With focus on having a fit body at its highest, many people are searching for healthy alternatives in their diet. This has led the pork industry to search for its own alternatives.

Lard produced through processing a pig is used in everyday foods like doughnuts, cookies and potato chips. Choice white grease following processing is used in feeding livestock like young cows for veal. But as the demands for lard and grease change, so do the possibilities.

Researchers from The Energy Institute at Penn State discovered that fossil fuel oil in process steam boilers can be replaced with pig lard and choice white grease without changing much in current machines.

"There are a lot of companies interested in burning animal fat," said Bruce Miller, principal investigator and associate director of the institute. Miller said he receives five to six phone calls and e-mails daily inquiring about the potential of burning animal fat.

Miller said he is aware of at least one company in eastern Pennsylvania that burns beef tallow, or fat. Tallow essentially holds the same qualities as pork lard when used as fuel.

About two years ago employees from Hatfield Quality Meats approached Miller with concern about the changing market for pork lard. They hoped to find alternatives for lard and choice white grease in case demand for these products were to slip.

Miller and other researchers, including a professor from Lehigh University, ran combustion tests with lard as replacement for No. 6 fuel and found it could be used with only minor changes in the machinery.

"Under certain conditions the handability is very similar," says Mark Badger, research associate. "Only minor changes would have to be made for boiling lard."

The use of process steam boilers is most common in rendering factories and butchering plants and could potentially be used in a nearby school, hospital or prison as an alternative source of energy.

Although lard performs the same as No. 6 and No. 4 fuels, they are completely different on a chemical basis. Each must be heated to a great temperature in order to liquify, but oil releases many damaging byproducts to the environment like sulfur. Lard releases mostly harmless emissions.

Badger believes that because of the low emissions and the amount of energy per pound being relatively equal, pork lard and choice white grease is a potential replacement.

But because the costs of oil and lard are about the same, and given that the amount of lard is much less in quantity than oil, the potential use of replacing No. 4 and 6 fuel with lard is now only an idea.

"From an economic standpoint it's not a reality because of cost," said Bradley W. Alderfer, environment affairs coordinator for Hatfield. "If the price of oil rose enough and it would save us money it would be possible."