Free State Project Forum
New Hampshire -- The "Live Free or Die" State => NH Jobs => Topic started by: Zxcv on December 16, 2002, 10:29:21 pm
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http://www.biodiesel.org
All those diesel pickup trucks in Wyoming, Montana etc. could use some biodiesel, especially when the feds start mandating low-sulfur diesel fuel...
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Hi Zxcv
Biodiesel is probably a good idea in its own right but the main reason why farmers / ranchers / heavy equipment operators drive personal diesel powered vehicles is because they have access to off road diesel fuel. ‘Off road’ means little or no tax.
The problem with off road diesel is that it has a pink or purple dye in it. I have never heard of anyone getting caught using off road diesel in a personal rig but the penalties are reported to be severe.
A product that might sell very well would be a chemical additive that would deactivate the colored dye. You could mix it in with the bio-diesel.
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My biodiesel supplier takes waste fryer oil from restaurants and makes the fuel from it. He has maybe 1000 sq ft in a small industrial park. Looks like it does not take a huge investment to set up. The big problem is getting people to try it, but maybe the FSPers would be a decent initial market?
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Waste Fryer Oil
I saw a story on the news about a guy in San Antonio (who struck me as an eccentric inventer geek ... no offense meant as I respect ingenuity) that ran his VW diesel on waste oil from fast food joints. That little car sure left a cloud of smoke, and the reporter said it smelled like stinky french fries.
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You can modify diesel engines to work on straight vegetable oil; however when people talk biodiesel, they mean chemically modified vegetable oil (transesterification) that runs on unmodified diesel engines. Most commonly, it is run in a 20% blend with ordinary #2 diesel fuel.
At 20% you get substantial reduction in smoke compared to straight diesel. At 100% you get even more reduction of smoke (essentially none), and you do get the smell of french fries, which I prefer to dino farts. ;D
My car loves the stuff.
The one extra huge benefit of biodiesel is that the lubricity is high. This issue of lubricity (needed to keep the small-tolerance injection pumps from self-destructing) will become difficult to deal with when the feds mandate low sulfur fuel in the near future (to reduce pollution), as sulfur is what provides lubricity in dino fuel. Add 20% biodiesel to low-sulfur dino, your pump is safe again. Biodiesel of course has no sulfur.
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One of the problems people have identified with most of the 10 states is their cold northern climates. I currently heat my house with oil. Can I run bio-diesel thru the burner in my warm air furnace?
How about thru a diesel generator to create electricity?
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I guess you can do that, but biodiesel is higher priced than normal diesel fuel. The advantages really show up in auto use. Not even sure anyone's tried in in a home.
A diesel generator would work as well. However if we end up in Wyoming you ought to have a wind generator! :)
I am paying $1.75 for bio from my supplier delivered to my tank in the garage, and this is on the low end.
Go do a google search to get more info...
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I want to make it myself!
I should be able to beat the price of $1.75/gallon don't you think?
I understand that the fast food restaurants will give you their waste grease for free...
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Straight diesel becomes Jello in extreme cold. How does biodiesel compare? Is there a difference?
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Hey All,
Great articles over on Home Power on this subject, I'm seriously considering starting to make my own....
www.homepower.com
Aaron
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Hi Zxcv
Biodiesel is probably a good idea in its own right but the main reason why farmers / ranchers / heavy equipment operators drive personal diesel powered vehicles is because they have access to off road diesel fuel. ‘Off road’ means little or no tax.
The problem with off road diesel is that it has a pink or purple dye in it. I have never heard of anyone getting caught using off road diesel in a personal rig but the penalties are reported to be severe.
A product that might sell very well would be a chemical additive that would deactivate the colored dye. You could mix it in with the bio-diesel.
No this is not quite right. The reason farmer/ranchers use deicil is two fold.
1. It is historically cheaper than gasoline. Sure they can get the offroad taxless stuff, but they can only use than in heavy equipment (its tens of thousands of dolars in fines if you get caught with died diesel in a road vehicle, and they do check).
2. Since they use it in heavy machinery, they often use it in road vehicles. This is because they have it around, plus they need the power that a big diesel pickup has. Diesel also gets better mpg.
If bio-diesel was available farmers, ranchers, and contracters would use it in a heartbeat. Better to support local farmers than foreign bomb carrying arabs.
