www.freedomfuelamerica.com
This is the link i got off another forum... it looks pretty interesting. while i was reading up on it i came upon this paragraph....
"When burned in a diesel engine, biodiesel replaces the exhaust odor of petroleum diesel with the pleasant smell of hemp, popcorn or french fries."
LOL, not that my truck has the ability, but smoking someone out wouldn't really be a punishment anymore!

(by the way there are tax breaks for using bio-diesel as well, not sure if you can deduct the whole $3000 that the system would cost you though)

 

depending on the oil, don't forget the smell of fried fish....

 

Never heard of the "hemp" part?
Guess that must be for the So-Cal drivers ?

 

As with every thread on this topic, if the initial start up wasn't $3-4K everyone with a garage would be a home brewer.

 

yea, $3k would buy a lot of stuff for the truck...

 

Yeah, but lets just say you go in with a buddy or two. Then it starts looking more doable...not to mention....a lot more possible! I think I just might pony up the $3k myself and try it out. Heck, I'm an investor, so....why not invest away! hehe!

 

Hmm, so you get all that cool stuff for 3K. You still have to go out and collect all the leftover oil from all the restaurants, right? THAT's the pain in the rear, I think.

 

Just buying methanol, and paying for my time to collect grease, titrate, mix, etc., etc. I figured I would be spending over $3 a gallon to make biodiesel. I did not include the amortized equipment costs, or other expendible items, like filters, nor do I have a good solution for disposing of the wash water and glycerine, both of which are contaminated with methanol . . .

You can build a good reactor for under 300 bucks (using an old electric hot water heater), but you better have a lot of free time, and not care about dumping a lot of methanol down your drain.

And don't forget that biodiesel eats natural rubbers, so can be a PITA that way too.

All in all, it just isn't worth it yet for me. I'd be better off setting up a waste oil furnace to heat with . . .

 

I am starting to make my own processor, just gathering the materials, Alec is right if you include your time to make it, it really isn't worth it. I am told it takes about 1 gallon of methanol to make 5 gallons of bio. Also, #2 diesel eats any petroleum based rubber , so they are both somewhat corrosive. If you wash the bio to get all the excess methanol out I don't think that it is too bad. When you go to get waste vegitable oil, you want to get some that has only been used to make french frys, if it has animal fats in it it makes it harder to make bio, can still be done, just harder. I am in denver, and i have talked to some people in Boulder that make bio, coloradobiodiesel.com, and they seem to have pretty good luck with it, they also have diagrams on how to make your own processor.

The big problem with bio is that the cloud or gel point is very high, like 30deg F, you can mix it with #2 to bring the point down but you get to a point that mixing more #2 won't really bring the gel point down enough. I think they said that the lowest you could really bring it down was like 10deg F and that is like a 50/50 mix.

It can be made cost effectively but you need a good source of WVO and some time, just don't factor in your time to make it.

 

Hemp and Fries?? What a mix. Get your THC and Cholesterol as you go.....

The inconvenience would be porhibitive if you headed out across the country. You'd have to carry it all with you as you go, or have the map showing all the Fast food resturants on your way.

But for a local guy using his truck for business there might be some Tax advantages. All that time you spend on fuel is tax deductable to a business.

And what about the enviromental qualities? Maybe there's a Tax advantage in there?

 

Build a Methanol still AND a Bio-Diesel outfit. It just takes time. Bio-diesel has 8-10 times the lubricity of petro diesel. If it is glycerol free, it it a far superior fuel. You can mix it and get alot of the same benefits. A 20% (B20) burns cleaner and the exhaust smells like food!

p.s. check local laws first!

Mark

 

The extra lubricity will be especially usefull when they start making all #2 ULS(Ultra low sulfer) as in no lubricity, and our pumps need lube!