How One CA Doctor Drove His SUV For Free

[QKShooter]

Fill 'Er Up With Human Fat

Peter C. Beller, 12.22.08, 05:00 AM EST

How a Beverly Hills doctor powered his SUV using his patients' spare tires.

Liposuctioning unwanted blubber out of pampered Los Angelenos may not seem like a dream job, but it has its perks.

Free fuel is one of them.

For a time, Beverly Hills doctor Craig Alan Bittner turned the fat he removed from patients into biodiesel that fueled his Ford SUV and his girlfriend's Lincoln Navigator.

Love handles can power a car? Frighteningly, yes.
Fat--whether animal or vegetable--contains triglycerides that can be extracted and turned into diesel. Poultry companies such as Tyson are looking into powering their trucks on chicken schmaltz, and biofuel start-ups such as Nova Biosource are mixing beef tallow and pig lard with more palatable sources such as soybean oil. Mike Shook of Agri Process Innovations, a builder of biodiesel plants, says this year's batch of U.S. biodiesel was likely more than half animal-derived since the price of soybeans soared.

A gallon of grease will get you about a gallon of fuel, and drivers can get about the same amount of mileage from fat fuel as they do from regular diesel, according to Jenna Higgins of the National Biodiesel Board.

Animal fats need to undergo an additional step to get rid of free fatty acids not present in vegetable oils, but otherwise, there's no difference, she says.

Greenies like the fact that waste, such as coffee grounds and french-fry grease, can be turned into power.
"The vast majority of my patients request that I use their fat for fuel--and I have more fat than I can use," Bittner wrote on lipodiesel.com.
"Not only do they get to lose their love handles or chubby belly but they get to take part in saving the Earth."
Bittner's lipodiesel Web site is no longer online.

Using fat to fuel cars might be environmentally friendly, but it's definitely illegal in California to use human medical waste to power vehicles, and Bittner is being investigated by the state's public health department.

Although it's unclear when Bittner started and stopped making fat fuel or how he made it, his activities came to light after recent lawsuits filed by patients that allege he allowed his assistant and his girlfriend to perform surgeries without a medical license.

Attorney Andrew Besser, who represents three patients, says the assistant and girlfriend removed too much fat from clients and left them disfigured.
Dozens of other patients have complained to the state medical board, Besser says.

The board is investigating Bittner but declined to comment.

The investigations, however, might go nowhere: Bittner closed his practice, Beverly Hills Liposculpture, in November and moved to South America to do volunteer work at a clinic, according to a note on his web site.

Besser says Bittner likely fled the country because of the investigations. Bittner's lawyer didn't return calls seeking comment.

[DefensiveCarry.com]

[aimhigh]

MMmmmmmmmm.......Im in the wrong business!!

[XD in SC]

Fill 'Er Up With Human Fat

Peter C. Beller, 12.22.08, 05:00 AM EST


For a time, Beverly Hills doctor Craig Alan Bittner turned the fat he removed from patients into biodiesel that fueled his Ford SUV and his girlfriend's Lincoln Navigator.

Did I miss something?? When did Lincoln make a diesel Navigator

[SIXTO]

Did I miss something?? When did Lincoln make a diesel Navigator

The money he made for the fat sucking paid to fill the Navigator.

Maybe it was converted? Is that even possible?

[JOHNSMITH]

You can't convert a gasoline engine to a diesel engine (I wish you could though!). Even if you could, the block would probably just blow up from the compression required for a diesel. That's why diesel blocks are so heavy, because they're very strong.

I have a feeling that the article has mixed up a few things, due mostly (as we all know) to the media's general trouble with things that are even slightly technical.

Anyway, interesting, I suppose... if not a little disgusting heh. I like biodiesel though... if I had a diesel car, I'd convert it for sure and run it off waste cooking oil. Unfortunately, people's perceptions of diesels were marred forever by the crap a few companies put out during the 70s in the US... but if only people knew of the miracle that is the modern diesel engine!

Imagine 40-50 MPG, very decent performance, and no hybrid gadgetry or extra components to break and heavy batteries to haul around. Just a regular car, even simpler than a petrol car, that gets excellent mileage.

Also, for whatever reason diesel is often priced higher. You will get more mileage per gallon, offsetting the cost a bit, but still... its kind of silly. The demand is lower here, and its a pretty crude product (relative to gasoline). There's no reason it should be so high in price.

Everywhere else in the world, the situation is the exact opposite, but that is expected since gasoline is harder to refine and the demand is less.

There's also the advantage that in case of zombie invasion, you can run off a diesel off many things, so long as it burns. Just go to a third world country and see the various interesting things they run their vehicles off of.

[coffeecup]

Paul34, You might want to rethink the bit about converting gasoline auto engines to diesel. GM did it back in the early 80s' with their 350 V8s'. The engines ran very well-----when they ran at all. Most of the problems were encountered when the crankshafts failed.

[rokclmb]

my guess would be that the engine wasn't converted, but maybe replaced.

[Dany]

Yea, whose to say it wasn't swapped with a Powerstroke out of a SuperDuty?

Central ND is diesel crazy, everyone wants the 'towing' power, but when it hit's -50, they are getting rides to work in the wifes Town & Country! LoL

[Eagleks]

Hannah (actress) has been powering her Chevy El-Camino with fats she collects from the local McDonalds, etc. for years.

[Rock and Glock]

Yikes - think what it smells like when it burns!