How to BIO-Diesel thread?

I'm asking because I don't know!

So let me be a bit more detailed. Does anyone here currently (or formerly) have any experience in brewing biodiesel? What equipment is needed and is it really cost effective to brew your own biodiesel?

From what I can tell the basic home/hobby kits seem to cost $3000 to $4000 for the set ups. I presume there is more that would need to be added in terms of support parts/equipment. The cost per gallon to produce at home seems to be about 75-cents a gallon, but if you burn 600 gallons a year and save $2 per gallon, then it will take several years to break even just to pay back the cost of the equipment. . . more if you factor in your time.

Here are some links for equipment I've found:

http://www.biodiesel-kits-online.com/biodiesel-kits.html ($3900 kit)

http://www.homebiodieselkits.com/index.html ($3500 kit)

http://www.homebiodiesel.com/ordering/ ($3000 kit)

http://www.doctordiesel.com/FuelMeisterBrochure.pdf ($3000 kit)

A couple YOUTUBE videos:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWMx95VorQU"]YouTube - How to make Biofuel, Biodiesel, Biofuel Products[/ame]

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGptWo6elAE&feature=related"]YouTube - Biodiesel for beginners / Biodiesel 101[/ame]


So can anyone offer any insight? I dug around and there does not seem to be a good BioDiesel forum out there on the net (maybe I just can't find the good one).

if you buy the biodiesel kits like you've listed, you're paying several times the cost of the parts - just like any other specialty product.
If you want to do it yourself, you can make your own out of barrels, etc... for a fraction of that cost.
I have not made any myself, but I looked into it a few years back before deciding I didn't have time, room, or need to make it economically feasible at that time.
you should be able to do a google search for "making biodiesel" to find several sites that give decent instructions. You can also do a library search as there are several books out there describing the process in detail.
also keep in mind, there are 2 methods - one which uses lye and methanol, the other which uses ethanol. the lye method requires water washes and "drying" of the finished fuel and has glycerin as a byproduct. The ethanol proces requires "cooking".

good luck.

Erik what you mention about time is the biggest issue I see with getting into brewing biodiesel. Its one thing to set up the equipment, that part could actually be fun, but then arranging for and collecting the used grease, or finding a source of plentiful grease and collecting it, that is the biggest drawback I see. If there was a way to get a couple drums of it delivered, that would make life a lot easier and really cut down on the routine time investment. But I don't see much upside in going around to the fast food joints and getting 5 gallon jugs of grease.

I have a lot of exploring and educating to do! I figure if I do this it will be something I research this year and maybe do next summer?

I'll be interested in seeing what you come up with.
I'm betting you could make a deal with your local KFC, McD's, or BK manager and come up with 40 gallons of oil a week no problem.

I've got connections with the owner of several Arby's and also the owner of a popular hot dog shop, so I figure the supply of grease is not the big problem.

What I am more concerned about is the ability to use the fuel in the real world. Some engines seem to favor Bio-Dino-Blends and that would dramatically alter the payback. Other engines run fine on B100 biofuel.

The other big factor is the time spent. Many of the fuel cookers seem to require fairly minimal time to make the fuel, but the time spent driving around collecting it, straining it, etc may end up making it more of a waste of time long term.

filter as part of the preheat cycle.
once it's warm it'll flow through the filters quicker.
even if you have to blend 20-50% with dino fuel you'll be ahead of the game.
You can also use power service additive to help with life expectancy and gelling issues - they make a bio-diesel specific version.

the 2 biggest problems I've heard of with bio-d is the fact it's a better solvent than dino-d and so will clear all the crap out if your fuel system which may clog filters & injectors at first use. The other problem on older engines is that it may soften or dissolve some of the seals - so those might need replaced. (and no, I don't remember which ones aren't compatible off the top of my head)

At work we have 4 modified Hummer H1's that do tours through the backcountry. We have recenty set up a bought of the internet Bio Processor. All of the parts in our set up could easily be bought from home depot. The containers may have to come from a plastics company.

