A simpler way to make biodiesel
 

I have stumbled upon a website for a startup company in california that claims to have a new, much simpler way to make biodiesel fuel. The company is called biofuel basics & their website is: http://www.biofuelbasics.com/

Apparently, their method involves mixing veggie oil with a little bit of kerosene and a little bit of gasoline + their special catayst. Has anyone tried this ? It almost sounds too good to be true. Is this a gimmick or is it real ?

Cheers,

Brian

As usual if it sounds to good to be true it usually is. Sounds like the exact same thing that DieselSecret was doing a while back. Others have been mixing veggy and diesel/gasoline for a long time. Check out biodieselnow.com for lots of info on this.

Actually Diesel Secret is still at it, selling snake oil. They even have radio and TV adds this time. Guess there really is "One born every minute"

There are no shortcuts and there is no magic.

Tony

Yeah, I'm unfortunately going to watch one of my buds ruin a relative new Duramax with that diesel secret crap. Or.... stay tuned. AS it turn out, the process isnt all that different, you might just as well brew it the real way and be sure.

That will be interesting. :eek:

This is about the simplest way I've seen: http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200338349_200338349

That IS cool! TOo bad it is $8400! Hope the price comes down or they make a 150 gallon version.

I was going to use an old washing machine timer to run my processor. Even had the cycles already... agitate, rinse, etc

I've been curious about the "automatic" process that machine uses to avoid testing and titration. The testing is the part of the process that seems to me to slow everything down.

BTW, I bought a Rain Bird sprinkler timer to use for controlling biodiesel process pumps/valves, etc... It's programmable for the exact time you want each process to run and it was cheap too!

Stuff like this is really going to be popping up everywhere pretty soon as the price keeps going up.

At the risk of asking something that's already been asked a hundred times, what is biodiesel, exactly? Is it just blending regular diesel with vegetable oil in a certain ratio? Can you use WVO for this or do you need fresh VO? I guess this allows you to avoid all the conversion stuff you'd need to run WVO.

Not quite 150 gal. but close, here's a 100 gal. unit http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200338351_200338351

Tom,

Bio-diesel is transesthered vegetable oil - either waste or fresh. A reaction is created using methanol and lye to remove the glycerin. It can be burned in Diesel engines with no modifications.

Yup...that is correct. The glycerin molecule is replaced with an alcohol molecule, allowing the glycerin to 'fall' out. The glycerin is what causes most of the problems with straight VO or WVO or blended VO/WVO. 'Blending' is NOT Bio-Diesel, despite what Diesel Secret or anyone else claims.
Here is the link for the definition of Biodiesel

and here is a link to Wikipedia with lots of information on Biodiesel

Might google "Schnur Blend". As german man mixes about 16% gasoline with 4-6% alcohol and the rest VO. From what I've read he tested it in a MB for about 120,000 miles. The engine was taken apart and examined. No signs of any problems. Basically, most if not all of todays gasoline contains about 10% ethanol. So whatever the serect formula is, it probably doesn't matter. I think I was on a webboard, and they thoguht it was accetone.
I wouldn't be running it in a modern Hi-pressure common rail diesel motor though.
Tom

This is a veg oil fuel blend. As such, it is a valid alternative fuel, but it is not biodiesel. Fuel blends also have their own special risks and quirks that are completely different from biodiesel -- you'd be wise to read up on them before plunging into this. Even if you decide to go the fuel belnd route, you'd be wise to avoid these partciular people since they clearly don't know what they are doing.

Biodiesel is a chemical reaciton where the three ester groups are spliced off the glycerine backbone by inserting an alcohol, typically methanol. The -OH group off the alcohol ends up attached to the glycerine backbone and the methyl group ends up attached to the ester. The ester is separated out and is the biodiesel. Anybody who's process doesn't involve veg oil and an alcohol as inputs is not making biodiesel, they are doing something else. The lye is only a catalyst, but acid can be used instead in a variation, and there are other catalysts that are possible too.

Making biodiesel isn't rocket science, any homeowner can do it in their backyard. Anybody who don't know what it is that they're doing has demonstrated they are too clueless for you to pay any attention to -- you'd probably get better info from your neighbor than them :)

Keep in mind any store bought machine to produce fuel comes with a Tax ID number ...so uncle sam gets his cut !