CARRABASSETT VALLEY – One man’s trash can be another man’s cash.

Wyman Township resident Mike Wiltse is setting out to prove that theory by operating a small bio-diesel facility on Sugarloaf, which will turn used vegetable oil from area restaurants into fuel. Sugarloaf/USA has agreed to purchase the end product and will run one shuttle bus on it for the ski season.

“One reason I got into this is that the price of gas is crazy,” Wiltse says. “This product is cheaper, it’s environmentally better and cleaner. It’s also quickly renewable.”

Wiltse’s plan is to operate the trial processor through the upcoming ski season to see if it is truly viable. He says he feels the area can certainly support the operation from the restaurants. Wiltse also says the people at Sugarloaf/USA have been very supportive and helpful in getting the operation up and running. The mountain has allowed him use of space near the golf course and even provided some materials for construction of the facility located in a garage. They like the idea, too.

“Mike’s plan makes sense to us,” says Rich Wilkinson, manager of operations at Sugarloaf/USA. “We’re very excited to think we can use a renewable resource like bio-diesel in our day-to-day operations. This season’s trial period will be very important to all of us.”

The process is quite simple as Wiltse explains it, and in fact, will happen in a room of approximately 300 square feet. Waste vegetable oil from area restaurants will be collected, having been returned to the original containers. The entire process will take about 24 hours per batch. Wiltse will place 40-gallon batches in a large plastic tub and will heat it to 140-150 degrees.

“The heat will drive water out of the oil, and the fats will settle to the bottom,” Wiltse says.

The water and fats can be composted, he adds, so that they could be placed into the mountain’s highly successful composting program. The heater used to heat the oil will, of course, run on bio-diesel, so the program will actually make its own fuel.

From the first tub, the oil will run through a hose into a filter tank and then into a processor tank. There it will be mixed with methanol and a strong base such as lye. This process removes glycerin and further reduces any fatty acids remaining. As a byproduct, glycerin can be used to make soap and other products, or can enter the composting cycle.

Wiltse will then run the oil through a final cleansing process in a wash tank, where it will be slowly agitated with water.

“The final process isn’t entirely necessary, because you can run an engine on what comes out of the processor,” Wiltse explains. “But I like the fact that the final stage gives us a cleaner product, which is better for and easier on the engine.”

That final product can be used in any boiler furnace or diesel vehicle when the weather is above freezing. To make the bio-diesel work in western Maine’s cold winter season, the product will be blended with regular diesel fuel.

“The city of Bangor runs their entire fleet of plow trucks and such on a bio-diesel blend called B-20,” Wiltse explains. “That means the mix is 20 percent bio-diesel and 80 percent regular diesel fuel. The savings have proven to be considerable.”

He adds that the mix at Sugarloaf this winter will probably be the same ratio. So how does a member of the Sugarloaf Ski Patrol turn into a bio-diesel entrepreneur? Connections. Wiltse has friends who began operating Positive Energy in Waldoboro a few years ago, producing bio-diesel. To help them out, Wiltse started collecting waste vegetable oil in the Sugarloaf area and taking it down to them. Over time, one thing led to another, ideas began to take shape and the Sugarloaf bio-diesel operation was founded. Wiltse has spent the past several months perfecting the idea and making it a reality.

“It’s really interesting to make your own fuel,” Wiltse says. “It’s satisfying, for sure. I explain it to people like this: I have a wood stove that heats my house. People here in Maine do that all the time and can appreciate the effort that goes into it. Wood is a renewable resource, although the turnaround is longer than vegetables. Bio-diesel is like a wood stove for your vehicle.”

Skiers and visitors to Sugarloaf/USA this winter can look forward to riding the “green” shuttle bus, fueled by local ingredients and Yankee ingenuity. The vegetable oil that cooks your French fry one day will be recycled into fuel for the shuttle bus you ride shortly after.