Question for Biodiesel makers - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

BigMikeT57 · #1 07-10-2002, 11:39 AM

I have been reading up on Biodiesel, both here and various
other web sites. I am interested in it for a future
MB diesel purchase as well as a supplement for home heating
oil.
I live in a residential area, and am concerned about possible
"environmental" issues in making the stuff. (Will my neighbors
complain ? ) Are there any objectionable odors? What waste
by-products are produced? And how do you dispose of them?
How much wastewater goes to the septic & is the wastewater
a concern?

Thanks for any input!

McRoth · #2 07-10-2002, 12:31 PM

Hi Mike,

Biodiesel is pretty friendly stuff. I live in a residential area too & haven't had any problems. There are no smells to speak of with it. The only possible problem you might have is with the methanol. It's really pretty safe to store if you use your head, but some people tend to freak out about it! The main byproduct is crude glycerin. I'm making soap to sell out of mine, but you can just throw it away with the trash, it's very biodegradeable. I don't wash my biodiesel & if you are running it in an IDI Mercedes you don't really have to worry about it either. Otherwise, you can just let the water go down the drain.

Good luck & feel free to ask any other questions,

BigMikeT57 · #3 07-10-2002, 02:39 PM

Thanks for the reply Mike. I will probably build a small processor for home heating, then use it as an excuse with the wife to by a diesel MB.

schooner · #4 07-11-2002, 10:05 AM

Big Mike,
It is so good to see fine strategic thinking in action. You are an example to us all.

BigMikeT57 · #5 07-12-2002, 12:20 PM

Thanks for the kind words schooner. We all have to do what we can.

McRoth, are you refining the glycerine to purify it? If so how?
Also, what kind of market is there for the soap? I work for a flavor & fragrance co. that makes fragrance concentrates for all kinds of consumer products, so scenting the soap is a no brainer.

#6 07-12-2002, 08:22 PM

I omit pre filtering the raw oil prior to mixing the sodium methoxide, so my "soap" is pretty much unuseable. The stuff can be composted, tossed with the trash, or burned (my way of disposal) if you do so shortly after getting the fuel oil drained off.

I'm not the most organized person in the world, and I do have a mess around my storage barrels and my processing barrels, mostly from the lids being blown off of one of the storage barrels, and two barrels that had bad product in them from failed reactions. I've spilled some oil as well. Do this on concrete, and you can wash off the oil with dishwashing detergent and water. I have dead weeds where I've spilled. I don't worry about it as the oil will biodegrade quickly and the weeds will happily return when it does.

There are no noticeable odors unless you are right next to the barrel. I mix in 40 gallon batches, and get the occasional whiff of the sodium methoxide while pouring and early into the mixing process.

I just completed a 1500 mile round trip soley on biodiesel. It felt strange to run such a trip without stopping at a filling station.

daveCT · #7 07-12-2002, 10:32 PM

hi

Isn't the biodiesel Hemp oil? I read in the Star about a mercedes diving around the country running on hemp. CAn we get this ?
I have a few old diesels to play with. I would love to get it running clean
What are you guy running on? and what mods did you do?
thanks
dave

190e 16v
IROC 911
gyrocopter

daveCT · #8 07-12-2002, 10:40 PM

here it is!!

Ridge · #9 07-12-2002, 11:49 PM

gentlemen,

If you haven't already found www.greasecar.com , you might want to check it out. If you really want to get some great info on the subject order "From Fryer to Fuel Tank" from this site. You'll have a great time with all the info and the book tells wherre to get parts to make conversions, etc.

Ben

#10 07-13-2002, 02:46 AM

Any liquid vegetable oil will work. I use peanut oil that I get from a local resturaunt near where I live. I've used mixed batches of oil from several different resturaunts, all dumped together into the barrel in the past.