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I wish I would have seen this before deleting my 850 emails last night. I had one in there that I sent out to most on my list. It was about a guy that owns a cement company and used 100 percent Biofuel to do his part to eliminate the reliance on Middle-Eastern Oil. It was costing him $100K/year to do it, but he did it until recently the cost was so high from the biofuel supplier that he had to start using 60-80 percent diesel. But, he is not giving up. In fact, he is now building his own biofuel refinery to cut his cost to run it again in his cement mixers. I'm sure more companies in his area will switch once he is up an running his refinery. I wish I could remember what state he was in. BTW, there is a city in Oregon that has switched to fryer oil for all municipal vehicles - I think it's Eugene. Philadelphia also uses a blended diesel in there city's mass transit. Well, I'll post more if I find it.
Dan the Man
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Whichever state we choose, we should grow hemp to make fuel, plastic, textiles, paper, etc. So much more potential than just a windmill...
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I like the hemp idea. In the interim, it's another good reason to border Canada, since they also use hemp.
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Aaron-
can you send me a link to how hemp oil can be made into plastic material???
Thanks-
bg
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A google search for 'industrial hemp plastic' drew many pages of results including this one: http://www.friendlystranger.com/info/hemp/hempplastic.htm (http://www.friendlystranger.com/info/hemp/hempplastic.htm)
If you are looking for more technical details, I'm sure you could find them. I've just always been told by hemp activists that anything you can make with petroluem can be made (in a more environmentally friendly manner) with industrial hemp. I have no reason not to believe them, so I've never investigated the technical details of the process.
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I just found out my biodiesel supplier is going out of business. :'(
He says he could never break into the big leagues; no retailer ever wanted to mess with it (there is one place on the east side of Portland that sells 20% biodiesel mix). Apparently, there are better ways to make a dollar.
You have to be dedicated and have the long view to pull something like this off...
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You are absolutely right!!!!!!!!!!
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Here is an interesting article on a related subject:
http://www.discover.com/may_03/gthere.html?article=featoil.html
And here is a link to the company who owns the process:
http://www.changingworldtech.com/home.html
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One of the discovery type channels just did a special on alternative fuels where a guy with his own fleet of shipping trucks started his own refinery. If you buy The Emperors New Clothes you will find a section where it mentions that Hemp seed husks are a perfect source for Biomass fuels. If we can reach this trucker/refinery person I'm sure we could utilize inexpensive and quick growing hemp for cheaper Biomass fuels such as Biomass diesel.
However I'm pretty sure the U.S. Govt will take exception to us "importing hemp" or pot from Canada if we were to utilize Idaho for the FSP. We are still part of the United States and a border with the ocean or another country makes us vulnerable to the 'criminal element", e.g. As cheap as it would be in a state where pot/hemp was legal the temptation to outsiders to take instate hemp/pot out of state to sell at high "blackmarket" prices would be too great and either the govt would establish a "Customs station" at our borders or (and this is the scary part) they'd intervene and make hemp illegal again in our state and then comes the raids all over the state and the kicking down doors, etc.
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I'm all for bio-mass diesel fuel but moreso if the biomass used is hemp.
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If you are interested in using biodiesel, or SVO in vehicles, check out the following links:
Making biodiesel (http://www.dancingrabbit.org/biodiesel/)
Biodiesel conversion kits (http://www.greasecar.com/)
If you are willing to buy a 200 gal trailered ag tank and pump, you can get your raw materials for nearly free. And if you run yourself dry, you can always use regular diesel from the gas station.
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Check out http://www.veggieavenger.com/ , http://www.greasecar.com/ and http://www.greasel.com/ for details about biodiesel and conversion kits for waste vegetable oil.
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As long as we're looking into interesting alternative energy sources, PowerBall Technologies (http://www.powerball.net) has a technology for producing polyethylene-coated sodium hydride (NaH) pellets ('powerballs') that react with water to produce copious amounts of hydrogen, the byproducts being sodium hydroxide (NaOH) and probably a bit of heat.
They have a rather complex business plan, but it starts with a process to extract sodium metal from sodium hydroxide derived from trona mineral in Green River, Wyoming. They announced a letter of intent with FMC for this purpose. The sodium metal is used to produce the sodium hydride, which goes into the powerballs.
www.powerball.net/business/goals.html (http://www.powerball.net/business/goals.html)
One gallon of compressed H2 at 3000psi is only a 204 gallons of unpressurized H2 delivered. One gallon of powerballs, mixed with water, produces 1307 gallons of H2. So, as a hydrogen storage and transportation medium, it looks promising. The hydrogen generator is small and easily portable. When the powerballs are used up, you have a vessel full of NaOH liquid, ready to give back to PowerBall for reprocessing into more powerball pellets.
http://www.powerball.net/process/hydrogen.html (http://www.powerball.net/process/hydrogen.html)
RS
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Hi Rhythm Star,
Re: Energy Sources
Re: Energy Politics
The technology is interesting but what got my attention was the mention of =trona=.
