has anyone ever made their own biodiesel?

[alien autopsy]

if so, based on your experience, whats a good homemade or kit set up?

[The Notorious LOL]

I considered doing this at one point but realized the effort I put into it would probably outweigh the savings.


www.greasecar.com

[alien autopsy]

yeah, im familiar with the greasecar hookup, im not sure which would be a better way to go. i know the greasecar runs over a G for a good system (from what i have seen), but i have seen some homemade biodiesel kits on line that look like they can be made for under 400 bucks or so. maybe even less than that. but you end up paying a little for a few ingredients each time you make a batch. hmmm.

[ScarySquirrel]

In short, your answer is a resounding, "no."

[alien autopsy]

so far, yes, but im not giving up yet!

[jabumbo]

well, the benefit comes once you have the system becuase you can generally aquire the fuel source for no charge

i should try this

[Whatitis]

I have a friend that converts diesel engines to burn veggie oil. He gets his oil from Costco now but is working on getting the permits to start producing oil for sales. It's gonna be pretty big and he already has quite a few restaurants that are gonna sell him their used oil. I've driven his diesels too, the exhaust smells like cooking french fries. I've always wondered if driving a 'biodiesel' for a long amount of time would give you bad acne like working in a fast food place.

[alien autopsy]

once you are used to the smell of regular diesel, that french fry smell is so refreshing.

[Rock]

.... he already has quite a few restaurants that are gonna sell him their used oil.

don't they just dump that shit in a oil container behind the store....thats what we did. no need for him to pay for that shit. They probably have some sort of disposal fee they have to pay when they dump that stuff. They are making money off of him by selling him something they had to pay for to get rid of. I think.

[alien autopsy]

whatitis- you dont have any idea of what kind of system your friend is running on do you? is it homemade or commercial?

i believe most places pay to dispoe of the oil, where it is filtered and then recycled to restaurants through the food service industry. you can actually filter and recycle your own. but i know my old boss used to tell us to dump it down the sewer. my friend and i refused and instead bought some buckets from home depot and stored them in the back. we couldnt bring ourselves to be the ones dumping oil directly into the water like that. what a sonofabitch that guy was.

[b i o n i c]

as soon as this may become more common, the restaurants will start SELLING their oil at prices between the cost of diesel and the cost of disposing of it.

[alien autopsy]

yeah, i hope that is still somewhere down the line....i want to get in it before it heads in that direction...good thing about diesels is they are more flexible on fuel. hopefully someday soon they'll be someone who figures out how to grow and process algae pond oil, or other types of plant based oil on a backyard scale. more monoculture and giant GMO farms are not the answer to our biodiesel needs.

[Whatitis]

whatitis- you dont have any idea of what kind of system your friend is running on do you? is it homemade or commercial?

Well...the system he installs on the diesels is from here http://www.lovecraftbiofuels.com/ . He is going to be recycling used veggie oil mainly from restaurants in a commercail size of quantity. I don't know what he will pay for the used oil, I'm sure its not much but if anything I'm sure he had to pay to get IN with the with the businesses after all it is all business. He plans on making a lot, enough to fill 55 gal drums to be delivered to peoples houses and and have the ability to fill up cars that come by his shop. I do not know what system he will be using to recycle the oil. That is about all I know, is that enough for you?

[alien autopsy]

thats cool. (y)

yeah, thanks for the link. id love to start up a co-op like that too. i wonder if he has to do with any legal issues. i know its illegal to not have the yellow-dyed diesel in your truck, and i have heard cops are starting to test fuels systems in illinois if they are suspicious. i know of a farmer who was recently harrassed by law enforcement, but not fined.

great idea though, pick up and drop off, right to your door! he probably pays thema little to garauntee that he gets their oil.