Bio-Diesel Production at Home

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I have finally decided to pursue making my own bio-diesel. This project probably will not be in production until mid-summer. At the present I am now collecting WVO and letting it settle. I just started today and have only found one very low volume source. About 8 gallons a month. Hey a start. I have 3-55 gallon drums and will have a fourth soon.
This is going to be a project on a budget. So far I have $26.50 in 3 plastic barrels.
Now my time is spent studying and figuring out how to make the bio-diesel and what equipment is needed. I intend on running one truck on 100% Bio-diesel year around. If any is left, I will run my 2'nd truck on bio also. Depends on my WVO supply.
Any help or input is appreciated.

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my dad is also about to get going on a biodiesel process. he bought an old rabbit diesel for a part of the process, cant remember which. watch ebay for them if you go that route.

the benefit of making biodiesel is that it is cheap. my dad figured it out and it would cost approximately $.80/gal to make. and for no other reason, because you can. biodiesel is a very clean burning fuel.

vetteman: what kind of vehicle is this going into? iirc you have a powerstroke, right?

be sure to check with other people that have the same engine as you and are running biodiesel. my dad recently found out that people with the cummins 600 are having fuel problems when running more than 20% bio.
 
racer,

Yes I am going to run the bio-diesel in my 95 PowerStroke and if I can make enough I would like to run at least 20% in my 01 PSD. I went to the UA here (Univ. of Arkansas)and talked to the Chemistry Prof. He has a working Bio-diesel set-up in his lab in the Science Bldg. He uses the fuel for a Mercedes Diesel. I will try to attend his next seminar, in Jan 06.

He had some oil that he got from Tyson that was the remainder of one of the chicken processes. That oil was perfectly clean and golden. It would make perfect oil to run as a WVO if your vehicle was set up. Also it could be made into bio-diesel with no initial filtering. I will learn more on this when I go back to the UA Lab.

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[ December 14, 2005, 11:34 PM: Message edited by: 59 Vetteman ]
 
i dont know about the 95 powerstroke but my dads 91 cummins could run straight veggie oil right in the tank if it was warm enough, supposedly they like it better than diesel from what he read.
 
59 vetteman, thanks for replying to my question.

Not sure that I directly did a good job of answering it. The reason to make my own biodiesel instead of buying dino diesel or biodiesel is the cost. I can probably get the cost of home made biodiesel down to less than a dollar a gallon. That would be using WVO to make the biodiesel. (waste veggie oil) If I had to buy the Virgin Soybean oil, I would have to purchase it in 5000# lots delivered. (649 Gallons, 7.70 Lbs per gallon). And my cost would be very close to dino pump diesel in the end.

The main reason that I do not buy biodiesel is right now the only way to get it is to have it shipped to me. I have never seen a retail biodiesel pump in my travels. In fact I have searched the internet and the Biodiesel boards list of vendors. None available to me.
 
thanks for really replying to me this time
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the reason i ask is because i notice a large ammount of biodiesel users are doing it irreguardless of cost. they do it purely for the enviromental savings.

some do it to rely less on foreign oil, and some do it because they are cheap skates
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id like to think that you are also atleast partly motivated by the enviromental aspect of using a renewable fuel. can i assume so?

there are multipule ways to make biodiesel. some are more enviromentaly friendly than others. this puts people like me in a sticky situation because i am motivated largely by cost savings. so the way i would chose to make biodiesel is not nessassairely the same way a more enviromently friendly person would. some people can get very touchy about this.
 
The best way of course is to buy a 2 ton press, diesel engine to turn it with, and press my own oil.(diesel engine running on biodiesel) Sell the residue cakes, to the farmers for high protein feed. I live in soybean country here in Arkansas. Then take the remaining residue from the biodiesel production and make Industrial Soap Cakes and sell it to the Oil Refinery and Oil field workers.

For me it would be a Hobby, Cost Savings and environmentally sound to do.
 
Vetteman,
I like the last post...I'd love to do so also.

But down here, I've got to register with the tax office, employ a NATA approved laboratory to test the fuel against Oz standards (about $1,00/test), and undergo regular audits from the customs and exise people.

Then pay nearly 30c/litre exise to the Govt for every litre produced.

Being caught "homebrewing" can get you in deep hot water.
 
My progress is slow right now putting this all together. I have 5 55 gallon plastic barrels, and one nice 1000 watt heater to heat the WVO so that I can filter it before I store it in my 55 gallon barrels. I will store the WVO and let it settle. I intend to leave a 6" bottom of oil for debris. I should be progressing better on this as soon as the trout fishing quiets down.
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I will be building the processor starting next week. I am not buying the kit as shown in this link. I am assembling it as I buy the parts. The largest expense is going to be a hot water heater. $205 plus tax for a 50 gallon at Lowes.

Appleseed Processor

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Shannow
quote:

But down here, I've got to register with the tax office, employ a NATA approved laboratory to test the fuel against Oz standards (about $1,00/test), and undergo regular audits from the customs and exise people.

In the US, I'm pretty sure you are supposed to pay the tax on the amount of biodiesel you produce; however, I haven't heard much about enforcing this. Enforcement of this tax would put a big dent in the enthusiasm of the producers.
 
Ray,

Without going back through volumes, I think the allowable amount is 500 gallons that is tax free in the U.S. If I run across that again, I will correct this. But, there is an allowable amount in gallons before taxation.

But also remember I live in Arkansas in the hills. I am not to worried about any Government tax man up here. They are as scarce as a full set of teeth at a front row seat in a Willie Nelson concert in Little Rock.
 
Groucho,

Thanks for the offer, that is what counts. I just got an offer of a metal 55 gallon drum to make a rinse tank. So that will be on my to-do list when I am gathering parts.

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I hope to acquire a 40 gallon used electric water heater next week to start making the Appleseed processor. This is going slower than expected, but as I said earlier, I am doing this on a budget. Plus I will be setting it up in my garage instead of my outside metal building. But progress is slow. I will start taking pictures when I get a viable system ready for production.
 
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