I was thinking on making my own bio. I want to at least cut my fuel purchasing in half.

what are some things to consider or have before going with a bio diesel system. I shouldnt have to do any mods to my truck as far as I understand.
what are some of the costs I will have?

 

used fry oil source

 

my buddy owns 2 restaurants in my town. probably good for more oil that i can use in a week

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is there a good processor out there that anyone recomends?
I was looking at this one.
Home BioDiesel | Biodiesel Processor

 

Making your own biodiesel, could be a good idea. I was going to do it myself, but decided against it. Here are a few things you should consider. The process of making biodiesel is called transesterification. It is a simple process, but have to be very careful on several levels:
1. It is easy to end up making soap instead of biodiesel.
2. Once you make biodiesel what will you do with the glycerin.
3. You will not be able to know if your biodiesel meets the ASTM 6751 standard. You will not know the quality of your biodiesel without chemical analysis. Many home producers do not care. Personally I care what goes into my tank. The diesel engines will take a lot.
4. You have to deal with methanol, which is highly flammable and explosive. (Methanol discouraged me, I have a family and neighbours).
5. You will spend a lot of time in the garage or your back yard dealing with oils and chemicals. I had a customer who was a chemical engineer and complained that he was spending hours upon hours every day to make 50 gallons of biodiesel per week. Eventually he started buying ready made biodiesel.
6. If you are looking on the web for a biodiesel making system (processor) BE CAREFUL, a number of companies claim their systems will make biodiesel easy and cheep. Lots of them will sell you the goods and you will not be able to make anything. Before you spend any $$$ talk to people who are making home brew biodiesel first and make sure the system you are buying will do what you want it to do, i.e. make biodiesel.
7. What is going to be your feedstock? Very Important in relation to the system you are using. Soybean Oil, Canola Oil from Costco are not that cheep. Restaurant grease has to be filtered a lot and the percentage of Free Fatty Acids (FFA) has to be lowered for proper transesterification. Usually it is a good idea to pretreat yellow grease (additional cost).
6. If you are going to use restaurant grease you might have to pay for it, have the ability to transport it and in some states you will need a permit. While working with it it really stinks.
8. Beware of spills.
9. Lot of information on the internet is not accurate. Do a lot of research first.

You don't need to make any modifications to your truck. However, there are a few things you should be aware of. If your truck is pre 1996 there is a possibility your fuel lines are made of rubber; over period of time B99.9 or B100 will deteriorate rubber fuel lines depending on their age. You should keep an eye on the fuel lines and once you see them sweating they should be replaced with Tefflon or Viton (more expensive) fuel lines. Note if you are using ULS diesel the rubber fuel lines and o rings will also deteriorate. Post 1996 vehicles should have Tefflon fuel lines which is compatible with biodiesel.

When you start using B99.9 or B100 you should change your fuel filter after 4 or 5 tankfuls. Biodiesel is a solvant and will clean petro diesel deposits from the tank and fuel lines. Once you change the fuel filter you can go back to regular maintenance.

If you do go for it and make your own biodiesel I wish you success. You will contribute to the well being of our environment and community. However, I am not sure how much money you will save in the process.

 

My buddy said he will use any oil I request as long as it does affect the taste of his food. he also said that he would pay for the filtering set up when dumping in his used oil. He has to pay to get rid of it now so having someone pick it up for free is cool with him.

what do people normally do with the glycerin?

I am sure that with a properly vented system methanol shouldnt be an issue?

I do not want to spend lots of time making it. But I am will ing to spend some time making it.

thanks for the info.
there is a guy locally that runs his jeep liberty off of biodiesel so I want to talk to him and see if I can take a look at his system

 

Glycerin can be composted. I mix it with leaves and it all turns into mulch by spring.

It's possible to make soap out of glycerin (by adding lye). Since my feedstock is used cooking oil, the glycerin is dark brown and would make same colored soap.

The system you found online seems extremely expensive. You can get the cone bottom tank here:
Inductor Tanks - Ideal for Wine, Beer & Biodiesel Production

(hmmm, 85 gallon tank for making beer? Sounds interesting)

Get the pump (with metal impeller) and fittings at your home improvement/hardware store.

 

I've been making my own for 5 years now. I've built several processors of varying sizes and used all sorts of different oils. I've saved thousands of dollars in fuel costs by making my own, and it feels GOOD

I've never made soap. I've had "soapy" brews that took a little longer to wash, but once you figure things out, it shouldn't be an issue. I have a great source of very high quality WVO and every batch is consistently the same. The only filtering I do before brewing is running it through a very course nylon bag filter.

Dealing with methanol isn't any more dangerous than dealing with normal house hold solvents, gasoline, bleach, etc. They can all hurt you. Just use personal protective equipment and don't be stupid. Granted I work in a large brewery and am comfortable with the proper handling of dangerous chemicals. I do it every day, but it really isn't that big of a deal as some make it out to be.

I don't spend more than 10-15 mins a day on average to make 30 gallons a week. Brew days, I spend maybe an hour in the garage.
I've never had a "bad batch" or poor quality fuel. I remove all water by settling time, heat, and air bubbling, and then I run it through a 10 micron water block fuel filter. I run the 27/3 methanol test, and my '99 CTD gulps it down with zero issues.

As biodieselIam wrote, avoid spills. It's a PITA to clean up waste veggie oil.

One factor in your situaion GRI, is the year of your CTD. You're going to have to filter the bio down to a pretty low micron number (2 microns maybe?) due to lower tolerance with the common rail and electronic injectors.
The older trucks seem to handle higher concentrations better than the newer trucks.

Hope that helps, and good luck!

 

I know the common rails dont like Straight WVO. what if I filtered the WVO as someone should when running it straight and mixed it with regular diesel? like 80% diesel 20% WVO? would I see any problems?

 

deluzgn has got it down. i also make bio diesel. bio diesel made right is the best fuel you can get. wvo is a different thing all together to run. it will run in older diesels but you have to have heated tank to get it thin enough to run good. i dont want that stuff. i think you need to go around somebody thats already making bio, so you can learn. washing and drying is tricky but once you get that down you have got good bio diesel. when you get done you can take a string light and run it down in a drum of bio and see how clear it is.

 

been doing researsch on bio diesel for about a year now. have made some small batches in the house on the stove and in 2 liter drink bottle with very good results. Unless u plan to by ready made processser(very high doller) u will have to build your own I think the appleseed procerrer is the best I have come across and simple to build.need an old water heater that does not leak some ball valves,black iron pipe,hoes and a pump