Steve,

Do you know the gel point of the transesterized bio-d?

__________________
Michael LaFleur

'05 E320 CDI - 86,000 miles
'86 300SDL - 360,000 miles
'85 300SD - 150,000 miles (sold)
'89 190D - 120,000 miles (sold)
'85 300SD - 317,000 miles (sold)
'98 ML320 - 270,000 miles (sold)
'75 300D - 170,000 miles (sold)
'83 Harley Davidson FLTC (Broken again) :-(
'61 Plymouth Valiant - 60k mikes
2004 Papillon (Oliver)
2005 Tzitzu (Griffon)
2009 Welsh Corgi (Buba)

I love the direction this thread is going...
If it keeps up, you will have me switching over by the end of the week.

It all depends on the parent oil, my friend. If the oil you are using to make it is solid at room temp, you can expect a higher cloud point/gel point from the final biodiesel. I've seen lard biodiesel cloud up at 50F, but I've also heard of crystal clear biodiesel at well below freezing. It is hard to predict, and based on the properties of the original fatty acids.

If you want to test your batch, try this. Put some into a clear jar or cup, insert a thermometer, and stick it in the fridge. Check it every so often. When you first see cloudiness, note the temperature. Don't drive below that temperature. If your fridge isn't enough to cloud it, thats good! Try the freezer and keep cooling it.

You can actually test blends this way too, try a B50 blend and see how cold you can get it. If it stays crystal clear at your freezer's 5F, then you are in good shape.

Of course, if you live in a VERY cold place, more exotic winterizing blends are in your future, or goodies like tank and fuel line heaters.

Peace,
Sam

On the high side, if I get stuff with a bunch of crud in it, , betwen filters and cost of running around gathering, it works out to about $0.14 a gal tops.

--------Robert

So where is the MB club located that gives out all those free t-shirts?

If its processed its no longer considered WVO. Its called BioDiesel .

Currently I think my WVO has costs me about $.50 a gallon. However, I'm done spending money on it. So the cost per gallon is dropping every day. This is of course not counting the cost of the valves and filters that are actually in the cars. I think of it more along the lines of how much money I've saved. Diesel is currently selling for $2.24 where I normally filled up. I will easily go through 15 gallons at least a week in my car alone. My wife nearly the same. So we are talking about $67 a week I don't have to spend on fuel.

What gets me is that it has been well over a month since I last put Diesel into my car. Its sort of disconcerting to see 1/4 tank of fuel on the fuel gage for a month.

__________________
'84 300CD Turbo 132k (Anthracite Grey) - WVO - My daily driver - Recently named coo-coo-coupe by my daughter.
'84 300D Turbo 240k (Anthracite Grey) - Garage Queen
'83 300D Turbo 220k (Orient Red) - WVO - Wifes daily driver

I'm not a certified mechanic, but I did stay at a HolidayInn Express last night.

Sorry, no intentions of hijacking thread.

Anyone in the DC metro area (faily close anyway) that makes there own biodiesel PM me, I want to do this and need a mentor.

__________________
Proud owner of ....
1971 280SE W108
1979 300SD W116
1983 300D W123
1975 Ironhead Sportster chopper
1987 GMC 3/4 ton 4X4 Diesel
1989 Honda Civic (Heavily modified)
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Section 609 MVAC Certified
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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

No kidding! And, just like a $10 lunch, that kind of money adds up pretty quickly.

In the past, I used my ATM card to pay-at-the-pump when buying fuel so the expense of it all was obscured somewhat. I didn't realize just how much it would add up until I actually started doing the WVO thing and discovered that for a change there was more money left than month.

__________________
Never a dull moment at Berry Hill Farm.

i was browsing the local fleet and farm or is it farm and fleet by you? they have a filter that will screw onto your hose. it will keep out the bigger bits and is not intended for final filtering.

if you are just starting don't use charcoal filters. works great for your water but the little black things are bad for the motor.

Guess I missed this thread earlier on, but here's my 2 ¢ worth.

WVO or Waste Veggie Oil cost is under 10 ¢ per gallon.

BD or BioDiesel cost me roughly 65-70¢ per gallon.

I stopped making BD because I don't know what to do with the by-product, and I don't need that much soap/degreaser.

I currently pour filtered veggie oil in my 300SD tank. I take one cubie, put some clear plastic over it on a sunny day (to heat up a little), then I pump it from the cubie through a small cheap fuel filter (Last time I used a electric fuel pump, took about 15 minutes or so) right into the tank. I keep the pickup tube atleast one-two inches off the bottom to avoid picking up and annecessary crud.

I run anywhere from 30-60% WVO dependant upon the ambient temp. With temps above freezing, last meek I added about 4 gallons to 1/2 tank of pure dino (I haven't been running WVO due to the low ambient temps the past few months)

As you can see, you can reduce your fuel costs by 50% by just adding WVO to the tank. Keep a spare set of fuel filters in the car, as you'll be needing them.

As far as year round, my F250 which has a heated tank (see pics http://www.benzbonz.biz ) can run year round on WVO, provided it's started on diesel and the WVO is purged from the fuel lines before shutdown.

