we can solve this mystery outright?

Incidentally, Scrambler250, oils that are solid at room temperature can still be used to make some great biodiesel.

Forget trying to convert it back to oil. I've used a product like it on old house paint. It causes it to harden. Once hard it is no longer a hazard to send to the dump. Ask him not to add the stuff to the oil and, instead, give it to you. You will be saving him money on the chemical he is adding and making a fuel out of a product that is truely a waste. (When the renderer take oil he is reusing it. It is not truely "waste" oil. When your friend hardens it and throws it away it is truely a waste.)

-Jim