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This is Scientific Americans' 60-Second Science. I’m Steve Mirsky. Got a minute?

The search for alternative fuels to gasoline has led to surprising possibilities, for instance, the waste oil for making French fries. But one of the most unusual alternative fuel candidates might be chicken fat. Yes, chicken fat, also called schmaltz. So, if you make chicken soup, you might have a valuable resource in you kitchen, besides the actual soup. Chemical engineers at the University of Arkansas report that when chicken fat is combined with methanol under very high temperatures and pressure, known as supercritical conditions, they got bio-diesel. The method converted 89% of the chicken fat to bio-diesel. The research was done as part of a master’s thesis project by chemical engineering student Brent Schulte. Many people have high hopes for bio-diesel as a replacement¹ for fossil fuels, because it uses renewable resources such as plant oils, or in this case, chicken fat, of which there’s certainly no shortage. The hunt for bio-diesel may mostly take place outdoors, but the potential of French fry, flotsam and chicken fat also means the search can sometimes end in the kitchen.

Thanks for the minute for Scientific Americans' 60-Second Science. I’m Steve Mirsky.