Anyone dabble in biodiesel?

[Tumbleweed]

Anyone?

[Ranger]

Hi Tumbleweed.
I have recently also become very interested in the bio-diesel issue. I know that you can import kits to convert your diesel vehicle to bio-diesel. Most vehicles need two tanks, one for starting (diesel fuel) and one for bio-diesel which you switch over to once the engine is warm. VERY INTERESTED.
ANYONE????

[V]

Best site on biodiesel on the net:

http://www.biodieselcommunity.org

Good local - South African - info here: http://biodiesel.nanoelf.co.za

[Bacchus]

Friend of mine is making biodiesel in his garage in somerset-west. Been doing 62000 km's in his landcruiser with it and wife have done some odd 40000 km's in her car. Cost him about R 5-00 per litre. NO two tanks. Just gooi and drive. No sperate diesel to start or anything. Only thing is it can get a bit thick in gauteng in the cold, but then just mix with normal diesel a bit. Mixes perfectly according to him!

[grostek]

Have a look at these pages, this man is doing a lot of experimentation and publishes his results in a very orderly fashion.

http://www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2006/december/oil.htm

Click on all the links, he covers Bio Diesel, Etanol and even electricity.

Use the Search function to get maximum information.

Shows how to make your own equipment on the cheap.

Happy reading.

Kind regards,

Gunter Rostek.

[V]

Friend of mine is making biodiesel in his garage in somerset-west. Been doing 62000 km's in his landcruiser with it and wife have done some odd 40000 km's in her car. Cost him about R 5-00 per litre. NO two tanks. Just gooi and drive. No sperate diesel to start or anything. Only thing is it can get a bit thick in gauteng in the cold, but then just mix with normal diesel a bit. Mixes perfectly according to him!

Wow, cool, any chance you could get me in touch with your buddy? I'd love to take a look at his kit chat about how to source the materials, etc. and if he has capacity buy biodiesel.

Yes, biodiesel mixes perfectly with mineral diesel. There are gas stations in the US that sell 1:3 and 1:2 mixes if I'm not mistaken. I have filled up in a couple of places in Europe where the garage stated an up to 5% biodiesel content. Absolutey no problem in the car and the juice was even a tad cheaper.

Btw. it's also an idea to mix under hot conditions. Biodiesel is organic material and can 'go off'. Throwing in a bit of mineral diesel solves the problem, though.

The single tank concept uses a chemical process to make biodiesel digestible for diesel cars. No modifications are needed and according to some reports biodiesel has got better lubrication properties, it even cleanses the injector components.

The double tank concept uses untreated vegetable oil (it should be filtered to a reasonable degree if it is not fresh oil). Apart from some plumbing, no modification is needed in the car. The idea is that vegetable oil, if warmed up, has got the right viscosity to be used 'straight'. So one tank is filled with mineral diesel to get the engine started up and warm. The warm coolant is redirected to heat the vegetable oil. When it's the right temperature, one can switch over to the veggie tank. Then a few minutes before stopping the vehicle a switch-back to mineral diesel is needed to flush the system and enable an easy start. This does require some forward thinking, I guess.

Cheers,

V.

[andreb]

Saw a sign for a guy in Howick making Biodiesel. He is on the R103 just south of Howick. Ask James Bentley on this forum to get you the guys contact details.

[ZULU1]

Leon. There is a chap in Stellenbosch who lectures and works for Eishcom, apparently emigrating to Queensland. A whiz on the subject and will advise home builders. Anyone down there knows the fellow ?? I am also interested..

eish Zulu1

[Tumbleweed]

I thought it's only me.

Thanks so far. V, have been using the same link as yours for a reference.

Actually, after having a stream of guys wanting to buy up my used cooking oil to make biodiesel and then investing in a serious generator, my smile got wiped off when paying R 500 diesel per recent 2 a half hour load-shed bargain.

So, merged the interest with my kid's next science project and after research and a few fine tuning problems (I remember not being the chosen one at science -and other things) I'm trying to iron out our flaws.

Other than that, pretty simple really. Take used cooking oil, heat to remove water, filter, establish required amount of caustic soda per oil mix and blend with methanol. Add this to the heated oil and mix. Allow to stand, separation occurs, diesel on top, glycerin at the bottom (degreaser) Wash the diesel (remove caustic /soap) and pour in your diesel vehicle.

Apparently, prefer older diesel models ( maybe injector/ pumps?) and advise to replace only diesel fuel hoses and filter. Should produce under R 3 per litre.

Some (yanks) cheat by blending parrifin or similar with diesel, but I think if the taxes and road accident insurance was removed from the diesel price it would not make this feasable.

[The Agent]

Very interesting guy's with the price of diesel where it is we need to do more of this.


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