diesel from used vegetable oil???

[anthonyk]

I recently reviewed a website which claims you can make very high quality diesel for about 46 cents per gallon, from vegetable oil you can collect for free from resturants.
You do have to build a filtration system which they say can be done in an afternoon for about 150 bucks worth of parts available from Home Depot, and add an additive they supply, which seems very cheap. Supposedly easy to do and actually cleaner than regular diesel which varies in quality.

Have any of you ever heard of this or tried it?
The site even explains that the original Rudolph Diesel engines were intended to run on vegetable oil.

Any info or experiences? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

anthony

 

[RedRocker]

Look Here

 

[arthr31]

hi,
this has been talked about a bunch here- search for both biodiesel, grease, vegetable fuel, etc.
In fact, if you scroll back thru the posts about a month or two you'll see some of the discussions.
But, to summarize, it seems to be a bit of work, certainly more than some cents to the dollar work and the grease probably won't always be free.

I looked into doing this for my truck, problem is I just don't drive far enough to make it worthwhile. By the time my engine is hot enough to switch to grease, my ride is half over...
good luck -art

 

[Boomerang1]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I looked into doing this for my truck, problem is I just don't drive far enough to make it worthwhile. By the time my engine is hot enough to switch to grease, my ride is half over...
good luck -art )</font> You can make biodiesel that will work like regular diesel. You use lye and methenal to turn it into fuel. You can pour it into your tank and use like regular diesel. I think you are referring to veggy oil wich is stored in a seperate tank and then switched on after the engine is warm. In my opinion, anyone who would do this must understand that they will encounter expensive repairs in the future. I have stated in many posts that used veggy oil is usually very acidic and will cause severe damage. Acidic means it is like battery acid. I would not put battery acid in my engine! Even with the homemade diesel, you should mix it with regular diesel to get the lubricity the engine needs.

 

[hobbyfarm]

I don't know if it can be called "diesel" though. /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif
Maybe "fuel" is a better name...

Anybody have an idea?

 

[dixiedrifter]

Take it from somone who makes it.

First off, you cannot make BD now for less than 70 cents a gallon due to methanol and sodium hydroxide prices. Methanol costs will be between .40-.60 cents or slightly more per gallon depending on where you get it. Sodium hydroxide will run on the low end about .10 cents per gallon if the used oil is very good and you buy your lye in bulk. If the oil is bad or marginal expect to spend twice that much. Switch to potassium hydroxide and multiply your number by 1.4.

Factor in your water washing costs, your heat bill, processor amortization, and going and getting the stuff, your looking at way more than than .50 cents a gallon... in fact the real cost is probably more along the lines of about $1 per gallon.

Speaking of bad oil, I've found a LOT of places that have stuff so bad I'd have to run an acid stage on just to reduce the free fatty acid content low enough to process. If I didn't, the oil would turn to a thick gloppy gel from all the soap formation.

Finding good oil can be a real pain. You might think that you can just go to any old restaraunt out there and load up. You can, but if your not equipped to handle it you more than likely won't be able to process it using a base only stage.

Believe it or not, the worst oil comes from fast food joints. I tested some oil from a burger king straight outta their fryer. According to my calculations, it was way past the point of ready to be changed.