DIY Home Biodiesel Production: Make Your Own Fuel - Green Transportation - MOTHER EAR

[direwulf23]

http://www.motherearthnews.com/gree...eNews&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_term=GEGH eNews

1995 Ford F250 SCLB 7.3L PSD 4wd ZF5/ Luk SMF, Dana 50/ Man Lockout, Strictly Diesel Oil Dipstick Adapter, stock.

 

[Brad S.]

Its interesting to see more & more companies/people developing biodiesel systems...
The chemicals used are kinda problematic?? for some people, I still think with a good heated fuel system/tank you could run wvo without doing all the chemical processing..
I know coking could be more of a problem but thats the trade off I suppose..
Good article tho

 

[crewd]

Yes I just picked up a cheap biodiesel processor off CL. I have yet to make a batch. The things I like about biodiesel, I can run it year around in any diesel vehicle I have with no changes, it can blend with regular diesel, it keeps fuel system clean, high lubricity, engine runs really well on biodiesel. Concerns I have is mainly wvo availability and disposing of byproducts. The chemicals don't bother me too much just follow safety precautions.

 

[direwulf23]

As the article points out you definitely have to a great source for the WVO. I do think the only downside is logistics.

 

[Brad S.]

I would watch your outside temps during winter time.
At about 30-40 degrees wvo and even bio diesel will get hard to pump.
Think bio diesel is little better with cooler weather, but be careful.
Canola oil turned into bio diesel is the really good stuff, from what I've heard...

 

[laserjock]

When you convert oil to biodiesel you are breaking down the triglycerides to make free acids which are then esterified. What does that mean? A triglycerides are basicaly 3 fatty acid chains stuck together making a really huge molecule (compared to what you would find in #2). Breaking it into 3 parts lowers the melt temp quite a bit. Further esterification of the free acid that is produced takes hydrogen bonding out of the equation. Hydrogen bonding is when polar protic compound stick to themselves or other things like them selves. It's what causes the surface tension for water beads to hold themselves together. The energy required to make the molecules stack together is basically what sets the melt point so anything you can do to make them not want to stack in a nice orderly fashion is going to help melting point. This is why saturated fats typically solidify at warmer temps than unsaturated fats. The unsaturation creates a bend in the molecule making it harder to stack on itself.

Now that you have had your chemistry lesson for the day, from the reading I have done, the biggest thing with biodiesel processing is making sure you get all of the nasty by-products (mostly glycerine and random salts) out by throughly washing the final product with water. The next biggest thing is making sure the final product is throughly dry after the washing steps. Water is bad for obvious reasons. One of these days I'm going to build my own biofuel plant starting with producing the oil from algae. Its a really cool process. Probably never be cost effective, but it would be a hobby more than anything else.

 

[direwulf23]

Theoretically, once you got the algae producing you'd be set, but I assume getting the algae producing is the expensive/ cost part of it. That same theory is proposed for producing food sources during extended space travel and they haven't quite got that worked out.
Personally, I salute you for the chemistry lesson. Lol