Opinions? Biodiesel kit for IDI

[Diesel JD]

Well as Travis said, I am running B100 in my truck most of the time and have been most of the time since March 2005. There seems to be no extra problems as long as you are sure to completely dry teh fuel before using it in the truck. Also remember that quality biodiesel is biodiesel that has either been washed or has had weeks or months to age. My rubber hoses which are not stock, but a result of some redneck plumbing did start to leak after about a year and a half of fuel experimentation and spills all over them. The fuel system, factory lines, plastica nd metal, so far have no problems. Its just as easy to start on biodiesel as on #2 almost year 'round here in Florida, but I blend in about 10-20% #2 in the winter along with some power service so I don't get caught with a tankfull of crap the one night a year or so it gets down to 18 or 20 degrees. As far as my processor, I am very rudimentary, I have a 55 gallon open drum and mix teh methoxide in with a wooden stick. The key is mixing teh reactants thoroughly, on and off for about an hour is sufficient for an IDI, if I was making fuel for a newer diesel I would be much more particular. Other than that, again you want to thoroughly wash the fuel with water 2-3 times and then air or heat dry it. The down side is that making homebrew is messy, but the upsdie is a lot of cheap fuel that is clean, good for the engine, and you are in some ways, more self -reliant energy wise than the guy pumping diesel or gas at the pump. Mel, a man of your abilities can make an appleseed processor,a nd I don't think it will take you a long time, you should look up Girl Mark's directions for one and see what you think. I admit that kit looks nice, but like the others I have heard most of the biodiesel nuts say to steer clear of them. On the other hand the appleseed is cheaper and proven by many in the homebrew community. Just my 2 bits,
J.D.

 

[Freight_Train]

Pretty much the run down on time is about an hour the first day filling the processor and letting it heat up,Tritrating the oil,Calculating how much Lye you must mix in with the Methanol,mixing the Methoxide(methanol/Lye Mix),and turning on the pump.After you let it run for a couple hours you can come back and use the same mixing pump to transfer it to settling tanks and let it sit for a day or two.Spend 15 minutes draining the Glycerine outta the bottom.Let set another day,Drain some more.Start the wash process.You can either add 10 gallons of straight water to the tank and drop a bubble stone(best to use stainless or wooden ones for bio) and turn on the aquarium pump,or you can use the misting wash where you use a set of those patio mist sprayer thingys from lawn and garden departments to cool people.Let it spray water into the tank.Each drop will sink capturing suspended soaps and settle in the bottom.Most people will mist the first time and bubble wash the next 2 times since misting is more gentle and less chance of making Mayonaise.Each wash usually only take 15 minutes to set up and leave running over night.Then you can just transfer the now clean fuel to drying tanks and let it air dry.So,it takes a lot of time between start and finish but very little personal time since you set it and forget it.Also,at the current price down here for Methanol I figured up about $1.20-$1.30 a gallon but your price can be lower since I have only located methanol from a racing fuel supplier.Some people have been able to make fuel as low as 80-90 cents a Gallon and best of all,the oil is grown in America usually.No Terrorist needed.

 

[dieseldummy]

For anyone that doesn't want to build their own kit, but wants to make bio I know a fellow who makes a very nice pre-made unit. http://www.dynadroitbiodiesel.com/biodiesel.html

The site explains the construction and options. I've seen it myself in person and it is a high quality kit the should last for as long as you want to use it. Much better than the plastic units IMO. I've been torn between building my own or buying this kit.

 

[TLBREWER]

I too had planned to start making my own Bio this summer. With three diesel trucks that operate every day, we spend about $600-700 per month on fuel. So I started researching. Like Mel, my time is money. After reading through this site: http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html almost completely, I realized that making Bio has to be almost a hobby at first to be proficient. I don't have that kind of time right now. But I will. So I put it off for the time being. Those of you back east that live close together could form a co-op of sorts, as mentioned by someone else, and join forces to make it easier.

Here's some "food" for thought. Maybe those of you that are farmers can shed some light on this for us. With all the research going into the quest for alternative fuel sources, we (they) are overlooking this potentially huge market segment...particularly for those of us with older diesel trucks and Ag equipment. There are several places in the midwest where farmers are forming co-ops and building ethanol refineries. This is great because it gives the farmers a new market for their crop and provides an alternative fuel source. However, in my opinion, this is not the answer. Ethanol is only a fuel additive, reducing the amount dino product in the mix. Also ethanol doesn't appear to be cost effective. It takes a lot of crop to make a little fuel. Why can't the same thing be done to make vegetable oil? Grow crop specifically for making vegetable oil. At the same facility, convert the vegetable oil to biodiesel, and take in used WVO for conversion. I'm seeing a lot of benefits here. Reducing or eliminating "terrorists" crude (don't mean to offend anyone), create a market for farmers, reduce hydrocarbons, reduce landfill waste, and your exhaust would smell like my personal favorite food group...french fries.

I don't know how cost effective this would be, but it sounds good when I rattle it around in my head.

Tom

 

[DeepRoots]

problem is, I would need to grow 40+ acres of crops to maintain my diesel powered equiptment.

 

[TLBREWER]

problem is, I would need to grow 40+ acres of crops to maintain my diesel powered equiptment.

 

[Agnem]

I think Tom summed it up. I don't want it to be a hobby. Anybody who asks me to make my own, doesn't know what I do with my spare time. OK, this has all been very good input. Due to the company represented by the link I posted not getting back to me, I've ditched the idea of buying their stuff, and will continue researching. The $4000 metal system is real nice, but more than I can lay out right now. The quest continues. All you guys who think fabbing one up is so cheap and easy, why don't you put one together and sell it to me, but be prepared to stand behind it, cause it's gonna be your hobby and not mine.