Green River, Wyomng is also mentioned, being the mine site.
In March I returned from PR China. Trona is a PRC export to S. America and throughout Asia. A target market is the US.
One of my Wyoming contacts lives in Rock Springs, next to Green River. I'm hearing it is not a boom town area.
Can I get away with saying that these energy issues are 99% politics and not too much regarding the technical expertise?
Where you will witness my support to have a prosperous mining industry in the US, you will also hear my alerts that it won't happen until the political scenery changes.
No mine in Green River, WY can compete against China in the current situation. For that matter, no mine can compete with what's going on in Port Arthur, Texas with the oil.
Energy is as politically loaded as Defense issues.
BobW
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Okay--- I think using hemp oil in [Free State]'s biodiesel vehicles is a safety hazard. How many stoners are going to burn their lips on the exhaust pipe trying to take a hit? ;D
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I believe sulfur does not add lubricity to diesel, just soot. The process that takes most of the sulfur out of diesel also strips the lubricants. I am not an expert, but that is what I heard from a pretty good source.
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> I just found out my biodiesel supplier is going out of business.
This is because to make people switch en masse to a better product you really have to bring it out at a lower price then what they currently use.
If you could bring biodiesel down to something like $1.25 a gallon w/road tax...
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> I just found out my biodiesel supplier is going out of business.
This is because to make people switch en masse to a better product you really have to bring it out at a lower price then what they currently use.
If you could bring biodiesel down to something like $1.25 a gallon w/road tax...
Shouldn't be too hard. Just get rid of the road tax ;D
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Look like NH (UNH) is already in the biodiesel game.
http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/index.html (http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/index.html)
Read this too:
http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html (http://www.unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/article_alge.html)
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Thanks for the post Thor, a friend of mine is giving me an older VW diesel car and I have only recently become interested in the subject.
Lloyd
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Make sure you upgrade the fuel lines and rubber parts that touch the bio fuel if you have an older vehicle.
The biodiesel will eat them up on the older vehicles (after 96 I think VW and Cummins used newer parts that have biodiesel in mind and are resistant to whatever it is that eats the older lines) I have read on Internet that the old lines only last about 1 year on biodiesel and then they spring leaks.
Also, in NH, a fuel tank and fuel line and engine block heater would be needed to keep B100 (100% biodiesel) from gelling in the winter. B20 (80% regular, 20% bio) can go lower in temp, but it will gel too...
There are some additives than can help with gelling, but then I am not sure how clean burning it is after that. Still much better than regular diesel or gas I am sure...
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Thanks again Thor, I knew about the gelling, but, not about the rubber eater.
What do you know about running on filtered fry oil after warming up and, later, cooling down with diesel?
Lloyd
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Hi Lloyd,
I am pretty sure you would need to do a conversion to the engine if you want to run oil straight. It can be done, and supposedly smells like french fries, but the engine needs mods.... (and it will gel even faster I bet) You can turn the fryer oil into biodiesel though.....
There is a business op for someone in NH. Collect all the used fryer oil from McD's, Wendy's, etc... and in a big central workshop convert it all to bio.
From the veggie oil FAQ: http://www.veggievan.org/faq/index.php?faqcategory=5 (http://www.veggievan.org/faq/index.php?faqcategory=5)
4. Can I use vegetable oil directly in a Diesel engine instead of processing it into biodiesel?
There are several engine conversion kits available that allow you to use straight vegetable oil (SVO) directly in the fuel system of a diesel vehicle. However, vegetable oil has a higher density than biodiesel fuel and there is still little known about the long term effects of using SVO in diesel engines. For more information on SVO kits see our Biodiesel Things That Work page, or purchase a copy of From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank which contains directions for a simple “SVO conversion.â€
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I'm hip to the business potential of processing fry oil in the freestate. The drawback that I see is dealing with the by-product of the operation. I guess one could find a buyer for the glycerin, but what about the water that is used to clean the oil after it is prossessed? Does one filter it and reuse it? Where does the methanol and potassium Hydroxide go?
Mind you, my history with this subject is about the last 24 hours!
Lloyd
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I am by no means an expert on biodiesel. I have just been loosely following it. The methanol and lye are converted in the process to make the fuel. it is a reaction that makes it a combustible, freer flowing liquid. So they are used up in the conversion and the other parts converted to glycerin.
