First batch of BD... - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

MercFan · #1 08-07-2009, 12:17 PM

I've made my first full scale batch of BioDiesel last night - I'm still really pumped about it so I thought I would share...

It went rather well - a couple of small hiccups along the way, but nothing scary. Worked late into the night, as I checked and double-checked everything along the way for safety. Hit the bed at 3:25am and then got up at 6:30am as normal (must be an internal alarm clock), drained the nasty glycerol and got the first peak at the nice raw bd. Now on to dry-finishing - exciting stuff...

UriahT · #2 08-07-2009, 01:01 PM

Looks like you have two vehicles that will take the BD smoothly.
You're going to love the difference in exhaust smell and running noise.
Congratulations!

tubular031 · #3 08-07-2009, 01:33 PM

Make sure you clean it well. I found that messing with water was a waste. I setup some settling tanks and let the stuff sit for as long as you can. then I gravity fed it through some purolite kegs and got some awesome BD. I made about 500 or more gal till I swapped over to SVO. Now I am up to about 650 gal of veggie through the truck

My buddy uses ecopure and has been having very good results.

http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d115/tubular031/BioD/

latitude500 · #4 08-07-2009, 01:46 PM

Great to hear your making your own brew, I remeber those days. Biodiesel is such a better fuel then the Low Sulfer Diesel that have on the market for our cars.

Have fun and be safe and don't forgot to share the biodiesel. You will make all kinds of friends.

Cr from Texas · #5 08-07-2009, 02:11 PM

Where to you get the "yellow grease" to start? Around here, the resturants, etc. sell their waste grease.

A few years ago, the city of Denton actually built a biodiesel plant. Plant was powered by methane from the landfill. The biodiesel was to power the city's fleet of diesel trucks and they would sell the surplus. There was never a surplus and the plant closed last year as they could never obtain enough WVO (even going to surrounding cities to pickup). I think the WVO is sold to a producer of soaps.

If you have an adequate supply of WVO, you could probably buy a turn key biodiesel plant cheap. New, they spent more than a million on the plant. Good idea that lost money!

tubular031 · #6 08-07-2009, 02:27 PM

Yes getting oil is the hardest part of making bio or a SVO project. I had fun making bio and learned a ton. Now that I am doing svo, I have not made bio for over a year and my bio plant (pic above) just sits there colecting dust and growing weeds. Bio takes time and baby sitting.

Have fun with it! its a fun hobby and you will meet lots of cool people along the way

Cr from Texas · #7 08-07-2009, 03:09 PM

Where do you buy virgin SVO? It's more per gallon in the store than D2.

tubular031 · #8 08-07-2009, 03:21 PM

My supplier gets a few hundred gal a month of new but expired oil. I buy it from him for a buck a gal. I also was collecting oil from a restaurant over in the denton area. I was paying them 40 cents per gal but after a while they just started giving me the oil. Now my buddy picks up their oil and after we convert his truck Ill be using some of that oil along with his other sources. I have a gravity CF that I filter my oil with.

TX76513 · #9 08-07-2009, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cr from Texas

Where do you buy virgin SVO? It's more per gallon in the store than D2.

Buy non food grade VO from Co-ops. It's about a third of the cost of food grade oils.

first300D · #10 08-07-2009, 07:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cr from Texas

Where to you get the "yellow grease" to start? Around here, the resturants, etc. sell their waste grease.

A few years ago, the city of Denton actually built a biodiesel plant. Plant was powered by methane from the landfill. The biodiesel was to power the city's fleet of diesel trucks and they would sell the surplus. There was never a surplus and the plant closed last year as they could never obtain enough WVO (even going to surrounding cities to pickup). I think the WVO is sold to a producer of soaps.

If you have an adequate supply of WVO, you could probably buy a turn key biodiesel plant cheap. New, they spent more than a million on the plant. Good idea that lost money!

I wondered what happened to that Denton plant. Interesting.

dieseldan44 · #11 08-08-2009, 09:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MercFan

I've made my first full scale batch of BioDiesel last night - I'm still really pumped about it so I thought I would share...

It went rather well - a couple of small hiccups along the way, but nothing scary. Worked late into the night, as I checked and double-checked everything along the way for safety. Hit the bed at 3:25am and then got up at 6:30am as normal (must be an internal alarm clock), drained the nasty glycerol and got the first peak at the nice raw bd. Now on to dry-finishing - exciting stuff...

Make sure you check for a complete reaction using the 3/27 test.

However you are doing it, its the final stage of washing/drywashing/settling/de-soaping that takes the most time and patience.

Be patient, and test for soap quantifiably if you are dry-washing.

Good luck!
dd