E-Mail This Article to a Friend BEYOND THE PRIUS Fuel by fryolator BY DEIRDRE FULTON

Can you think of a better way to spend a Friday night than hanging out with 10 guys and one girl, brainstorming ways to produce your own biodiesel fuel?

Maybe you can. But the members of Alt.Fuel Club, which met at Sparqs Industrial Arts Club in Woburn last Friday, may one day get their revenge.

The fledgling group’s first mission is to construct a system that will mix large quantities of vegetable oil with smaller amounts of alcohol and lye, producing drums of biodiesel — a clean-burning alternative fuel for use in regular diesel engines.

Sparqs is the brainchild of 35-year-old Tim Panagos, a former software engineer who hankered for a more hands-on work life. Last year, the soft-spoken Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate took over the garage-like space in Woburn, just 20 minutes from Boston, and filled the cement interior with giant welding machines, industrial wood saws, and a sandblaster. Now, amid growing piles of scrap metal, snowboards, and old motorcycles, beginners and experts work side by side creating everything from furniture to custom-made barbecues. "He’s got everything we need — this is the perfect space," gushed Matthew Mazzotta, 28, co-creator of the Buscycle, a pedal-powered bus under construction in a corner of the workspace.

On Friday (the group’s second meeting), Panagos sketched a simple model of the fuel system on a white board in the front of the room. Someone suggested making soap out of the glycerin that separates from the oil during production. Political commentary drifted beneath the surface: "I’m interested in a fuel that doesn’t require a war or overseas drilling," one biodiesel enthusiast said.

The running joke of the evening was whether or not vegetable-oil-based biodiesel produces the smell of French fries when it’s burned to power a car. The question is especially important given the club’s plan to recycle fryolator oil from Burger King to make its biodiesel.

"It runs well in the car," reported 34-year-old Ron Wold, a tall, red-headed mechanic who drives diesel cars, and who destroyed a blender making his own biodiesel batches. The fuel also has renewable sources (soybean crops) and cleaner emissions (regular diesel fuel coughs up the greenhouse gases blamed for global warming). Plus, Wold’s biodiesel smelled like stir-fry, he said, or "a fire in the kitchen."

Learn more about Sparqs at www.sparqs.com.