As for the glycerin... I think glycerin soap gets a premium because it is good stuff. While market saturation would drive prices down, there are plenty of uses for it. Face soap, hand soap, pet soap, car soap.. etc.. put some hemp in it and make glycerin hemp soap.... :-)
Do some searches on google for biodiesel and you will be up late reading about it, how to make it, by product uses, getting rid of foreign dependencies, cleaner air. I predict it is a natural evolution that will happen. Diesel engines are far more efficient, have a ton more torque and are even getting speedy with modifications.
Jeep is introducing a 2005 (this fall) Liberty with a CRD (common rail diesel) that (to quote) "has the fuel efficiency if an I4 (inline 4), the acceleration of a V-6 and the torque of a V8".
And a TDI VW Beetle gets 50 MPG.
I sure hope they come out with the Jeep Rescue. (600 ft/lbs torque Cummins turbo diesel in a 4 door full size SUV Jeep)
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I am by no means an expert on biodiesel. I have just been loosely following it. The methanol and lye are converted in the process to make the fuel. it is a reaction that makes it a combustible, freer flowing liquid. So they are used up in the conversion and the other parts converted to glycerin.
As for the glycerin... I think glycerin soap gets a premium because it is good stuff. While market saturation would drive prices down, there are plenty of uses for it. Face soap, hand soap, pet soap, car soap.. etc.. put some hemp in it and make glycerin hemp soap.... :-)
Well, if you have seen the movie "Fight Club" (or another source) you would know another use for glycerin....
Anyway, aside from the fact that biodiesel is probably only competitive with petroleum diesel because of taxes, being a chemist, I find this stuff facinating. I mean wow, biodiesel is nearly the same compound as soap (biodiesel is the methyl ester of the fatty acids in soap)! You could easily make both at the same plant, making more soap when the price of diesel drops.
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I have been looking into converting a diesel to use straight, filtered used Fry oil.
This looks like the way to go.
Basically it consists of !. getting oil from (preferably upper scale or Asian restaurants), heating it up and filtering the crud out of it.
2. Install a holding tank with an inner coil connected to the car's cooling system to warm the fry oil.
3. install a system of tubing and valves that allow you to start off with diesel fuel and when the engine has heated the fryoil, open a valve to introduce fryoil into the system. Run on the fryoil. Just before shutting down, open valve for diesel fuel, close fryoil valve and diesel fuel flushes system to avoid fryoil from cooling and clogging the system.
Some users in warm southern states with older diesels with cast iron heads, put the filtered fryoil right in the diesel tank and run it without heating it.
A good site is;
www.greasecar.com
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How is acceleration and MPG? Same as before?
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They claim it is the same and there is less polution as there is no sulphur. I guess you smell like a potato chip going down the road, though.
Lloyd
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Hmmm.. so $845 for a conversion kit, and then the install cost if you can't do it yourself...
And now you fill up the diesel tank every 6 to 9 months or so to do the warm up and flush.
And you load it with free (or pretty cheap) used vegetable oil and you don't pollute or pay road tax, or line the pockets of the middle east.
I think the $845 would break even in about a year.
Not bad.... And you can use biodiesel for you warm up and flush fuel (if it has anti gelling agents)
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FYI
http://www.wired.com/news/autotech/0,2554,63635,00.html (http://www.wired.com/news/autotech/0,2554,63635,00.html)
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Boidiesel Board lists 3 retail outlets for getting biodiesel blend, including 100% at the one in Dublin, NH.
http://www.biodiesel.org/buyingbiodiesel/retailfuelingsites/showstate.asp?st=NH
The wired.com article indicated 5 "fueling stations" had opened in NH this year.
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Need hydrogen,check me post ''next level''.It sad because poeple are narrow minded when it come to change.Could a science part be implemented (and a way to discuss of idea in a secur fashion) that would be great!Have a nice day
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This is an interesting site on making your own fuel and other things like solar , hydroelectric, and wind power. http://jrwhipple.com/sr/index.html this is a link in that site http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html
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Someone needs to build an automatic pumping/filtering system. This way you could just dip your hose into the nearest waste oil contaner and voila!
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I am taking the Peterborough newspaper now, and noticed the front-page story last week about how Peterborough will have to build a new sewage treatement plant, because the treated effluent that is currently being returned to the Contoocook River is too rich . I am not there to suggest that they talk to UNH about their high-oil-yeilding algae that can clean up effluent and provide great feedstock for bio-diesel production, but I think I would be inclined to if I were in the area.
