SchNEWS - DIY Guide - How to make Biodiesel. Making BioDiesel - It’s a piece of piss There’s nothing we like more at SchNEWS towers than a spot of DIY, be it a pint of homebrew or a free party.
But one piece of DIY that we reckon is up there with free parties is home made diesel. Yep, forget about handing your hard-earned coffers over to the corrupt, greedy and killing corporations like Shell and BP, take a squeezy bottle, a piece of sticky backed plastic and make your own biodiesel. No seriously, biodiesel is a fuel made from waste vegetable oil, of which there is literally tons of the stuff being dumped in landfill sites up and down the country! This otherwise waste is easily collected from chip shops and restaurants and without too much hassle processed to make biodiesel that can be used to run any diesel engine. Let’s first rewind and go back to the beginning of the 1900s where Dr Rudolf Diesel has just invented the diesel engine and is displaying it at the Paris exhibition.
HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN BIODIESEL. Courtesy of Rob Elam Last September, we published a “How To” for making your own biodiesel.
We had huge response (mostly positive, some critical). Since then, gas prices have continued to rise, and things are not getting better where oil resources are concerned. Because of this, we’ve decided today to repost our recipe for biodiesel. Since the initial posting it’s been tweaked slightly in response to some reader feedback. (image found on AtlanticBlog) Remember, a diesel vehicle does not require any modification at all in order to run on biodiesel.
Two things to keep in mind before you begin: 1. 2. I bought a 1983 Mercedes 300 Turbo Diesel in 2003 and began running it on biodiesel immediately. GETTING BIODIESEL You don’t have to make biodiesel yourself to use it. There are co-ops, producers and distributors around the nation who sell high-quality biodiesel for anywhere from $2.50-$3.90 per gallon. The Goal: Chemically speaking, vegetable oil is a tri-glyceride. Step 2 – Brewing: Driving - Test Driving A Car - Auto Trader UK - buying. The test drive is crucial in helping you decide whether to buy a car.
Find out how to take the perfect test drive. Golden rules • Print out Auto Trader’s Buyers Checklist as a useful guide • Make sure you’re insured – and check you’re sufficiently covered as you may only get third party cover to drive other vehicles • Temporary car insurance can protect you for the day of the test drive if your insurer is unwilling or unable to offer you good, cheap cover • Take proof of insurance with you to show the seller, or the police if you are stopped or involved in an accident • Only meet a private seller at their home address or a trader at their premises, as it’s your guarantee they are the documented owner of the car Car checks The test drive Test driving a new car How Auto Trader can help: Vehicle Check and car valuation.
Biodiesel. What is biodiesel?
Simply put, it is diesel fuel that is made from vegetable oil. It will run in any unmodified diesel engine. It has many advantages over petroleum diesel fuel such as: 1) It burns cleaner 2) It has a higher cetane rating (less knocking) 3) It has better lubricity 4) You can make it yourself from used vegetable oil (a waste product) often for less than the cost of petroleum diesel.
You will need the following things to make your first batch: 1) At least 1 Litre (1.1 Quart) vegetable oil. 2) A variable speed blender with a slow speed option. 3) A scale that will accurately measure 3.5 grams (.12 oz). 4) 1 bottle Red Devil Lye Drain Cleaner (Sodium Hydroxide) available from you local hardware store. 5) At least 200 milliliters (6.8 fl. oz) of methanol (Methyl Alcohol or "Wood" Alcohol). 6) A glass container that is marked for 200 milliliters (6.8 fl. oz). Make your own biodiesel. The first two methods sound easiest, but, as so often in life, it's not quite that simple.
Vegetable oil is much more viscous (thicker) than either petro-diesel or biodiesel. The purpose of mixing or blending straight vegetable oil (SVO) with other fuels and solvents is to lower the viscosity to make it thinner, so that it flows more freely through the fuel system into the combustion chamber. If you're mixing SVO with petro-diesel you're still using fossil-fuel -- cleaner than most, but still not clean enough, many would say. Still, for every gallon of SVO you use, that's one gallon of fossil-fuel saved, and that much less climate-changing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
People use various mixes, ranging from 10% SVO and 90% petro-diesel to 90% SVO and 10% petro-diesel. You might get away with it in summer time with something like an older '80s Mercedes 5-cylinder IDI diesel, which is a very tough and tolerant motor -- it won't like it but you probably won't wreck it. To each his own.