Biodiesel

[Greg]

Ok, with all this talk of fuel prices, biodiesel & making your own, I'd like to go into the subject a little further.

See how here.

You can make your own stuff for about $.55 a gallon. I have a buddy that bought a kit from them and hasn't looked back in 4 months. It paid for itself in the first 6 weeks. He makes a ton of it and sells it to friends ( for no profit of course). It sure does have funny smelling exhaust though.

Based on Korys post, I have a question. If I understand what I've been reading about biodiesel, you make the biodiesel and then add it to regular diesel to create a blend. One of the blends is 20% bio and 80% standard diesel. If you're still paying $3.20/gal, but using only 80% of that gallon, where is the huge cost reduction?

What is involved in the process of making biodiesel? How much biodiesel can one person make at home on a regular basis?

 

[OCNORB]

Two things that I rarely see mentioned on a Bio-diesel site.

1. Do you have a guaranteed steady supply of french fry grease? Call around and see if it's really all that free. (I have heard that cradle to grave laws and liability fears scare most chains away, but small mom and pops or chinese restaurants are happy to have you haul it off)

2. How much is your free time worth??? I figure mine is worth at LEAST $25/hr. Prices would have to get much higher for it to be worthwhile for me as an individual. What we need is a process to make bio-diesel that has the economy of scale to be successful on it's own. (Or it could be subsidized.) And just think how much sense does it make to spend gas running around collecting french fry grease to make more gas??

My .02

 

[cruiseroutfit]

Wait til' dieselcruiserhead gets back from Burning Man (go figure he's a hippy)

Andre often runs his Cruiser (Cummins 4BT) and Mercedes sedan on home-brew bio-diesel. His group produces their own (once a month) and they also were somewhat involved with Dal Solio and such making it... I recall Andre was paying ~$1 per gallon and that was the cost of the lye??? (not sure as I rarely listen to his rhetoric involving war & fuel )

 

[Herzog]

1. Do you have a guaranteed steady supply of french fry grease.

From what I've been reading, the whole french fry grease and other waste grease is a completely different setup and is not 'biodiesel'.

What I've found out is there is that there is a type of fuel refined from renewable resources (soy bean) and it is "produced to strict industry specifications (ASTM D6751) in order to insure proper performance."

http://www.biodiesel.org/resources/biodiesel_basics/default.shtm

 

[Herzog]

Another interesting note

What is Biodiesel's Energy Balance?
Independent third-party, peer-reviewed studies show biodiesel has the highest energy balance of ANY fuel. A prominent USDA/DOE study shows for every unit of fossil fuel used to make biodiesel, 3.2 units of energy are gained in energy output. That's a 320% increase and includes soybean planting, harvesting, fuel production and transportation.

 

[OCNORB]

Technically you are right, but most of the sites like the one Greg's post is refering to are selling at home diesel kits that use fry grease as the 'free' fuel source.

 

[Herzog]

Technically you are right, but most of the sites like the one Greg's post is refering to are selling at home diesel kits that use fry grease as the 'free' fuel source.

Ahh... I just noticed that.

 

[Hickey]

I gotta show this thread to my boss. You could say we buy fryer oil in "Bulk" :greg:

 

[RockMonkey]

Okay, here's my solution to rising oil prices. So, we all have heard that the US government heavily subsidizes farming. They go to the extent of paying farmers to plow under their crops. We're paying these farmers to grow food, and NOT harvest it. Now, biodiesel comes from vegetable oil, right? Well, lets take those farmers that we're already paying, and have them grow whatever we get the best/most vegetable oil from (someone mentioned soybeans). Then harvest the crop, and turn it inot biodiesel, and give a big F-U to OPEC. Now, I don't know if we can get anything similar to gasoline from vegetable oil, but if we could grow our own diesel it would take a HUGE strain off the oil market, and bring prices markedly down.

My other solution involves bombing China back to the stone age, and resume using ALL the Earth's resources, instead of sharing them with the Chinese. The first solution is probably more realistic. Even Bush doesn't dare mess with China.

 

[Hickey]

Okay, here's my solution to rising oil prices. So, we all have heard that the US government heavily subsidizes farming. They go to the extent of paying farmers to plow under their crops. We're paying these farmers to grow food, and NOT harvest it. Now, biodiesel comes from vegetable oil, right? Well, lets take those farmers that we're already paying, and have them grow whatever we get the best/most vegetable oil from (someone mentioned soybeans). Then harvest the crop, and turn it inot biodiesel, and give a big F-U to OPEC. Now, I don't know if we can get anything similar to gasoline from vegetable oil, but if we could grow our own diesel it would take a HUGE strain off the oil market, and bring prices markedly down.

My other solution involves bombing China back to the stone age, and resume using ALL the Earth's resources, instead of sharing them with the Chinese. The first solution is probably more realistic. Even Bush doesn't dare mess with China.

I love you, Braden! :greg:

 

[RockMonkey]

I love you, Braden! :greg:

Umm... Backatcha

 

[Mr.Chevy]

Here are some more links to look at.

http://www.freedomfuelamerica.com/

http://www.biodieselsolutions.com/home/home.asp

http://www.truckstv.com/show_details.aspx?iid=4996
This one is what a truck can do running on the stuff.

 

[Johnnie160]

Don't Blame China Because The U.s. Is Using Up The Rest Of The World's Oil Before We Use Our Own......i Got 4 Vehicles Of My Own So I Know What It's Like To Be Spending The Almighty Dollar.

 

[mbryson]

Umm... Backatcha

 

[Milner]

Umm... Backatcha

I wouldn't turn my back on him, if I was you

 

[mbryson]

I wouldn't turn my back on him, if I was you

Sounds like 'Britney's side business has kinda gotten to him. He's taken it to another level?

 

[tv_larsen]

I've thought about building my own biodiesel processor. They say it can be done for less than $200, the Freedom Fuel system shown on Trucks! is $3000.

http://www.biodieselcommunity.org/appleseedprocessor

 

[Greg]

This biodiesel FAQ really breaks it down, very informative.

http://www.freedomfuelamerica.com/products/faq.asp

 

[gtidrivr]

From what I understand from my friend, he does not run the blend. It is used grease, methenol, and lye to adjust the Ph level, from what I remember. He generally spends one day a week and goes to pick up used grease (Sundays), and will pick up generally around 6-55 gallon drums of the stuff. He makes about 70 gallons a day.

About the cost issue and your time being worth something. He makes a batch every night when he gets home from work, lets it do its thing overnight, and empties the batch in the afternoon when he gets home. So all in all it takes him to actually make it, about 1.5 hours a day. Not a bad trade if you ask me. He enjoys it to.

I know it seems like allot of work, but to each their own.


If you have any particular questions I can ask him for ya...

 

[I Lean]

From what I understand from my friend, he does not run the blend. It is used grease, methenol, and lye to adjust the Ph level, from what I remember. He generally spends one day a week and goes to pick up used grease (Sundays), and will pick up generally around 6-55 gallon drums of the stuff. He makes about 70 gallons a day.

About the cost issue and your time being worth something. He makes a batch every night when he gets home from work, lets it do its thing overnight, and empties the batch in the afternoon when he gets home. So all in all it takes him to actually make it, about 1.5 hours a day. Not a bad trade if you ask me. He enjoys it to.

I know it seems like allot of work, but to each their own.


If you have any particular questions I can ask him for ya...

Yeah....will he sell it to me? I don't want to buy from oil companies any more. (and I want to be first in line ahead of all these other knuckleheads!)