Good luck, happy french fry burning transportation

Marty

I am growing interested in biodiesel. I called the head of the local soybean growers association here in N.C. and we had a nice talk. They are building a biodiesel plant here soon. He told me to mix 100lbs degummed soy bean oil with 10lbs. methanol. But he could not remember how much sodium hydroxide.

Where in the heck can I get Methanol?? I know it is race car fuel.
Is the sodium hydroxide just the same as Red devil lye?

Does anyone have the percentages? And can I run homebrew in my 1982 300sd without conversions or it eating up my rubber hoses and lines?

I have looked at www.journeytoforever.org website and the national biodiesel board website and the greasecar website. I would rather learn to make my own B100 than convert to a greaser. Point me in the right direction please. Here's their recipe page http://www.journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html

__________________
1982 300SD Light Blue
2002 Honda Accord SE
1974 Toro Wheel Horse Tractor
2000 Toyota Tundra Pickup

Costs and prices: Biodieselers using waste oil feedstock say they can make biodiesel for 60 cents US per gallon or less. Most people use about 600 gallons of fuel a year (about 10 gallons a week) -- say US$360 a year. An SVO system costs from $300 to $1,200 or more. So with an SVO system you'll be ahead in a year or two, which is not a long time in the life of a diesel motor. But will it last as long with SVO? Too soon to tell. Probably, if you use a good system. Recommendations, and much more, here.

This is from the Journey to forever website

__________________
1982 300SD Light Blue
2002 Honda Accord SE
1974 Toro Wheel Horse Tractor
2000 Toyota Tundra Pickup

http://www.localb100.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=1

Check out this forum for articles on making biodiesel.

Girlmark either owns or is instrumental in the website and sells a book Biodiesel Homebrew Guide. She is an activist and a frequent poster on the biodiesel sites.

The book is cheap and good and I am guessing that money goes to a good cause.

I bought the book and rounded-up some materials and was ready to make some test batches but I couldn't and can't find my scale.

Here is another great source for a variety of sock filter bags, down to 1 micron: http://www.mcmaster.com/ price drops when getting 10 or more, cheap.
Free 55 gallon drums at Lipton (check your area), $10 Harbor Freight rotary pumps (low quality but still works), pre filter with old clothing for free.
The cost goes up when dewatering with propane turkey cooker, which I usually avoid by gathering only la crema de la crema of the top of the oill containers I collect from. Have a local restaurant gonna put their oil in cubees for me to simplify gathering.
I don't know or care the cost, but other than my time, can't be more than 25 cents a gallon. I cold filter only (so i will never have gelling in my system) down to 1 micron, and don't get as high a yield through the sock filter as reported by some.
There is a big difference between absolute filtering and typical filtering. I don't buy the absolute filters cause they cost considerably more, but then again I run a 2 micron aquablock Racor marine diesel water seperator on my veg side, so I am not worried.

__________________
Think Alternative Energy!
300CD '80 (now gone but not forgotten...)

IGNORING THE COST OF MY TIME.
Oil Collection
As I use the WVO as fuel, the miles I travel collecting the oil are only the maintenance & incensing costs of the vehicle - Au$50/5000 km service+ Au$350 pa License. I travel ~ 15000 km per year.
Thus costs per km are Au ($50/5000=) $0.01 c/km service + Au ($350/15000=) $0.0233 c/km = Au$0.0333 c/km.
I travel 40 Km once per month to collect 120 litres of oil.
This gives a collection cost of Au$0.0333*40= Au$1.3333 for 120 litres or Au$0.0111 c/litre.
In collecting this oil, I use approx 4 litres of oil. This would increase the cost of collection by 4/120= Au$0.004 per litre to Au$0.015 cents per litre.

Filtration.
I use a 5 micron filter bag, which cost me Au$8.50 each.
In 4 years, I have purchased 6 of these filters. 4 of these are still in use. Assuming that the 4 in use are each at 1/2 of their useful life, this means that in the 4 years, I have USED UP 4 filters in total. The total cost of filtration is Au$8.5*4=Au$34.00
In the 4 years, I have covered 40 000 km in my Mazda which achieved 12 km/litre (~8 L /100km) and ~10 000km in my MB 300D @ ~10 km/litre (~10litres/100km) gicing a total fuel usage of ~4333 litres. Thus filtration cost is Au$34.00/4333 = Au$0.007c/litre.

Storage.
If my garage was not used for oil processing & storage, my 300D would be out of the weather. I cannot justify any claim for storage cost, but will assign Au$0.005/litre as a notional cost per litre.

Summary.
The cost of my WVO fuel for my 300D is the sum of
Collection, Au$0.015 cents per litre.
Filtration, Au$0.007c/litre.
Storage, Au$0.005 c/litre.

TOTAL: Au$0.027 c/litre.

My question is: Is it worthwhile proceeding with this venture?

__________________
Tony from West Oz.
Fatmobile 3 84 300D 295kkm Silver grey/Blue int. 2 tank WVO - Recipient of TurboDesel engine.
Josephine '82 300D 390kkm White/Palamino int.
Elizabeth '81 280E, sporting a '79 300D engine.
Lucille '87 W124 300D non-turbo 6 cylinder OM603, Pearl Grey with light grey interior


Various parts cars including 280E, 230C & 300D in various states of disassembly.