Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[lloydbob1]

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

[Thor]

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...

[lloydbob1]

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

[Thor]

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

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.”

[lloydbob1]

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

[Thor]

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)

[nonluddite]

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.

[lloydbob1]

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

[Thor]

How is acceleration and MPG?  Same as before?

[lloydbob1]

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

[Thor]

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)

[Thor]

FYI

http://www.wired.com/news/autotech/0,2554,63635,00.html

[BlueLu]

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.  

[Pascal.Bélanger(tyler Durden)]

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

[DC]

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