Biodiesel/Vegetable oil power

[LePaul]

I've got a 40 year old furnace running at about 78% efficiency.  While new windows, new roof and other home improvements have reduced my heating oil usage significantly, I couldn't help but be impressed with some articles I've seen on biodiesel.

Most of what I had read was of conversions for automobiles.

But now I'm seeing articles where there are ways a home could be heated by all the above....heating oil, biodiesel or vegetable oils.

So now I'm weaving thru the web searches to find out more.  This technology seems to be progressing nicely.

Does anyone know more about this stuff from experience or research?

I mean, I just topped off my oil tank 2 weeks ago...147 gallons at $3.16 a gallon.  Ouch!  Learning there's some very inexpensive fuel alternatives has me interested!

[rpm]

http://forums.hitechcreations.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=218868

Originally posted by rpm
How does biodiesel look now? .75 a gallon to make your own.

Originally posted by LePaul
As for bio-diesel, again....new technology with not a lot of track record for home heating purposes.  I'm not much for "home brewing" my heating needs.  I know, call me kooky  

Welcome to the darkside.

[rpm]

Seriously tho, if you are mechanicly inclined and like to tinker you can build your own processor. They are not that complicated. You can buy a kit for between $800 and $1200. The only problem after that is getting the oil and that should not be that hard. Just make a deal with a Mom and Pop restaraunt. They should be happy to give it away for free instead of paying to have it hauled away. You also need to find a way of getting rid of the glycerin.

If I still had a diesel pickup, I'd definitely be homebrewing fuel.

[LePaul]

Well let me tell you how I am when it comes to the home.  Maybe I'm too much like my Dad...but as I am not a plumber, burner tech or electrician, I prefer to leave those tasks to those who are insured, licensed and will show up at 1 in the morning when the furnace goes "clunk" in the night.

I know that sounds sqeamish but I just think things like that, especially in a house, are best handled by the pros.  I've seen people who want to save a few bucks here and there watch their homes burn down.

[rpm]

You're de-gelling cooking oil, not making nitroglycerin. The kits are manufactured by pros, not some tree huggin' hippie.

Maybe kit is a bad description. Check out http://www.b100supply.com/ .

[Blooz]

Coal.

[Bodhi]

Originally posted by rpm


If I still had a diesel pickup, I'd definitely be homebrewing fuel.

Is there any way thye can nail you on not paying taxes on regular diesel and using the highway system?  IE. Remember the singer that was charged for using his own vegetable oil in his vehicle, under the auspices of not paying fuel tax.

[eskimo2]

How does natural gas compare in costs per BTU in your area?  We had a furnace installed a couple of years ago that is rated at over 90% efficiency; I think it only cost about $1400.00.

[john9001]

Bodhi, shhhhh, don't tell anyone. Don't put "homemade biodiesel" signs on your truck.

[Maverick]

Originally posted by Bodhi
Is there any way thye can nail you on not paying taxes on regular diesel and using the highway system?  IE. Remember the singer that was charged for using his own vegetable oil in his vehicle, under the auspices of not paying fuel tax.

Actually I have not heard of anything like that at all Bodhi. There simply is no way to track it. If you want to be a "greaser" (use recycled vegie / cooking oil) your only limitation will be the source of oil to use and like already has been mentioned, the disposal of the waste products. There is a very finite amount of cooking oil to be had and as soon as demand gets to a certain point folks will be charging you to collect it, it's basic economics.

You will need a filtering and blending plant to "refine" and blend the oil to use it. It also has a higher gel point than does commercial diesel so cold weather usage will require fuel heating before heading out. Depending on how much you use, the cost to buy the materials and additives, the equipment and so on it may or may not be economically feasible to use the stuff. Keep in mind that if you are a "greaser" your vehicle will be limited to your home area.

Commercial grade biodiesel (B100) from the pump can be rather pricey. I priced it in Wichita last October. Regular diesel was going for $2.95 to $3.10 or so and the B100 was going for over $4.00 a gallon at that time.

One real advantage of biodiesel is that it puts back the lubricity that taking the sulphur out of diesel removes. A blend or diesel and biodiesel that equates to B2 (2% biodiesel to 98% ultra low sulphur diesel) is the same in lubricity as old straight (high sulphur) diesel. That's a big help to folks as wear of the fuel system components is a big deal particularly when the new (07) and later engines are running at 30,000+ psi at the injectors.

Biodiesel also tends to act like a fuel cleaner additive and can end up "scrubbing" gunk out of your system and plugging filters and injectors. Blending slowly helps keep things running better rather than dumping B100 into the tank on an older vehicle. Have extra filters on hand.

We had a fuel distributer rep that blends and sells B2 through B100 give us a talk at the Rally in Wichita last October. For the over the road truckers tere are few places to get biodiesel at a truck stop. There are only 2 flying J's in the country that sell it and both are in Indiana or Illinois. There are only 2 places at all in Tucson that sell biodiesel and neither are regular truck fuel places.

[mora]

Originally posted by john9001
Bodhi, shhhhh, don't tell anyone. Don't put "homemade biodiesel" signs on your truck.

The smell McDonalds is enough. In my country the fine is from $5500 to $11000.

[68ROX]

Just Southeast of here, Stuttgart, AR is rice country.  If you have eaten Riceland Rice, it came from there.

They also grow a lot of soybeans.  In years past, those soybeans went for foods like Bacos Imitation Bacon Bits, tofu, and other food products.  Some food products were exported to Asia & the Pacific Rim Nations....

Not as much as it used to.

Bio-Fuels companies are poppin up all over around here, and farmers who used to farm rice & crawfish, wheat, or tomatoes, are now switching to soybeans & corn...and selling it to the bio-fuels companies.

Personally, I'd LOVE to see every tillable square inch of America that is normally fallow planted with corn & soybeans and turned into bio-fuels, that are clean, renewable, and low maintainence to grow.

The OPEC nations would be a non-entity in less than 10 years, and our dependance on foreign oil----over.  Many OPEC nations (who tend to use their perto-wealth to finance terrorism and cause other troubles) could find themselves having to actually work for a living.

America, Russia, Canada, (in that order) could be the next world leaders in creating & exporting bio-fuels.

I'd LOVE to drive by a bio-fuel "gas" station and see BIO- $77.9 a gallon...the more that's made, the far cheaper it will get.




68ROX

[Meatwad]

Almost $80/gallon???

Surely you mean 77.9 cents/gallon

[Flatbar]

Originally posted by Bodhi
Is there any way thye can nail you on not paying taxes on regular diesel and using the highway system?  IE. Remember the singer that was charged for using his own vegetable oil in his vehicle, under the auspices of not paying fuel tax.

In many states road taxes still must be collected from biodiesel users...

http://biofuels.coop/general-information/taxes/

http://www.biodieselnow.com/blogs/business/archive/2007/06/18/biodiesel-taxes.aspx

http://www.boe.ca.gov/pdf/pub96.pdf

I'm sure this will apply to other alternative fuels, gotta keep those roads maintained.

[68ROX]

Originally posted by Meatwad
Almost $80/gallon???

Surely you mean 77.9 cents/gallon

In America, fuel prices are quoted to the .9 of of a cent (because of all the taxes, some of which are down the tenth of a cent.

Look at a gas station the next time you drive by.

Yes....77.9 cents.

If the resources are there, and the ability to mass produce are there, we should get it back down to that....without all the price hikes and getting jerked around by OPEC, oil speculators, refining companies.....et al.


68ROX