Hi,

I would really like to get into biodiesel production, however do not have the space. I would also like to save money, and reduce my usage of fossil fuels.
My thought is this:
-I do not want to plop down $250+ to do a svo/wvo system
-I would try to get a few 55 gal drums, and react, but have no space for it, so cannot do useful-sized batch reactions currently.
-I do want to get free wvo and burn it in my car; even 5 gallons per month would let me break even for the storage containers in 1 month with my plan, and Id certainly use more.

My idea is to get used fryer grease from a local restaurant. I dont know how much they get rid of when they swap, but I figure 5-10 gallons. Inside my apartment, I can pour the used grease through a double layer of cheesecloth (or some of those greasel filters if I want to spend more $$$) to clean it out. This used grease would then be mixed with kerosene(and a spalsh of rotella DFA) in a 50:50 ratio to reduce the viscosity, and reduce the effects of water in the wvo, so drying would hopefully be un-necessary. This would go into my tank to approximately 50:50 ratio of mix to petro-diesel, yielding around 75/25 final in the tank. I guess I could pour the filtered wvo in directly, but I like the idea of having the wvo heartily pre mixed with diesel or kerosene(whichever is currently cheaper) first in order to hopefully have a single-phase lower viscosity product going into my tank. I also would hope that this concoction would perhaps not gel up much when it gets cold out (my current #2d/roitella dfa is fine even in 12°F mornings), so I could use it year round.
I drive ~2000 miles a month, so this would save me a few dollars here and there, and thats what its really all about for me, that and the fact that I think its neat to use alternative fuels (I cant buy biodiesel around here). I wouldnt necessarily use it every tank (as I understand it can shorten engine life if used a lot) but I figure if I can use 10-20 gallons in ~75 per month, thats a little pocket change to go somewhere else.

I have done a lot of reading on the topic, know that people dump svo into their tanks directly, but I dont want to pay money for it. wvo(filtered) seems to be a good bet, if it is OK to use.

Any info/advice on this idea would be appreciated. Thanks

JMH

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Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (116k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
2008 ML320 CDI (199k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (267k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K), 1985 300D (233K), 1993 300D 2.5T (338k), 1993 300SD (291k)