Author Topic: How much does biodiesel cost and where can I get it?  (Read 18566 times)

Canuck

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Re: How much does biodiesel cost and where can I get it?
« Reply #15 on: September 26, 2007, 08:55:23 PM »
Hello All,

I don't have a Lister/Listeroid (yet) and have spent much time lurking and learning... I do have a fair bit of experience in home brewing Biodiesel tho and can offer the following:

I have found that if the used oil is even slightly acidic the two stage acid/base method is the only way to get consistent good results. Trying to process oil that titrates at 3 or higher will produce huge amounts of soap and sometimes the entire batch will gel and need to be dumped.

The "appleseed" type of reactor does the job without venting toxic fumes and can be constructed cheaply. Do a google search and you will find lots of examples to work from.

Small batches first and careful measuring/note taking are the key to success here... I made several 1 litre batches before moving to a 20 litre mini reactor then the full size 200 litre appleseed. It's much easier to dispose of 1 litre of glop than 200!

Getting the fuel properly washed and then thoroughly dried is time consuming. It's easy to get impatient and rush things, which will leave you with water in the fuel which will clog up your filters with what looks like mayonaise. water contamination will be more evident as the temperatures drop. I heat my fuel to just above the boiling point of water after the washing stage and agitate it to release steam. This seems to leave the fuel completely dry.

My cummins powered F350 has run on my own B100 since I swapped out the gas burner for the Cummins 5.9 about 80,000 Km ago. The only fuel issues I have had were fuel gelling at temps below 35 degrees F.  The engine smokes much less on Bio, gets slightly less mpg and if there is any power difference between the two fuels I can't detect it.

I have also run a 2005 TDI Jetta on B100 since new... about 35,000 Km. on it now. I mix Bio with regular diesel in the winter to combat gelling, and if it gets too cold I simply switch back to dino diesel.

The latest addition to the fleet is a 2006 TDI wagon. That has run on B100 since new also and now has about 12,000 Km. on it. The same dino mix or switch to 100% dino is done when the temps drop to near freezing.

I hope this is useful to those contemplating making your own fuel.

cheers,

Rob.

Canuck