Bio Diesel processing

I was speaking to one of the lads im at uni with today and he confirmed what i thought that moden common rail stuff doesnt like it mush as it buggers up the pumps and a filters, where as older style stuff with rotorary pumps will happly chomp their way through anything. this is the reason my PD mk4 tdi wont be having any cooking oil in it,

The common rails dont like neat veg oil, whereas biodiesel should work fine, I'll be making my first batch this weekend, here's the costings……..

Veg oil……57p litre (Sainsbury's or Bookers cash n carry)
Methanol……38p litre  (bought for ?77 for 205 litres)
Caustic Soda……?7 for enough to do 600 litres

Add 160 litres of veg oil to processor (?91.20)
Warm it up to 55 degrees
Add 15-20% Methanol to the oil (average 28 litres@ 38p litre=?10.64)
Dissolve into the Methanol 3.5g of Caustic soda for every litre of veg oil (approx ?3)

Should get a return of 160 litres biodiesel for a cost of ?104.84

=66p per litre  

So only 897.65 litres before you've covered your initial outlay for the equipment. :wink:

Exactly, but it will be filling mine and the wifes car up at 55 litres each, once a week for me and every fortnight for the wifey, I make that a total of 330 litres a month, so by middle of January it'll paid it's way   .

Then it's money, money, money. How ironic I'm watching Dragon's den.

But seriously fair play to you. You must have quite a commute to be getting through all that fuel. 8O
Either that or you've got a huge engine. :twisted:

I thought the idea was to use old cooking oil for cheaper fuel,if your using new oil to process,its going to be dear,i but new and mix 50% in winter and 80% summer no probs and no messing,just go to cash and carry pour in tank  :wink:
Bert

Bert said

I thought the idea was to use old cooking oil for cheaper fuel,if your using new oil to process,its going to be dear,i but new and mix 50% in winter and 80% summer no probs and no messing,just go to cash and carry pour in tank  :wink:
Bert

Bert, I cant use neat or mixed veg oil in a common rail diesel, that's why I'm doing the biodiesel.
Using new oil to make the biodiesel will cost 68p, that's a good enough saving for me  :wink:  , Bert you already know the problems of using used cooking oil from recovering biosludged cars.

GAMMYGOLFGTI said

Should get a return of 160 litres biodiesel for a cost of ?104.84

=66p per litre  

Dont forget to pay your 24p per litre duty on the biodiesel you make  :wink:

GAMMYGOLFGTI said

Exactly, but it will be filling mine and the wifes car up at 55 litres each, once a week for me and every fortnight for the wifey, I make that a total of 330 litres a month, so by middle of January it'll paid it's way   .

Under the new laws you can make 2500ltrs per year without any tax to pay as you are then not classed as a (producer) I'm sure you have your sums wrong and you wont be making anymore than 2500ltrs in the year will you  :wink:

The law changed in July Crazyquiff, you can produce 2500 litres duty and tax free a year.

2500 litres is per person, so can produce 5000 litres for me and the wife if I needed to, and I'd be damned if I would tell the taxman if I went over the allowance  :mrgreen:

How long does it take to make process/make the 160L of fuel?

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/forecourt-petrol-pumps-gilbarco-euroline_W0QQitemZ180173358614QQihZ008QQcategoryZ1272QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

saw this and thought of you :mrgreen:

novocaine said

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/forecourt-petrol-pumps-gilbarco-euroline_W0QQitemZ180173358614QQihZ008QQcategoryZ1272QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

saw this and thought of you :mrgreen:

 :lmao:  :lmao:  :lmao:

If you do the processing on Saturday, then leave it to settle overnight, you can use on the sunday or if you want to wash the diesel then it would be Monday

GAMMYGOLFGTI said

The law changed in July Crazyquiff, you can produce 2500 litres duty and tax free a year.

2500 litres is per person, so can produce 5000 litres for me and the wife if I needed to, and I'd be damned if I would tell the taxman if I went over the allowance  :mrgreen:

What! The government making it easy for joe schmo  

im new to this cooking oil thing do you jut buy cooking oil from supermarket and put it in i run a 205 turboD in winter mk1 and 2's in summer just want some info please

the basic answer is yes i run the 4x4 on a 50/50 mix regular diesel and cooking oil from the supermarket or wholesaler just put in your tank and drive away smelling like a chippy, simple.

I run my 99 caddy 1.9 non turbo ona mix of Veg oil and Derv, I normally stick in 10-15 ltrs of diesel and about 15-20 litres of veg oil or rapseed oil, and havent a problem yet, but there is a little sticker inside my fuel filler saying DIESEL/BIODIESEL so i imagine it'll be ok..
I've had no problems starting at all (other than sdqueeling fan belts) and the vans now done 171k (alright only the last 5k or so have been with me on the mix…

some people say cooking oil or veg oil whats rapseed oil
do you just put the cheepest oil you can get it all works?

joelgti said

some people say cooking oil or veg oil whats rapeseed oil
do you just put the cheapest oil you can get it all works?

rapeseed oil is veg oil some say that rapeseed is the best and its normally the cheapest any way I've never tried it but on the Pajero web forum some say no difference between Corn oil and the rape seed oil
if you are going to use used oil ie from a chippy etc filter it first and check and replace fuel filter as they tend to get a bit crappy on used stuff.

O.K, I went a bit quiet on this subject, mainly due to first batch messing up (very vague instructions) and Christmas taking up my spare time.  

Last weekend I decided it was about time to have another crack at it after reading up on better methods and learning on my mistakes. So I purchased 100 litres of pure veg oil and set about processing it, I wont bore you with the first stages or the bit where you do the first seperation of the bidiesel from the dark brown liquid, but I've transferred some unwashed biodiesel into coke bottles and brought then into the kitchen for photos of a mini batch….

1) Add 1/2 litre of cold water to the unwashed bio and shake it up, then let the water settle to the bottom, as it settles it takes impurities with it





2) Keep doing this method until the water settles clear



3) The bio is free of impurities but it isnt clear due to small particles of water trapped in the bio, so now you need to dry it, for the sake of the mini batch I put them in a sink of hot water, when the bio warms up it evaporates the water



4) and here is clear biodiesel, ready to put in the Freelander