First thoughts, it is a lot of work.. A lot of waiting, and lot of trial and error. I am happy to say that two of the trucks are now running 100% Bio with no modifications and no trouble.. The awful diesel smell from the exhaust is gone...

If it would help I could take some detailed shots of the set up in case you wanted to buy/build your own. Our set up is a bit crude, it's set up in a shipping container but works well.

If I could start over I would have bought one of the automatic setups online where you dump the oil in, Hit go and pump the bio out later.. That is the way to go for sure even for a couple $1000 extra... If you had a set up like that it is worth doing.. Otherwise you need to want to make it work and enjoy the challenge or the work/mess isn't worth it.

Just my $0.02
Gary

Gary, if you could post detailed photos that would be a big help.

Also it would be nice to know how much space is required to operate the whole thing, from storage of unfiltered oil all the way through the storage of the finished product. Is is 1 full bay of a garage, or more, or less?

Which system did you guys buy, a couple of the models I looked at were pretty close to automatic (not quite but close).

Clearly I am undecided on this project, but I figure I've got all winter to research it.

I would be sure of the availability of grease before I got into it. A lot of local food places are now selling the grease to an outfit that is a division of a rendering plant. They don't pay much but the driver who picks it up has a regular route and also gets waste oil from garages. I don't know if they just wholesale it or process it themselves. I have played with waste oil recycling and if done right you can heat your home with a regular oil burner no problem. that was about all I burned for a lot of years. I ran a blend of waste oil and diesel mixed with kerosene in my JD tractor and it is still running strong 16 years later. I would do it today if I could get the waste oil locally.

Sorry it took so long to reply.. Its been a crazy week.

Depending on how much you plan on making a garage bay is lots of space.. If you had a bunch of matching drums I bet you could do it in half that space.

Getting the oil is a problem. Everyone has someone who takes it already and usually won't take a chance on a new guy who may or may not pick it up every week. We managed to get two places to give up half the oil in exchange for advertising on the trucks. We pick up 1-2 plastic containers every week and return the emptys from the week before.


I've attached a bunch of pics.. If I can help with a question just ask...

2 of The Trucks


the Container


the Internet Processor


The Methane drum and Air operated Pump


The Hardware Store Plumbing Close-up


The Oil as recieved from two different places.



We call this the Meth Lab


The French Fry Filter

It's an interesting project, isn't it?

For a couple of cold winter weeks last year when I was having back problems I toyed with the idea myself. Nothing too serious. It was as much something to pass the time as anything else.

For me, the main problem was always getting a good and steady supply of cheap (free) raw product, enough of it to make the whole process worthwhile. I even played with the idea of planting and harvesting my own bio mass (rape seed oil) to fuel the process but that led to even more expense, equipment and work. In the end I decided that it was a nice idea, fun to play with, but just not worth all the work and effort.

Keep us up to date on your research 'cos I know that yours will be a lot more in depth and detailed than mine and it's something that I'm still interested in.

Oh, I'd better mention that I think that my cold weather research project this year will be a wood fired power generation project. I can't decide if I want it to produce electricity directly or produce methane to power a tri-fuel generator. That should fill in a few weeks.

how would you use it to generate electricity?
thermocouple or steam generator? (or both)
Are you going to use your waste heat to help heat the house or your domestic hot water supply?
are you going to make fuel out of dried & compressed wheat straw or cornstalks?

Erik said:

how would you use it to generate electricity?
thermocouple or steam generator? (or both)
Are you going to use your waste heat to help heat the house or your domestic hot water supply?
are you going to make fuel out of dried & compressed wheat straw or cornstalks?

Click to expand...

Don't know yet. It's just something that I read about that interested me. I read this article about two separate people in Europe who fabricated and installed a wood gasification burner in the back of their small pick-up trucks and used it to produce methane that they piped to the engine. After some trial and error with the filters, timing etc., they got the truck running on the methane and it performed just fine, good enough to drive on the road. It seemed to me that if you could run a small truck engine, you could certainly run a generator. I'm in East Texas surrounded by trees so it might be fun to play with over the winter. I've got a friend who's trying to design a a wood fired steam turbine to generate electricity for domestic use. We need something to keep us occupied and out of trouble.