Home Biodiesel plants???

[4000psi 16]

Biodiesel Processors

A buddy of mine just purchased one of these and should be here any day. He is spending $1000.00 a month on diesel in his F350 king ranch.

With these mini plants and local resterant grease + other chems, you can produce your own biodiesel at a very low cost. Dose anyone already do this yet? If you have a diesel this may be a great way to cut cost on fuel. Also if you don't own a diesel you may want to consider one. I haven't done alot of research but it sounds very interesting. I can't wait to see how my buddy likes it. Your input??

Dane

[squirtgun 122]

Dane,

There are instruction online for building and appleseed bio diesel processor.The parts etc cost about $400.

[Kory 14]

Try and line up the waste veggy oil first before you buy one. the restaurants around here are under contract and get payed by the gallon for there used stuff.

[centexpw 16]

Dane, I run wvo in one of my trucks. Like Kory said, it is getting harder to procure wvo.

[Christopher 102]

It is very hard to get it here too. I talked to a burger chain and they told me that if I had my own steel containers like what is there already, I could work out a deal with them as their current company is coming to an end for the current contract. They told me that they only get like $15.00 per location per month for all that vegetable oil and food grease.

I told him that I could pay him more for that but I did not have any steel containers but need to go talk to a welder to see how much to have one made. Steel is getting very expensive, the price has been going up and not consistent for the past 4 years now, China is buying up everything and hard to keep a price for steel for more than 1 day as it fluctuates so much.

I do not know that much about those all-in-one units but they claim to make a 40 gallon batch in 1 day. Everything I have read mentions that it usually takes a couple days to do it so you do not end up with a bunch of soap (too much water in the oil).

I am looking into it a lot right now.

[Kory 14]

I almost it did but the PITA factor changed my mind. cost of processing chems has gone up as well. If your a tree hugger its worth it if not cost is to close for the time and PITA. You can get 55 gallon drums that would be a cheaper than a big steal container.

[centexpw 16]

One of the reasons I run wvo or svo is because you don't have the glycerol left over from making the bio diesel. I have about 10% waste. With making BD you yield 50 - 60%. What to do with the leftovers? I get similar mileage and performance with wvo.

[Christopher 102]

I have read a lot that the amound of glycerin left is due to the amount of water in the wvo. There are a couple of ways to get the water out but are time consuming.

I also heard that the wvo is hard on the injectors.

I would like to make the biodiesel, just to be safe.

Not sure about the 50%-60% yield, I heard that you have more like 80% but I am no expert, just learning about it right now.

I could use the 55 gallon drums as they are readily available but there have been times where the new company put them out temporarily until the heavy duty tanks got there and people tipped them over just to be a**holes and made huge messes all over, I would like to prevent that from being a possiblilty.

[MMI Enterprises 289]

Chris, what might you know of the act or pro's and con's of washing a batch down from above with sprinkler setup? I heard from local guy that it was last thing to do to make it usable but I haven't researched it at all.

[Christopher 102]

I am very new to all of this, so I am not sure what step that would be.

I ordered the book by Girl Mark (Maria) a couple weeks ago and am looking into what exactly it will take to build the reactor and everything else besides how much it will be for parts.

I just learned that the price of caustic just went up and the other company that sells it here is a lot cheaper but only gets an allotment every so often, that does not make much sense but that is how they run their business.

The first company wants to try to get me with a fuel tax surcharge/epa fee of $35.00 for a 50 pound bag. What a joke! I will call the owner next week and talk to him about that. That is B.S.! If I have to pay that, I will just have it shipped from San Antonio or Houston, it is less per pound and shipping will be the same or less than the fuel tax surcharge.

[Joe Ortiz 14]

There was a story on txcn about this several weeks ago.someone in tx is selling a prefabed kit with everything you will need to produce biodisel,even a dvd how to.if iremember correctly it was runnin about 2k for the kit.there used to be a website that would show you how to with willie nelson on it hes big on that too.try google.

[MMI Enterprises 289]

Wonder if that is rediculous price gouging price. Would expect tanks, filters, warmer,tranfer pump, bung mixer, test kit, starting bulk chems, and maybe a drum of methanol. :)

[Christopher 102]

One of the most expensive things would be the hot water heater. You would need methanol, caustic, some chems for titrating, etc...

Then you would need some 55 gallon poly or steel drums, piping, valves, etc....

I have most of the small stuff including the pump, piping, valves, drums, etc... Just need to get the hot water heater, methanol and a few other things.

You can build it for around $600-$1000 depending on how big, the production volume and what you have on hand if anything.

You would not need a 55 gallon drum of methanol to get started but some places will only sell that quantity.

Those kits and already assembled rigs are expensive and not sure if they really hold up to those claims of a batch or two per day. I would rather slow down and make sure it is done right and not end up with a ton of soap.

One of the guys from the Biodiesel boards actually sells the bar soap he gets from the process and people have purchased it and says it is good soap.

That would not be a bad idea....give away bar soap and bags or boxes with "Compliments of Superior Power Washing" on the soap or label.

Not too many companies out there giving away free soap.

Could be a great idea.