Homemade Biofuels?

Just google it. You will be surprised on how many usefull sites there is. Diesel can easily be made out of vegetable oil. I have seen it being done on some farms here in South Africa.

As above, there's loads of stuff out there. Simply enter "biodiesel manufacture" into any internet search engine.

Okay, thanks . Anyway, the purpose for the transesterification process is to separate the oil from the glycerin, as the glycerin will polymerize and gunk up the inside of the engine under the high temperature and pressure conditions within .

Lord Vader,

Would it be possible to burn oil with glisserin part time and a cleansing fuel part time in cycles? Or is the coating process not reversable?

How did Rudolph Diesel's engine run on peanut oil?

GA . Yes, straight vegetable oil, even used oil, can be burnt directly in a diesel engine . Just remember to filter and heat the used oil first to remove the water. I'm not sure how long you can run the engine until you need to clean it up, but it's not very long; just a few hundred hours or so . Used oil in particular will require more maintenance; this is because the glycerin within is already partially polymerized .

Erosion and polymerization are directly related; the more gunk on the piston and cylinder walls, the higher the frictional resistance . Your engine will need to be steam cleaned and washed with solvents to be de-gunked, so as you can imagine, it can be quite costly . And of course, glycerin being a valuable industrial chemical, synthesizing biodiesel in large amounts may also provide you with a lucrative sideline business from selling the glycerin to cosmetic manufacturers etc .

One final point about trans-esterification: another advantage of biodiesel over straight oil is that it has a lower freezing point, so starting and running your vehicle in winter is less of a problem . I didn't bring this point up earlier because the OP is Indonesian, so winter is not a problem for him . Since we're discussing burning straight oil, now might be a good time to bring it up.

As for burning peanut oil in Rudolf Diesel's original engine, he designed it that way. Whether or not he was aware of the polymerization problem I don't know.

I would add that in colder climes, even biodiesel can solidify in the winter. You have to install tank heaters and you probably will have to put in an aux tank with straight mineral oil diesel to crank the engine on and then switch to a biodiesel blend after the engine is started and at operating temp. But that is unlikely to be a problem for the OP.

Also here in the US and in europe, there are laws about using blends with large percentages of BioDiesel in them due to emissions issues. Blends of up to 20% are allowed here in Texas if they have the proper (approved and lisenced) emissions additive package added (which us mere mortals don't generally have access to, but large concerns making thousands of gallons of the stuff do.) for straight Biodiesel blends without additives, you are limited to 5%.

Good point. The law varies from district to district, so it's best to confirm it first.

I've been running used cooking oil for over a year and 20,000 plus miles with no issues. But I'm particular about my oil. The local Mexican restaurant has the cleanest oil with no breading residue (which is hard to filter). I only use oil that's liquid at room temp. Fried chicken and seafood restaurants use partially hydrogenated oil which is solid at room temp, but makes the food taste more crispy.The solid oil can clog fuel line, injectors (and arteries). I guess palm or coconut oil might tend to be solid at room temp? I filter my oil down from 100 micron bags, 25, 5 and 1 micron bags, before going to storage. When I draw from storage, I do a 1 micron bag again before going to my aux tank. My injector was rebuilt with teflon-coated pinnels instead of stainless steel. There is a heated fuel filter right before the injectors which gets 1500-2000 miles before getting sluggish response. I start on regular diesel til the engine warms up, they switch to oil. I average 25 miles per gallon over all, but I've gotten 385 miles per gallon of diesel fuel purchased, with the balance due to oil. I've read where glycerin t-butyl ethers have been used as fuel oxidants, similar to MTBE, but less toxic and harmful environmentally. The main difference I've seen is when people drive behind me they smell bar-b-que cooking!

Always good to hear from someone with experience - but I got questions

1. Whose diesel are you running - and how did you spec teflon for the injectors?

2. My injector pump is due for rebuild (Cummins stock mechanical) and is there anything I need to spec in there?

3. What about the little rubber bits in the path? Are there off the shelf replacements? F'instance I have a prefilter/heater (looks like a sugar sifter for a doll house) and the steel screen has a probably epoxy edge for seating - but finding out what any of this stuff is actually composed of is a challenge.

I have a 5 cyl 1984 Mercedes 300SD turbodiesel with 340K miles on it. My mechanic buddy installed a Greasecar kit for me, and the teflon pinnels was his idea. He sent the injector to somebody in California to get rebuilt. Not sure what you mean by "little rubber bits". Biodiesel is a strong solvent and can attack certain rubber seals & gaskets, but cooking oil is not such a strong solvent. Biodiesel can dissolve a styrofoam cup, but cooking oil won't. The final fuel filter I have is a spin-on(Wix 33358) that is under the hood. Just for good measure, I occasionally add a dose of upper cylinder lubricant and injector cleaner. Can't say it works, but I've had no trouble. Coolant from the radiator circulates around the Wix filter in a copper coil. Coolant from radiator also goes to a heat exchanger in aux tank to warm the fuel, and fuel line goes thru the coolant supply line coming to aux tank to pre-heat the oil on the way to the final fuel filter. What fuel(s) are you running in your Cummings?

I bought a f-250 which had been running on bio-diesel. The filter o-ring and injector rings all had leaking problems. The oem rubber can't handle the solvent in bio-diesel and needs to be replaced with high-temp silicone. Vegi-oil is a different story; no solvents, no problem... but you need the pre-heating system.

One of the worries I had converting was emissions. So when I put in the new exhaust I put in flanged straight pipe and the proper catalytic converter with flange on each end - so should I get around to experimenting I won't ruin a good cat.

I don't think New Mexico and Arizona care what blend you run, yet. But then there are issues with it eating components in a fuel system to be addressed over 20%.

