1672 Biodiesel 101 - The How And The Why And The Wherefore Of Making It
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- čas přidán 7. 09. 2022
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I have an old Romanian friend who used to run his car on Bio-diesel that he made from waste chip oil. His cars used to smell of old burgers, fish and chips. He still has the setup made out of an old water heater tank. But the great stuff was the soap he would make out of the waste glycerine. It was really nice stuff. He said it was very good if you had eczema.
Did he ever talk about fight club?
If not, he was probably in it ;)
No one talks about fight club
Well, it's the first & second rule of fight club after all!
Just when I thought this topic had been done to death, you come back with this video. Nice one!
ok... so the coolest setup I've seen was from a professor's garage the US. He setup 2x ICB (1000L) tanks staked on top of one another that were connected via 1 or 2 inline pumps with tank/barrel heaters. This setup created the easy filter system to remove the glycerin, while also processing/mixing the oil very well. Each batch produced about 1000L of fuel from about 1100L to 1200L of oil (about 1 month of driving). He would source old cooking oil from local restaurants (rancid oil is fine too), filter it with a coffee filter, then titrate 3 samples to get the reactions ratios. You can use ANY natural oils (Veg or animal, including lard) the caveat of course is that animal fats need to be preheated and remain heated during the whole process to prevent solidification. Also if you add too much reactants, you'll make a crude glycerin soap.
Best ratio for your vehicle is between 20% to 50% biodiesel and 50% to 80% regular diesel. If made correctly, 100% biodiesel will work, but likely need engine additives. Biodiesel is more acid than petro based diesel and will eat natural rubber seals & will solidify at a warmer temp (like -10C or somewhere close to that, a cdn issue more or less) ... there really should be a PSA pamphlet on this.
For further reference Portland, Oregon has had a thriving biodiesel fuel market for over a decade or more and University of British Columbia has produced post docs on the topic (around 2007-09). Yes during that time, I looked at using algae (from human waste) to make biodiesel to replace petrol, the profit margins were very slim. Results: possible but not practical at the time. oh right, some folks like to 'wash' the finished diesel with methanol to get more of the suspended glycerin out. Once again Rob, well done :) ... condolences about the Queen.
Great info, thanks for sharing! 😃
thank you for adding that mate - super useful information and very to the point - cheers
@@James-fe7wd
God has said in the Quran:
{ O mankind, worship your Lord, who created you and those before you, that you may become righteous - ( 2:21 )
[He] who made for you the earth a bed [spread out] and the sky a ceiling and sent down from the sky, rain and brought forth thereby fruits as provision for you. So do not attribute to Allah equals while you know [that there is nothing similar to Him]. ( 2:22 )
And if you are in doubt about what We have sent down upon Our Servant [Muhammad], then produce a surah the like thereof and call upon your witnesses other than Allah, if you should be truthful. ( 2:23 )
But if you do not - and you will never be able to - then fear the Fire, whose fuel is men and stones, prepared for the disbelievers.( 2:24 )
And give good tidings to those who believe and do righteous deeds that they will have gardens [in Paradise] beneath which rivers flow. Whenever they are provided with a provision of fruit therefrom, they will say, "This is what we were provided with before." And it is given to them in likeness. And they will have therein purified spouses, and they will abide therein eternally. ( 2:25 )
Quran
Very nice. Could you perhaps provide a link to that professional setup ? Sounds doable.
Thanks mate, I've been making it for 5 years now, we run 2 cars and a log splitter,. I use potassium hydroxide and methanol. My mistake in the early days was to use the fuel way too early, before the full transesterification reaction was done . Now I know better, thanks again and greetings from Australia!!
I looked into this years ago, and I heard using Potassium Hydroxide IS better, because you get better soap and the methoxide is less dangerous anyway.
I was thinking about using biodiesel as an alternative to kerosene in my homemade lamps. I might have to make a new type of lamp with a stubby fuel tank but my goal is to be able to make biodiesel and use it in lamps.
