Some Carroll College students are busy making automobile fuel.

It's not an attempt to reap record oil profits, but rather to help the S.A.V.E. Foundation, a local recycling group that has its roots on campus.

To do so, a couple of science students recently made biodiesel for the foundation's collection truck. A demonstration on the creation process is set for Tuesday.

Chemists call it transesterification, which involves cracking triglyceride bonds.

Simply put, the students mixed methanol and vegetable oil in a big blender, added heat and lye and let it sit. A layer of gylcerin was skimmed off hours later and biodiesel is the end result.

"It's so easy to do we should just be doing it for any diesel engine," says sociology student Christi Griffin, who has helped make the fuel. "Nothing is going to blow up or anything."

Aerospace engineering student Alaina Garcia said says she finds the process fascinating. An aspiring pilot, she has loftier ideas for biodiesel use.

"I also hope to utilize renewable resouces such as biodiesal and solar panels to enable flying devices…so that they too won't be dependent on fossil fuels anymore," Garcia says.

The process is pretty safe and a practical fit for a college chemistry lab.

University of Montana-Helena students will get in on production, too. A group of UMH diesel mechanics students are figuring out a winter additive and a dual fuel system for what they call the foundation's "Vegi-mobile."

The Tuesday event is a sort of one-year birthday party for SAVE, or Student Advocates for Valuing the Environment, according to Matt Elsaesser, it's sole employee.

It's also a chance to show people the process of making biodiesel, and contrast it to the more laborious process of making conventional gasoline, he says.

Carroll College chemistry professor Kyle Strode said methanol and lye deserve respect. Biodiesel and methanol are flammable; lye is caustic. Good ventilation and proper safety wear are a must.

Oil from Bert and Ernie's Dining Saloon's deep fryers is the energy source for the Vegi-mobile. Elsaesser said the group gathers about 15 gallons of grease per week.

The foundation is trying to make their project as sustainable and as low impact as possible. Best known for starting a plastics recycling drive, Elseasser says he'll explore the use of biolubricants for the Vegi-mobile's moving parts in the coming months.

Reporter Jason Mohr can be reached at 447-4075 or helenair.com">jason.mohr@helenair.com.