New Use for Lard
By HENRY FOUNTAIN
   When it comes to making a flaky pie crust, home cooks of a certain
generation know that there's nothing quite like lard.

Researchers at Pennsylvania State University have learned that when it comes
to firing up an industrial boiler, there's nothing quite like lard either.
They found that lard, along with inedible fat from the pig -- a substance
with the delectable name of choice white grease -- can be used to replace No.
6 fuel oil.

The researchers, at the university's Energy Institute, worked with a regional
meat packer that processes 7,000 hogs a day. Needless to say, that makes for
a lot of lard, which the processor sells as animal feed (by the
tanker-truckload to veal producers) or as human feed (by the drum- or
tub-load to bakeries and restaurants). The processor was concerned about what
would happen if these markets for lard were to dry up.

The researchers showed that lard and choice white grease could be burned in a
boiler that normally runs on No. 6 oil (which is heavier than the oil used in
home furnaces) with little or no need to modify the equipment. They found
that gallon for gallon, the pork fat produces slightly less energy than oil,
but it burns cleaner. (Although lard is a solid at room temperature, boilers
that burn No. 6 oil generally heat the oil first to about 120 degrees, which
is high enough to melt the fat.)

Currently, lard and choice white grease sell for more than fuel oil. But
should that change, the meat processor, which has several boilers at its main
plant, might have another option -- to keep the home fires burning with its
own byproducts.