As fuel prices continue to mount, many area farmers, loggers and others in agribusiness have started hunting ways to make transportation and agricultural uses for fuel more economical — that includes the production of biofuels.

The University of Georgia Extension program in Lowndes County hosted their first meeting Thursday evening on the topic, and a crowd of approximately 80 farmers, agriculture officials and others interested in the latest information attended.

Dan Gellar, a member of the UGA engineering department faculty who has researched biofuels for more than 12 years, made the presentation.

Local farmers may be able to add a different meaning to the term “home brew” if Gellar’s hypothesis is correct; they’ll be able to make biofuels at home.

Gellar was so certain of his findings that he said he and his research team will be training UGA extension agents around the state in the coming months to teach local producers how to safely begin home-based processes for biofuel production.

“Biodiesel has true scale-ability,” Gellar said. “It can be made in a multi-million-gallon tank or in a two-liter bottle in a kitchen if done carefully. It’s really easy to make biodiesel. To make it right is really hard.”

Gellar shared the benefits and pitfalls associated with production of biofuels at the local level, and explained the chemical processes for making biodiesel.

He raked over relative details such as the importance of using specific oils and fats such as poultry fat, how to breakdown the fat into simple fats using lye as a catalyst, and methanol (a highly toxic additive) for processing the fats and more.

But, Gellar didn’t side-swipe the safety issue. He stressed safety in production.

“When produced safely and correctly, biodiesel is more efficient, burns cleaner and burns more of the total product than petroleum,” he said.

Producers interested in manufacturing their own biodiesel for agricultural or personal use in farm, logging equipment, or other uses must have a unit that heats the fat to 150 degrees (F), then add lye and methanol to develop the fuel.

The processing unit must have appropriate ventilation to move the methanol gas out into the air rather than into the barn or building away from possible inhalation by humans, Gellar explained.

Methanol gases breathed in cause immediate and permanent brain damage, he warned.

If biodiesel is being produced in small quantities and used strictly on the farm, no licensing was really needed. If it is being produced for resale, a license is a must, Gellar said.

He noted that there are many Web sites on the Internet selling biofuel manufacturing kits. Prices can range from $5,000 to $25,000.