Supercritical Production of Biodiesel from Waste Cooking Oil; How Policy and Consumer Incentives Drive Biodiesel Adoption

My technical capstone project and STS research paper address the same fundamental challenge: understanding what biodiesel needs to become a mainstream alternative to petroleum diesel. During the technical portion of the capstone project, my team developed an efficient biodiesel production facility using waste cooking oil and supercritical transesterification. This method eliminates the drawbacks of traditional catalyst-based processes while proving economically viable when supported by green policies such as the national biodiesel tax incentive. Yet as we refined the technical design, we recognized that even the most optimized production system would fail without systemic changes beyond the plant. This insight shaped my STS research, where I applied the Sociotechnical Transitions Framework to examine the political, economic, and social barriers limiting biodiesel adoption in the U.S. The complementary nature of these papers highlights the problems of renewable energy as a whole. Successful energy transitions require more than innovation. They demand coordinated policy, infrastructure investment, and public engagement. Without these elements, technological advances remain confined to small-scale applications. Processes like ours would fall through the cracks without sufficient consumer demand to provide a platform for scale-up. Together, these projects highlight that solving complex energy challenges requires both engineering expertise and sociopolitical understanding.

School of Engineering and Applied Science

Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering

Technical Advisor: MC Forelle

STS Advisor: Eric Anderson

Technical Team Members: Annika Szyniec, Felipe De Pinho, Maya Reese, and Nitin Elavarasu