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[Zxcv]

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...

[glen]

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.  

[Zxcv]

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?

[wes237]

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.

[Zxcv]

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.  

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.

[BillG]

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?

[Zxcv]

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...

[BillG]

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...

[John the Bastard]

Straight diesel becomes Jello in extreme cold.  How does biodiesel compare?  Is there a difference?

[kesthesculptor]

Hey All,

Great articles over on Home Power on this subject, I'm seriously considering starting to make my own....

www.homepower.com

Aaron

[mtPete]

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.

[DanTheTileMan]

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

[Aaron]

Whichever state we choose, we should grow hemp to make fuel, plastic, textiles, paper, etc.  So much more potential than just a windmill...

[DanTheTileMan]

I like the hemp idea.  In the interim, it's another good reason to border Canada, since they also use hemp.

[BillG]

Aaron-

can you send me a link to how hemp oil can be made into plastic material???

Thanks-

bg