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 About
15 million pounds of fat left over from the alligator meat industry is sent to the garbage disposal each year.
According to researchers at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette,
U.S., that trimmed fat is very rich in oils and can be converted into fuel!
Alligators are grown for their meat and skin. The skin is used for
wallets, boots, and belts,
while the meat appears in many restaurant menus. According to the
researchers, the 15 million pounds of alligator fat could be converted
to 1.25 million gallons of fuel! This can
be a very good alternative to using corn
and other crops for fuel, as many parts
of the world face food shortages. Another positive is the potential to convert all
that waste that would otherwise just go into landfills into something
useful.
 In the laboratory experiments, the team successfully made 61 percent
of the alligator fat into a liquid that could be used
in fuel. The alligator fuel is similar to that made from soybeans, which the U.S.
converts into millions of gallons of fuel.
The costs of converting the fuel
and the success of using gator fat is still being studied. However,
the idea of using such waste products for other purposes is a great step
in keeping our landfills from reaching capacity. |
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