Admit it, wouldnt you love the feeling of going into your garage, flipping a switch, and a few hours later having all the fuel you need to drive your car or heat your house? Think about a fuel that would only cost about 70 cents a gallon to make. How would it feel knowing that all your home fuel needs are taken care of, quickly and easily? This is now a reality for thousands of people all over the world. It can be your reality too. Its a lot easier than you think.
Why make Biodiesel at home?
1. Save money. Youll usually save more than $2.00/gallon!
2. Create a cleaner, better quality diesel for your personal use in trucks and cars.
3. Produce biodiesel for sale and make money.
4. Your engine will run better, last longer and smell cleaner.
5. Stop relying on oil companies for fuel, heat, transportation.
6. Use it to create electricity for your home, heating oil, use it on your farm or in your business.
7. Help the environment instead of hurt it.
8. Biodiesel doesnt require you to modify your engine.
9. Biodiesel is the only other form of energy we have available which doesnt require extensively modifying our energy infrastructure.
Is it complicated?
No, its not. You do not need to be a NASA engineer to make biodiesel. Chemistry is mixing and cooking. If you can make barbeque sauce, you can make biodiesel. In its simplest form, you are going to mix lye, methanol, and either new vegetable oil, or waste vegetable oil together and blend it. This creates a chemical reaction and the resulting mix is biodiesel. Im oversimplifying here, of course. But thats about all there is to it.
Is it safe?
Yes, it is. But that is a relative question. Safe compared to what? It is as safe, or safer than normal diesel. It is much safer than gasoline. Of course, you do need to take normal and usual safety precautions. This isnt a Junior High School science project. It is a flammable fuel. All flammable fuels need to cared for and stored correctly. Chances are, you already are storing fuel at home. Also adequate safety precautions need to be taken when making the biodiesel itself. But done correctly and carefully, its perfectly safe.
What kind of ingredients will I need?
First youll need some vegetable oil. This can be new vegetable oil, or even old, used oil from restaurants which you can collect free from restaurants. Second, youll need caustic soda or lye. This can be found in many supermarkets, usually in the drain cleaning section. Last, you need methanol. Methanol is an alcohol that youll find in auto supply stores, antifreezes, and specifically, gas line anti-freeze, contain methanol. Check the ingredients for each ad youll find what you need. Thats it. Youre ready to make biodiesel.
OK, so how do you make biodiesel?
First of all, youre going to need a biodiesel processor. You can buy biodiesel kits and build one yourself, buy a finished unit, or build your own from a old hot water tank.
Picture three steel barrels side by side. Going from left to right, the first one is going to be your "Processing Tank." It is here that you will pour in the vegetable oil. It is then pumped into the middle "Catalyst premix" tank. In this tank youre going to mix the lye and alcohol together. The lye and alcohol mix when then be poured on top of the vegetable oil and mixed together.
Once they have been thoroughly blended, you allow the vegetable oil/catalyst solution time to settle. Once they settled, they will naturally separate on their own. The biodiesel will rise to the top, and the resulting by-product, glycerin, will stay on the bottom. Which is then drained off. You have 100% pure biodiesel left. But its not quite finished and ready to use yet.
This is where the third tank comes in. The biodiesel is then pumped into a "wash" tank. In the wash tank, ordinary water is misted over the surface of the biodiesel. Of course, oil and water dont mix, so the water will work its way through the biodiesel "washing" out even more of the impurities. The water will collect on the bottom of the tank, which will again be drained off. You then let it settle some more.
Is it Biodiesel yet? Is it biodiesel?
It is sure is. Its ready to be put into any diesel engine. Of course, quality testing the biodiesel first wouldnt hurt. But once youve done it a few times and understand what youre doing, you can be fairly confident of the outcome and quality.
Whats the next step?
Get thoroughly educated about the process itself. There is a wealth of information out there. You can also visit the web site below. It has all the information youll need. From building processors, to buying kits, to converting your car, to making biodiesel, to biodiesel recipes. Everything you need in one place.