I just wanted to throw this out there, in case anybody wanted to do it and just needed the idea. This is one place libs tend to shine is knowing about cutting edge technologies. Also, there already is a biodiesel filling station in Dublin, just a few miles down the road, so there is already the beginnings of a market/supply chain.
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How about a business converting diesels to run on waste vegetable oil and, perhaps filter some wvo and sell it to those who don't have the time to filter it themselves?
I haven't actually coverted one yet, but, it would be a matter of making or buying tanks with heating coils in them and doing a bunch of plumbing and wiring and, of course working the bugs out.......Oh, and educating the clients about the importance of switching back to diesel before shutting down!
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If anyone has questions about using veg-oil as fuel, I'll be glad to answer them.
I use waste veg-oil (WVO) in my 85 Mercedes 300TD wagon. I do not use bidiesel though I do know some answers concerning it.
Pat
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It is good to hear from you Pat and I want to extend my thanks to you for showing us your conversion at the Porcfest.
I will soon come into possesion of an '81 Rabbit Diesel which I intend to convert.
Lloyd
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I've noticed a few glass companies during my travels in New Hampshire. How about one that specializes in making devices optimizing the delivery of medicine?
Such as those used by cancer patients?
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Lloyd & Pat,
I'd love to know more about what it takes to convert a diesel to biodiesel.
I'm an engineer, but I can offer only a little more info:
1) Biodiesel should have better filters, because there will be bacteria living in the fuel.
2) vegetable oil would probably have a lower vapor pressure @ temp than diesel--so either the temp or the compression should go up--is that right??
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Lloyd & Pat,
I'd love to know more about what it takes to convert a diesel to biodiesel.
I'm an engineer, but I can offer only a little more info:
1) Biodiesel should have better filters, because there will be bacteria living in the fuel.
There is also this problem with diesel fuel. Marine diesels have found this because of the length of time some of this diesel sits in the tanks.
Auto diesel users find this problem from stations who don't sell a lot of diesel, therefore the oil sits in their tanks a while.
2) vegetable oil would probably have a lower vapor pressure @ temp than diesel--so either the temp or the compression should go up--is that right??
I'm not versed on the diesel thermal cycle with veg oil vs diesel. I do know that there are fewer BTU's in veg oil but I do not find a noticeable decrease in power.
Pat
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It is good to hear from you Pat and I want to extend my thanks to you for showing us your conversion at the Porcfest.
I will soon come into possesion of an '81 Rabbit Diesel which I intend to convert.
Lloyd
Hi Lloyd,
Thanks. Good luck on that Rabbit.
Have you made the NH move, yet?
I saw your van with the sign on the bumper sticker thread. Great! Enjoy your NYC trip!
Pat
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Hi Pat,
No, unfortunatly, I'm still just 30 plus miles north of you. I'm still preparing my house for sale and addressing some other obligations.
I'm going to visit the rabbit today, although I will wait until my move and register it in NH.
Believe it or not, I'm waiting to hear from NYC as to wether or not driving around the city with the sign is legal! I studied the Traffic Laws of NYC after Pat K wqarned me to expect a ticket as practically everything is ilegal in that town. They actually do have a law against commercial signs on vehicles not actually engaged in delivery or service. I enquired as to wether or not this applied to noncommercial, as well. Might do it anyway!
Take Care
Lloyd
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Biodiesel is huge, and it's happening now--just right for entrepreneurship..
The advantages can't be ignored, and it looks better than fuel cells, considering total efficiency.
Lots of info on Journeytoforever.org/biodiesel etc.
One business can't encompass it. Two broad categories are suggested:
1) Converting diesels. Today's diesels are already made to run 5% to 20% biodiesel. Higher levels will still run, but smoother running, trouble-free operation on 100 % requires small modifications, such as a 2 degree mechanical timing adjustment, possibly heaters in the tanks, filter changes and/or better filters.
2) Making the fuel / Processing the fuel. The best crops that will grow in New Hampshire need to be identified by the farmer willing to take the risk, but it looks to me that Rapeseed (127 gallons / acre) and Sunflowers (105 gallons/ acre) are the way to go in a colder climate. Hemp, I'm sorry to say, produces 39 gallons / acre, according to Journeytoforever.
All of these, however, will grow on land unhospitable to regular crops. So mountainsides covered with rape and sunflower can be harvested for fuel.
Galt's Gulch--if it happens--would have lots of remote mountain land in the northeast part of the state.
But don't quit your day job.