All of this talk of diesel has me thinking about biodiesel. I read a short paper on making diesel from waste oil from restaurants. Seems like a pretty simple procedure. You take methanol and react it with lye (sodium hydroxide) then you add this mixture to dry oil. After the reaction the fat(oil) is turned into an ester of methanol and a fatty acid from the fat. The glycerol and excess methanol settle out. Supposedly you can then use it directly in you diesel. It doesn't seem nearly as hard as making a good batch of home brew beer. Animal fats?? I guess that you can save your bacon grease and use it the same way. Any kitchen chemists out there making their own diesel??? Results and things to be careful about would be appreciated. You can also use clean vegetable oil directly if you mix it with diesel but it can cause deposits on your injectors. I'm tempted to buy a can of draino and a 5 gallon pail of soybean oil and see what happens. Supposedly if the biodiesl is made with cornoil your exhaust smells like popcorn....that would be a pleasant change. Tom
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Beware of warranty issues
Tom - It sounds like a great idea (but messy), and a lot of people are already doing it. (So many, in fact, that you might have a hard time getting the waste oil from your local fish & chips!) I would like to see the paper you read if there is a link you could post. Do beware of warranty issues if your engine is still covered. Yanmar specifically says that using biodiesel will void the warranty. Good luck. Warren
Tom - It sounds like a great idea (but messy), and a lot of people are already doing it. (So many, in fact, that you might have a hard time getting the waste oil from your local fish & chips!) I would like to see the paper you read if there is a link you could post. Do beware of warranty issues if your engine is still covered. Yanmar specifically says that using biodiesel will void the warranty. Good luck. Warren
BioD
Tom BioD is simple and fairly cheap to make but it does come with it's own set of problems...cool temps effect it so up here in the north you don't want to chance it late in the season. Last I had read it cost about 66 cents a gallon to produce but that was before the spike in fuel prices. if nothing else it is a way to stick it to the man! LOL
Tom BioD is simple and fairly cheap to make but it does come with it's own set of problems...cool temps effect it so up here in the north you don't want to chance it late in the season. Last I had read it cost about 66 cents a gallon to produce but that was before the spike in fuel prices. if nothing else it is a way to stick it to the man! LOL
dancingrabbit.org
There are several sources of information available. I did a yahoo.com search key words making biodiesel at home and a lot of sites came up. Making BD with ethanol is more difficult than using methanol. With ethanol you can get soap as a biproduct. I like the washing steps included in some recipes. My interest in BD is partly to use it as a lubricant. Supposedly the new low sulfur diesel has much less lubricity than the high sulfur stuff. I've read that BD is a good detergent and lubricant. I don't expect to save money and it's probably a waste of time... but it might be fun to turn useless waste oil into fuel. Next time I'm at the supermarket I'll see what the cheapest vegetable oil costs when buying the big jugs. Maybe the 5 gallon jugs at Sam's club.
There are several sources of information available. I did a yahoo.com search key words making biodiesel at home and a lot of sites came up. Making BD with ethanol is more difficult than using methanol. With ethanol you can get soap as a biproduct. I like the washing steps included in some recipes. My interest in BD is partly to use it as a lubricant. Supposedly the new low sulfur diesel has much less lubricity than the high sulfur stuff. I've read that BD is a good detergent and lubricant. I don't expect to save money and it's probably a waste of time... but it might be fun to turn useless waste oil into fuel. Next time I'm at the supermarket I'll see what the cheapest vegetable oil costs when buying the big jugs. Maybe the 5 gallon jugs at Sam's club.
Bio diesel
Recently saw a "Sunday Morning" (CBS) airing which featured a Texas truck stop operator who was making BIO Diesel for cross country rigs from his used veg/soy/grease coming from the deep fryers used at the truckstop. Seemed to be doing quite well and had drawn the attention of Willie Nelson, who was promoting the product and had gone partners with the truckstop owner. The "Hummer" was developed on the principle that it could run on any type of oil/fuel so long as the filters were appropriately sized and the injectors were not fouled. Buying veggie/peanut/soy oil at your local grocery may supply you with clean oil, but the price will defeat your efforts. The best sources will be used oils from restaurants. Your largest costs will come as start up: work space, distilling setup, storage of the finished product, etc. Keep researching, and good luck. Steve
Recently saw a "Sunday Morning" (CBS) airing which featured a Texas truck stop operator who was making BIO Diesel for cross country rigs from his used veg/soy/grease coming from the deep fryers used at the truckstop. Seemed to be doing quite well and had drawn the attention of Willie Nelson, who was promoting the product and had gone partners with the truckstop owner. The "Hummer" was developed on the principle that it could run on any type of oil/fuel so long as the filters were appropriately sized and the injectors were not fouled. Buying veggie/peanut/soy oil at your local grocery may supply you with clean oil, but the price will defeat your efforts. The best sources will be used oils from restaurants. Your largest costs will come as start up: work space, distilling setup, storage of the finished product, etc. Keep researching, and good luck. Steve
Saw someone making biodiesel on TV,
think it was "dirty jobs" on the discovery channel. As mentioned, seemed similar to a homebrewing, still pretty involved, you'd need some room in the barn for your equipment. Turns out there are 2 fuel docks in S. Calif. already selling biodiesel, I've attached a link to the story about them.
think it was "dirty jobs" on the discovery channel. As mentioned, seemed similar to a homebrewing, still pretty involved, you'd need some room in the barn for your equipment. Turns out there are 2 fuel docks in S. Calif. already selling biodiesel, I've attached a link to the story about them.
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