Home made bio diesel

[Daveo26]

I run my disco on bio and after chatting to a mate about it he said why dont you make some?

I have been reading up about it online!!! seems fairly stright forward?

WVO, methanol and caustic soda

I just wondered if anyone on here had made any and had any tips???

Cheers Dave

[ack-ack]

My Mrs makes it though she prefers to call it Plum wine.

[ack-ack]

I run my disco on bio and after chatting to a mate about it he said why dont you make some?

I have been reading up about it online!!! seems fairly stright forward?

WVO, methanol and caustic soda

I just wondered if anyone on here had made any and had any tips???

Cheers Dave

 

 

 

I'm sure there was a 'catering supplies' warehouse up in Ebbsfleet where I was working a few years back that was basically a moody fuelling spot. Not many of the punters looked like chefs / caterers and all they seemed to sell was cooking oil. Tatty transits were driving out of there barely able to get over the speed bumps such were they laden down. There was a palisade corale out side for empty returns to be thrown over 24-7.

[-Mongrel-]

I did and will be again.

 

First tip is to make sure the oil is PROPERLY dried, you need to heat the oil to ideally over 100 degrees C while agitating it to drive off all the water, failure to do so will mean you will make a LOT more soap and can easily suffer from an emulsion forming, which, while not the end of the world, is a proper pain in the *****!

 

Secondly get/make a processor that has a high volume pump, this wil help ensure mixing and therefore a better reaction.

 

Third, at least until you get the hang of it, do a two stage reaction, it's easier to get a complete reaction and you're less likely to have problems.

 

Finally, do a lot of reading up on it, and join www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk , it's a mine of information but like here they don't suffer fools, do your homework and use the search facility before asking the stupid questions!

Edited April 30, 2012 by -Mongrel-

[-Mongrel-]

I'm sure there was a 'catering supplies' warehouse up in Ebbsfleet where I was working a few years back that was basically a moody fuelling spot. Not many of the punters looked like chefs / caterers and all they seemed to sell was cooking oil. Tatty transits were driving out of there barely able to get over the speed bumps such were they laden down. There was a palisade corale out side for empty returns to be thrown over 24-7.

 

 

Quite a few older diesels run perfectly well on dried and filtered plain, waste veg oil. My Pajero actually runs better on WVO than diesel!

 

You can't run modern diesels on it though, so you need to process it into biodiesel, I am looking for a Mondeo/Octavia diesel atm hence why I'm going to fire up the processor again. I currently have about 500 litres of WVO outside which cost me 19p a litre. By the time it's turned into Bio it will be around 40p a litre but you can run pretty much any car on it. You can legally produce up to 2499 litre s a year duty free...at current prices you'd save £2698.00 on fuel.

 

Oh, and did I mention, the person keeping tabs on how much you produce..is you! :yp:

[Dave-G]

Quite a few older diesels run perfectly well on dried and filtered plain, waste veg oil. My Pajero actually runs better on WVO than diesel!

 

You can't run modern diesels on it though, so you need to process it into biodiesel, I am looking for a Mondeo/Octavia diesel atm hence why I'm going to fire up the processor again. I currently have about 500 litres of WVO outside which cost me 19p a litre. By the time it's turned into Bio it will be around 40p a litre but you can run pretty much any car on it. You can legally produce up to 2499 litre s a year duty free...at current prices you'd save £2698.00 on fuel.

 

Oh, and did I mention, the person keeping tabs on how much you produce..is you! :yp:

 

Carefull about the octavia diesel matey: PD engines don't like much of the bio fuel - something about the high pressure fuel delivery systems that get fubared. It's worth joining a VW forum to get the low down on it. I'm in a Galaxy forum - the diesels use the VW PD engine.

 

EDIT: found this...

https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:z22EgkAfClIJ:www.volkswagen.co.uk/assets/common/pdf/general/biodiesel.pdf+pd+engine+bio+diesel&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjPLrl89BdipHKDW4v53rvwsGD6guAnwkc9YvL7bqJ2IMxozWYg-84jvTwQPjhUChqT2WfdxwuFG_eAJIWCbhDv480xhqD9Tlt80auqYxcMVBT3L1PfW-Rk3OlpuKJowxqZUXJ9&sig=AHIEtbQqo6UldREQtbLoqeLhD_JN5lsbGw

Edited April 30, 2012 by Dave-G

[-Mongrel-]

Carefull about the octavia diesel matey: PD engines don't like much of the bio fuel - something about the high pressure fuel delivery systems that get fubared. It's worth joining a VW forum to get the low down on it. I'm in a Galaxy forum - the diesels use the VW PD engine.

 

Yet another good reason to buy a Mundaneo then, along with that the Octavia is one u-u-u-u-u-u-u-gly car as well as 15%-ish more expensive than a comparable Mondeo!

 

Cheers for the heads up, really should have looked at that earlier TBH.

Edited April 30, 2012 by -Mongrel-

[ferguson_tom]

I have bought a processor plant from a company called oilybits, i must say i am quite impressed with it, all goes together nicely and seems decent quality. We are yet to actually make some as just have not had the time to give it a go as been too busy every weekend. The main thing you need to do it is space, we have a barn so are able to store all the oil and processor in there as by time you get a couple of barrels and the processor you are looking at a lot of floor space.

 

I bought my terrano to run on the bio as been told these engines have no problem on it and can run all year. I am going to try it in a modernish diesel as well as my mate fancies cheap fuel and his car is not worth much if it all goes wrong.

 

The main thing now is finding the WVO, a lot of restaurants need proof of environmentally friendly removal and us turning up in a van isn't that. Look on ebay the stuff is selling for 70p a ltr which is crazy but still works out only 90p a ltr once processed so 2/3rds price of diesel at the pump.

 

Supposidly you can only produce 2500 ltrs a year per person for your own use but you do not have to keep records :yp:. That is a lot of fuel a year i reckon in my Terrano that would be 15000 miles. But that is per person for own use not per car.

[Rimfireboy]

The old Citroen/Peugeot 1.9 diesels would run on used pre fried veg oil with half a litre of white spirit in twenty litres oil. Left to stand for a week then pour it in and drive. No need for any other process. Don't ask me how I know.

[Daveo26]

Will a disco run on wvo?

[al4x]

Getting the wvo is the issue round here its mostly collected by a company linked to the suppliers who presumably also turn it into bio diesel. If you can find a supply of it then go for it but if relying on shop bought oil its a pain to do in the volumes required for not a massive saving.

[bi9johnny]

do not forget when using waste from restaurants and take away it has tallinn(animal fat) in it so this is to be removed filtered scooped and then disposed of otherwise it will cak up your filters... i know the caustic is supposed to clean it and the washing of it is supposed to get rid of debris but it don't always go that way

[-Mongrel-]

I have bought a processor plant from a company called oilybits, i must say i am quite impressed with it, all goes together nicely and seems decent quality.

 

I'm assuming you bought the one with the plastic conical drum with immersion heater element fitted. If so did you buy any failsafe for the heater? There have been a few that have leaked and caused the element to be exposed, this then heated to the point of melting the drum or in one documented case, the whole lot caught fire!