What Smells Like French Fries?

Alabama Foley City workers in Orange Beach say new eco-program converting used cooking oil and grease into bio-fuel smells like their favorite fast-food restaurant

by Pat Peterson

Published: Thu, September 03, 2009 - 4:52 pm CST Last Updated: Thu, September 03, 2009 - 7:10 pm CST

FOLEY, Alabama - Stomachs are growling in Orange Beach!

"The tractors smell like french fries!" says city manager Ken Grimes. "And that's a fact. The exhaust smells like french fries, so that's got to be a perk around the sewer plant!"

The bio-diesel used to power city trucks and equipment is made from recycled cooking oil and grease.

"Our operators have put on about 20 pounds since we switched to bio-diesel due to the smelling of french fries," says Tim Tucker. "Yeah, it's time for a snack!"

Orange Beach will save thousands of dollars of year in fuel costs by converting grease into fuel. Some of the by-product will also be used to make soap for the shop workers.

The city has three recycling drop off locations but a lot of the cooking oil is now coming from Foley. Foley doesn't have a converter or fuel processor so the city ships their sludge to Pleasure Island to convert into energy.

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lovepeace Says:

Fri, Sep 04, 2009 at 4:03 pm

Mmmmmmmm French fries.
Mmmmmmmm Doughnuts.

claycitymadness Says:

Fri, Sep 04, 2009 at 3:02 pm

my ex wife after her shift at burger king? guess i didint get it my way.

sheltiedad Says:

Thu, Sep 03, 2009 at 11:21 pm

Using old grease as a bio-fuel is a good start. Hopefully by recycling into fuel, less will find the way into the pipes and sewers.

Fresh french fries do smell good, but as many people who have worked in a fast food place will say, the smell will eventually begin not to smell so nice.

I knew a person who worked in a Krispy Kreme store where they made the doughnuts. He loved the doughnuts when he started. After 6 months, the sweet sweet smell of glazing sugar 8 hours a day nauseated him and he had to quit. Just threatening to bring a KK doughnut to the house will cause him to grimace.

I’m wondering if burning the bio-fuel leaves a light misting of oil on the skin, or just the smell of french fries as a by-product.

mob1 Says:

Thu, Sep 03, 2009 at 8:52 pm

“Some of the workers have put on 20lbs since going to Bio-diesel.”

Coincidence, yeah maybe. However if it is not a coincidence and folks are psychologically wanting to eat more and are doing so we are kind of defeating the purpose here.

I guess its ok for us to become over weight and unhealthy as long as we are protecting the ozone.
Then again it will give the Dem’s a bigger card to play for socialized health care.

Its just one big Ipso-facto!

Rusty Says:

Thu, Sep 03, 2009 at 5:27 pm

Finally some one is using the stuff for something good instead of just polution in the earth. Regual diesel fuel doesn’t smell good raw or after being burned so the smell of French fries is a good thing I would think.