 

[sle2115]

I think Tom summed it up. I don't want it to be a hobby. Anybody who asks me to make my own, doesn't know what I do with my spare time. OK, this has all been very good input. Due to the company represented by the link I posted not getting back to me, I've ditched the idea of buying their stuff, and will continue researching. The $4000 metal system is real nice, but more than I can lay out right now. The quest continues. All you guys who think fabbing one up is so cheap and easy, why don't you put one together and sell it to me, but be prepared to stand behind it, cause it's gonna be your hobby and not mine.

I want to know when you are going to wrap a scale train around a 6.9?

 

[Diesel JD]

Yeah we know you have other things to do with your time, I don't think it needs to be a hobby to work, those folks on JTF expect you to give 110%, I have never gone that far with it. I still am thinking of building the appleseed processor just to make teh process a lkittle neater, I just have to figure out if its the best use of my effort. As to the growing crops to make biodiesel...you would need to grow a lot of soybeans, peanuts, coirn, whatever to produce oil for biodiesel. There are other options....algaefor oil, chinese tallow trees(not a good idea to bring these into yoru area, bu if you already have them...amke the best of it), also I have heard of people in other ocuntries growing coconut palms for their oila nd making good bio out of it. Of course all of these ideas are long term not short term crops(except the algae, which would grow well on nuisance waste, imagine we grew that off our raw sewage, or used runoff from farms for that instead of dumping it in the Mississippi whereit grows algae in the Gulf). Just a rant. I'm not real political about screwing the oil companies or environmentalism, but for national security reasons and for our wallets' sake, we need to explore any and every option, gas, diesel alternative and be innovative...find the next big thing.

 

[h2odrx]

All you guys who think fabbing one up is so cheap and easy, why don't you put one together and sell it to me, but be prepared to stand behind it, cause it's gonna be your hobby and not mine.

I had a friend ask the same thing the other day. if i was closer to ya i do it but 8 hrs is a long way to drive if you get a problem?

When i get my truck running i might just throw the stuff in the back and visit the inlaws for a week and maybe we can have a brewing party?

As far as a hobby, i figure i waste enough time as it is.. so if i just take a little time here and there and make some fuel great if i mess up i got some good hand cleaner!!

 

[DeepRoots]

Anybody who asks me to make my own, doesn't know what I do with my spare time.

(just to be clear) I'm not trying to be a jerk here.... only honest and open with my own experiences....
If you do not have the time to build a reactor to suit your needs (which I feel really isn't that hard or time consuming), why do you think you'll have the time/energy to make your own fuel?

In my opinion making biodiesel isn't just a 'dump in some oil and stir' kinda operation. There is collecting the oil, cleaning the oil, dewatering the oil, titrating, mixing of chemicals, heating of oil, mixing chems/oil, removing the glycerine/trash, washing the biodiesel, drying the biodiesel.

It's pretty involved, and messing up one step (like dewatering the oil) can make you 55gallons of utterly worthless yellow slime.
WVO burning appeals to my mechanical side alot more, tho it's greatest use is not in commuting but long trips. Biodiesel making is chemistry and an artform in a way.

I am by no way trying to discourage you, I would just hate to see you spend $2000 on some kit, and than realize it was too much work and was cutting into your hobby time.
Most of the alt fuel people are fairly fanatical.... myself all I ever do is work. I waste alot of time, but from 5am-10pm I'm messing around with some project.... I don't have hobbies, I have a little spare time everyday.... for everyone else, theres $3.13 diesel fuel.

best of luck, if I can help in any way, please let me know.
Drew

 

[whitehorse]

Yeah I've read up on the bio stuff and I come to realise that there's alot of time and money to spend to have the stuff. Thats why I'm going veggie oil. I'm getting all the stuff for almost free. The new guy at work was burning the stuff in a 96 power stroke...opps powder choke! He is giving me a 275 or 300 gal. tank and a clean barrel of fuel so I can get started. I've already got a donut shop going to give me there waste oil. I've already got plans on a simple heat exchanger using copper tubes and pipes and running my antifreeze though it for heating the oil. Tim

 

[Double-S-Diesel]

I will tell from experiance that getting the oil, collecting the oil, filtering the oil, etc, takes time, add that on top of 2 jobs, + the wifes 2 jobs, and dont forget the 1 year old, it gets to be a PIA, thank god dad helps me with the oil, of course he also runs it.
but for the time in volved and when I sit back and look at 12 barrels full , + what is in cubbies and add how much fuel I have at the equilivelant of 3.19 a gallon, I say how many hours do I need to work to get that much $$$$.

for example when we went to indiana, it only cost me half as much in fuel, $125 was bad enough, $250 would have been worse.

Another thought to ponder is what happens after you put out 1000, to 4000 for a system, then all the sudden the waste oil is no longer available, or the feds outlaw making your own.??
if your not gonna go full force maybe your best bet is just to barter for some from a member who is making it.
Nick
Nick

 

[argve]

Another thought to ponder is what happens after you put out 1000, to 4000 for a system, then all the sudden the waste oil is no longer available, or the feds outlaw making your own.??

If they do outlaw it then I'll be an outlaw that's fore-shure yessire you bet yur last doollar on that there fact....

 

[Tynian]

It is possible to do this for our idis', wont have to spend all that time making fuel.

http://www.greasecar.com

Might be the right solution, If they can do it we can do it :Sly