Hey, I could be a little off the topic, but... I have seen on a TV show here in Brazil (central region) a pig farm is currently using the pigs not used fat to make diesel fuel, in a process very similar to the one described below to use with vegetable oil. The guy there states that all the engines in the farm (the proprietary's truck, transportation trucks, and tractors) use the fuel with no problems. Actually, they also mentioned that the farmer hired the services of a chemical engineer to design a small sized converter, set the process for him, and they may be using some kind of additives. But, if you think they're converting a really environmental challenging waste in something so precious as fuel, well, point for them!

Interesting! Can you please explain a little more what they are doing?

"a pig farm is currently using the pigs not used fat to make diesel fuel, in a process very similar to the one described below to use with vegetable oil"

Can you be a little more specific about what you mean by this? Do you mean to say that they are using lard instead of vegetable oil to manufacture the biodiesel?

By the way, did you know my old mentor Yoda personally since you are quoting him in your signature?

This is all rumor and hearsay as far as I am personally concerned, but a fellow from this area had allegedly had connections to get used cooking oil from franchised restaurants which he visited as his job, and ran it in a VW diesel (one of the fine beetle models from a few years ago with AC and auto trans)

He was sort of a local celebrity, and highly revered by the local diesel car crowd. As they tell the story, he just poured it in through a screen funnel and that it worked fine until the road tax department of the State of Indiana fined him $10,000 and convinced him of the error of his ways.

Here in Indiana, it is not unusual for the state police to take samples of fuel from diesel pickup trucks and to check the color looking for untaxed fuel at farm shows.

bill michaels

since raw oil sells for more than diesel, why bother.

I'll bet not one user of bio fuels posting here pays his/her taxes, I hope the tax authorities don't them down, one guy admits he's driven 20,000 miles, he owes the tax man $500.

I use recovered cooking oil I get from a local restaurant for free! I recycle it to a value-added product. The last several U.S. presidents have said it is a matter of national security to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. I take them at their word and am doing my part. I have what I call a "Poor Man's Hybrid". I can't afford $30K for a new Prius. The Prius supplements the gasoline fuel with electricity harvested from the mechanical system of the car to achieve this excellent mileage. The owner pays road use tax on the fuel he buys, but the electricity the car generates is untaxed. Plug-In Prius hybrids charge a big battery in the back from the power grid and get like 100 mpg. They pay road use tax on the gasoline they use, but not on the electricity from the grid. My diesel uses diesel fuel to warm up the engine, and then I switch to cooking oil. The cooking oil suppliments the diesel fuel just as the electricity from the power grid suppliments the gasoline of the plug-in hybrid. I pay road use tax on the diesel I buy, but not the cooking oil. Both systems use alternative energy sources to suppliment the conventional road fuels. Anyhow, I have strong feelings about sending my kids' inheritance to some camel jockey in the mid east who hates us and everything we stand for. Its my way of thumbing my nose at OPEC and telling them,"Go suck a lemon!" Exxon-Mobil already has enough money and don't need any more from me, either.

Unlike fossil fuels, biodiesel is sustainable since the source literally grows on trees. It can also be synthesized from waste cooking oil, thus reducing wastes. Finally, the glycerine byproduct can be put to other uses such as pharmaceuticals. So to say that it's a waste of time, money and effort is silly at best.

By the way, while I have synthesized biodiesel many times, I don't use it for my own personal use. Rather, I teach it to people in impoverished Third World countries for them to use it to power their diesel generators so that they need not have to spend money on costly fossil fuels. Instead, they can literally grow their own fuel source since most of them are farmers.

Biodiesel is only sustainable on a small scale, not on the scale of 20 million barrels/day of oil the USA uses or 86 mpd the world uses. It's good that the "waste" oil is being used, but, in California, it is a commodity and sold under contract. It represents a small % of total fuel consumption. But where did the original oil come from? How much fossil oil was used to plant and fertilize that seed?

I commend you: "...teach it to people in impoverished Third World countries for them to use it to power their diesel generators so that they need not have to spend money on costly fossil fuels..." This where it is applicable, small scale, small farms, low consumption. The western world has a systemic problem with an economy fueled (no pun) by cheap energy and with no real and sustainable substitute.

Back during the "Carter oil crisis" my brother built a dual-control van, to allow a switch of drivers without stopping, powered by a Continental "Litre Engine" diesel. He drove 10,000 km, "non-stop, non-refueled, on non-petroleum fuel", his "Mobius trip" from Carmel, CA, through SF to New York City to LA, CA, and back to Carmel. He was in The Guinness Book of Records for one year, but then they decided it wasn't a record. (Technically, there was one stop, at a new stop sign in NY that wasn't supposed to be there) He used cotton seed oil, donated on condition the donor remain secret. The donor declined to charge on the gounds that it was sold by weight and his truck scales were not sensitive enough to notice the loss, about 250 gal.) The only engine modification was a heater for the fuel filters (two in parallel to allow changing, if necessary, while driving). Without the heaters, in cold weather, crossing the mountains, a waxy precipitate would clog the fuel filters. Starting wasn't a problem, as only one start, in sunny California, was needed for the 10,000 km trip, and the engine, of course, stayed warm. Before the trip, the local media regarded it as a daily joke. After the trip, no media showed any interest, and the motoring press, in particular, found it not news. (Big O tires got some advertising copy out of his being so confident of his tires that he didn't carry a spare; they refunded the purchase price. He couldn't afford a spare) Later, he visited the Continental factory, where they enjoyed the exhaust smell, french fries. In those days, there wasn't much concern about air pollution from diesel exhaust, but the factory guys thought the raw cottonseed oil was nicer than regular diesel oil. They swapped out the injectors and found no ill-effects from using the oil. Then they stopped manufacturing that engine, for lack of demand. The van still exists, parked in Florida where it was parked when my brother died.