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#16
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Just how does this automated machine titrate the oil to determine the amount of catalyst? Thats a very important step due to variances in the Oil quality...
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1983 300D-Turbo - Deep Blue w Palomino MB Tex (total loss in fire 1/5/09 RIP) 1995 E320 W124 Polar White/Grey Mushroom MB Tex 2005 F150 Supercrew - Arizona Beige - Lear topper 1985 Piaggio Vespa T5 - Black and Chrome www.cphilip.com |
#17
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Maybe it dose it's own PH test and measures how acidic it is ?
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1983 300cd |
#18
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I thought the automatic machine from Northern Tool was pretty neat until I did some math. If you amortize the cost of the machine based on the highest price I have paid for regular diesel fuel (which was $4.59gal last week) that would be equivalent to the cost of approx. 1808 gallons of pumped fuel or 61,472 total miles of highway driving for me. That is not including the cost of the ethenol, lye, time, space, electricity to run the thing.
I would have to drive the length of the equator 2 1/2 times to break even..... It would have to be just a "Labor of Love" or an expensive hobby .
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FRED Daily Driver: 98 E300TD 199K Hobby Car: 69 Austin Mini Past Diesels: 84 300SD, 312K 87 300SDL, 251K 94 Chev. K-1500 6.5Ltr.TD, 373K Last edited by F18; 05-20-2008 at 01:22 PM. |
#19
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There's surely lots of cheaper machines out there, and you can make your own also. btw, I believe ethanol will not do the trick to remove the glycerin and it's Methanol that
you need. Highly flammable. When gas gets to $8 next year, and diesel is who knows where, you can reformulate your calculations. Maybe only one trip around the equator! LOL |
#20
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Quote:
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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 |
#21
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Yep... I would be blowing myself up using Ethanol instead of Methanol would'nt I? Sometimes the mind is a dangerous thing!
You would definitly need to set up a cooporative between friends and neighbors....if you could find enough of them that drive diesels to invest in the automatic machine, that would be slick!
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FRED Daily Driver: 98 E300TD 199K Hobby Car: 69 Austin Mini Past Diesels: 84 300SD, 312K 87 300SDL, 251K 94 Chev. K-1500 6.5Ltr.TD, 373K |
#22
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I thought of starting a Bio-Diesel "exchange". People would bring me WVO/SVO which I would test for usability and then make bio-d and give it back to them at a lower rate say, .5 gal of finished fuel out for every gal in or something like that. that way, I have extra left over for me to use and I won't have to seek WVO! Plus, I'm not "selling" it.
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-Evan Benz Fleet: 1968 UNIMOG 404.114 1998 E300 2008 E63 Non-Benz Fleet: 1992 Aerostar 1993 MR2 2000 F250 |
#23
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I am waiting for the day you have to pay for waste oil... Its coming.
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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 |
#24
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It's already here in some places.
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'79 300SD '82 Chevy Chevette diesel |
#25
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Based on a petro-diesel cost of 5.00/gal., and a cost of manufacture of the biodiesel (including methanol and your acids and bases and other raw materials, including electricity) of 2.00/gal., the 50 gallon capacity model would pay for itself in 112 days. Assuming you could use and or sell the 25 gallons per day as an equivalent reduction in the up-front cost of the machine. Not bad.
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1985 300D Gretchen (Astral Silver) 220k 1983 240D 4-speed Evelyn (Orient Red) 203k TANSTAAFL |
#26
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I run a blend in my cars, and also make biodiesel for my home furnace.
The blend is from taking the best oil off the top, filtering it, mixing with about gasoline (about 10%), and running that in two Mercedes. Cost of the filtering system is about $60. The not-so-good oil I pour into my biodiesel reactor. I used to titrate each batch, but my numbers came out the same so often that I just use a typical amount of lye and about 18% methanol, and I'm good to go. For BD, it takes about $500 to get started, and you need 110v, fresh water, and compressed air available. The blend has gone 45,000 miles in two MBs and also powers a diesel generator to occasionally get off the grid and have a true low-fossil house. I haven't tried the blend in the house boiler yet (it runs all year for domestic hot water), so it gets washed and dried biodiesel.
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Mark in MA 05 MB E320CDI 402k Granite Grey Metallic 05 MB E320CDI 267k Black 05 MB E320CDI 232k White 05 MB E320CDI 209k Tectite Grey 99 Dodge 2500 Cummins 5sp 148k 62 Jeep CJ-6 120k |
#27
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Quote:
A $500 start-up investment is a lot different than a $8300 machine. And your doing everything with it....heat, hot water and transportation...now thats fantastic!
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FRED Daily Driver: 98 E300TD 199K Hobby Car: 69 Austin Mini Past Diesels: 84 300SD, 312K 87 300SDL, 251K 94 Chev. K-1500 6.5Ltr.TD, 373K |
#28
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It's here in Austin TX. Restaurants are practically holding bidding wars with grease companies to see who will pay them the most. Most times when I approach a restaurant asking to take their oil, the response is "how much are you paying?".
Sucks!
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1987 Mercedes 300D ~200K (Greasecar & Biodiesel) 1993 Ford F-250 7.3 IDI diesel 165K (Biodiesel) 1996 Thomas/International Bus with DT466 engine |
#29
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Quote:
Winmutt is correct, we are finding a VERY hard time sourcing oil, adn do end up "skimming" some from the few local haulers who have the restaurants sown up. We have two bio facilities here, one running fully, and they are sucking up WVO like you cant beleive. The day is here. BTW, suck and run equpt is a plastic 55 ga drum ( we use two and try adn get 100 gals a run), 15" of hose, and a good 12v pump. I havent needed any "heaters" yet! Oh and BTW, that "secret diesel" stuff. I never said I told him so, BUT my freinds Duramax is having issues with the first tankful of that CRAP. As I told my buddy, its not that hard to do it the RIGHT way. Do it right, or buy it. Dont "cheap out" or get lazy. You will pay. He's calling D&W Diesel to see about cleaning his injectors! OUCH! Last edited by WINGAS; 05-21-2008 at 12:40 PM. |
#30
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Ethanol will indeed work... however its much trickier to get it to work. It has to be very free of water, for one thing, and its affinity for water is greater than Methanol is. They both do like water but Ethanol more so and the whole procedure gets a little bit difficult when using it we are seeing. Its just simply easier to use Methanol. However we are doing some work here using Ethanol as we are attempting to do a complete Bio/Off grid/agricultural by product full loop thing. We are using Solar Power to run the electrical grid for the "Still" and back up power by Bio Diesel fueled Generator and Ethanol/Sodium Hydroxide catalyst and various Oil sources, including waste oils. Then the small truck we use to go get the Oil is, of course, Bio Diesel powered. We do have a lot of problems dealing with Ethanol in that process though. We are also working with some alternate sources of Base for the catalyst too. Hopefully, in the end, it will all be self sustaining, renewable, and Agricultural products doing the entire thing.
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1983 300D-Turbo - Deep Blue w Palomino MB Tex (total loss in fire 1/5/09 RIP) 1995 E320 W124 Polar White/Grey Mushroom MB Tex 2005 F150 Supercrew - Arizona Beige - Lear topper 1985 Piaggio Vespa T5 - Black and Chrome www.cphilip.com |
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