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#1
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ATTN: Biodiesel fans
Just called my methanol supplier, Brenntag Chem (Pacific Div.) to confirm the company's mail notification to me of a MeOH price increase to $7.016/gallon. Confirmed. I was advised that the price will go up from there and that it's likely to remain at those prices thru '07.
For those who use but don't make biodiesel, it takes 20% MeOH by volume to make biodiesel. Most production facilities (commercial and private) are used to paying $1.50 - $3/gal for MeOH. Methanol is made from natural gas. Can you say BIG OIL?
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1984 300 TDT 200k mi. 1982 300 SD 65k orig mi. (sold) 1985 BMW 524 TD 90k mi. 1996 Ford Explorer 225k mi. (still strong) 1997 Clackacraft drift boat |
#2
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I wish I could say that I'm surprised. Disappointed, yes -- surprised, no.
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John Schroader bio burnin' 83 300D, '83 300 SD, '79 240D "I've never met a man who was good at making excuses who was good at anything else" Ben Franklin "You cannot permanently help a man by doing for him what he could and should do for himself" Abraham Lincoln |
#3
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I remember paying $1.25 a gallon.... kinda surprised that it would jump that high.. I smell something fishy
wonder if that weak dollar has to do with anything also |
#4
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RANT -- I just don't get it. Methanol was stable at $1.25ish for decades. All the methanol plants in North America close by 2006, production moves to Trinidad, Taiwan, China, Persian Gulf etc. and the methanol price blows through the roof. If this is an example of economic globalization, the US has been hoisted on its own pitard. Methanol is the single most widely used industrial chemical on earth. What's next, air? sunlight?
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1984 300 TDT 200k mi. 1982 300 SD 65k orig mi. (sold) 1985 BMW 524 TD 90k mi. 1996 Ford Explorer 225k mi. (still strong) 1997 Clackacraft drift boat |
#5
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Another sign that the world is about to end in 2012.
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#6
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I'll bet you your car against my whole fleet, it wont
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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K 1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild 1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K 1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor 2014 Kubota L3800 tractor 1964 VW bug "Lifes too short to drive a boring car" |
#7
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Any other known substitutes for methanol to assist in the reaction needed? This news is not good!
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#8
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ethanol?
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1985 300D Mango Green with 16" Pentas, Vogtland springs, Euros/ clear corners, 234k, lots to come soon.... |
#9
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Ethanol is hygroscopic. You might as well use water instead.
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#10
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The problem with ethanol is that even .1 % water will kill the reaction. Since ethanol instantly will leach water from the air a homebrewer will never succeed.
Isopropyl alchohol (rubbing) will work but is even more expensive.
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1959 Gravely LI, 1963 Gravely L8, 1973 Gravely C12 1982 380SL 1978 450 SEL 6.9 euro restoration at 63% and climbing 1987 300 D 2005 CDI European Delivery 2006 CDI Handed down to daughter 2007 GL CDI. Wifes |
#11
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ethanol
Yes ethanol is very hydroscopic. However, I have read a number of papers that have been written on the successful use of ethanol in the manufacture of biodiesel. There are ways of extracting the H2O from it. If you really wanted to avoid fossil fuels, brewing your own alcohol and using it to make biodiesel would be the ultimate way to do it. The process would likely not be justifiable economically if you wanted to include the value of your time. If you considered it a hobby that was self supporting it would be kind of cool.
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Sedecrem 82 300SD 290k(needs engine swap) 79 240D 354k with new heart transplant w/220k 82 240D w/auto tranny soon to be manual 4 speed |
#12
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but to make your own ethanol in quantaties larger than.. IIRC 500 gallons you need a License/Permit
there is some limit I just cannot recall it |
#13
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Heh. Plenty of methane from my house after a night of refried beans. Come one over and fill up!
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http://superturbodiesel.com/images/sig.04.10.jpg 1995 E420 Schwarz 1995 E300 Weiss #1987 300D Sturmmachine #1991 300D Nearly Perfect #1994 E320 Cabriolet #1995 E320 Touring #1985 300D Sedan OBK #42 |
#14
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You can make beer and wine for personal consumption (within state and federal limits) with out a licence.
You can not distill without a licence.
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1999 E300DT (131,800) 154,000 Black on Black SOLD 2006 CLK 500 coupe Capri Blue on Grey (zoom,zoom) 47,000mi 04 VW TDI Passat 80,000mi (Techno) How to eliminate oil dependency through market-driven approaches. “We could cut oil use in half by 2025, and by 2040, oil use could be zero,” The Sound of Diesel Speed Ode to MB |
#15
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As long as you denature the ethanol(add something to make it unfit for human consumption) I believe you can make it for fuel. It takes a little more ethanol to transesterify the triglycerides to make biodiesel because the molecule is almost twice as large. However, 100 gal of ethanol would probably make about 400 gal of biodiesel. Figuring you would only use it straight during the warmer weather and would blend it with No. 2 in the cooler weather, that should be enough unless you do a lot of driving.
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Sedecrem 82 300SD 290k(needs engine swap) 79 240D 354k with new heart transplant w/220k 82 240D w/auto tranny soon to be manual 4 speed |
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