Had the same idea but instead of Methanol i wana use Ethanol@@mrdojob
Here in the states I used restaurant fryer oil. Of course there is a bit of food particles to deal with, but all and all it made a pretty good biodiesel. Ran this in a Mercedes 300D. And yes it smelled of French fries going down the road. Had great fun doing this, and saved a few dollars to boot. Thank you for sharing.👍
Thanks for sharing!
I have a very old friend who ran an biodiesel lab and company. He became quite ill with Lymes Disease after a family picnic, and is disabled now, but was a chemist by trade. And He did pretty well with that. I heard many stories of him going to collect used oil from fast food chains. Decent technology. Not the most pleasant to convert, but useful.
very true mate
Why didn't he get proper help for the tic bites ?.. I got bitten at stonehenge and I'm still suffering !..
I've heard that we don't even have a proper test in the nhs !.. People with money send blood samples to Germany to find out which verity they have, then get treatment.
@@AA-69 He did. His whole family was bitten and contracted it. There was only so much that the medical community could do. He had to seek help from others more knowledgeable. He now lives a lifestyle that seems to help keep him and his family in better health, and I hear he's even started working as a programmer with a video security company. I hear hes considering starting a buisness as a artist creating digital artistic assets. But he suffers with the effects. As does his family. He needs two use two canes and a scooter to get around. Sometimes its worse than others. But he's got a strong spirit.
A friend of mine converted his old diesel Mazda to run on leftover French fries oil he was getting cheaply from local fast foods. The car was running fine and the exhaust smelled delicious lol ))
lol - I'll bet it did
Robert, you are always the best video for whatever I am looking for! Wind generator, camp heater, biodiesel or virtually anything else. I hope you live a long time. You probably will invent a transporter and replicator like in Star Trek.
Just a quick point. Here in the UK, you can produce up to 1000 litres per year of biofuel before you have the declare it to HMRC. It is however illegal to sell any quantity of fuel without declaring it to HMRC.
Yeah they scumbags always want their cut.... I'd only ever just make 1000 litres 😉 if you get my drift....
thank you for posting that mate - I didn't know that - but it is good to know
I find your channel fascinating.
You have extensive knowledge I can leech from.
Thank you for making these videos.
Awesome! Thanks for showing it being done! I had read about it once.
Do the deesterification in your ultra sonic cleaner, the reaction will be much quicker and require less or no catalyst.
nice one mate - I was thinking of sources of oil and methods of production as a separate video - I kind of want this to be ultra straight forward but thanks for the suggestion
@@ThinkingandTinkering How about single cell algae?
@@ThinkingandTinkering figured you'd go on a run with it. Just wanted to make sure you knew about that. Its a very quick processing method. Hope all is well .
@@ThinkingandTinkering Oh do tell. What is an Ultra Sonic cleaner ? Never heard of that one. Thnx
@@SquareRootOfMinus1 a machine that uses electrical inpulses to "vibrate" a container filled with water to the point the vibrations cause cavitation. The cavitation creates pressure and heat around objects in the fluid. You can make coffee with one pretty well.....js lol.
I used straight up old fryer oil in all my old diesels, including the 98 Ford focus. On my old tractor, if anything, l get more power, probably since its primitive and worn out fuel pump seals better with higher fuel viscosity. Its my summer fuel thugh, in winter l fuel it with diesel.
it seems you can chuck just about anything in older diesels
@@ThinkingandTinkering IRC they were made so farmers could grow their own fuel for the farmand there currently are programs in the US doing that from the AG department.
@@Barskor1 that was Diesel's original intent.
Hm, overall a nice video. You said 100 g, 20 g, 1-5 g, but it looked like quite a bit more than 20 g of oil. How much can you process with the 100 g alcohol and catalyst?
I think Robert pointed out the incorrect containers. Usually when making biodiesel, for every 1000 millilitres of oil, use 200 millilitres of methanol and around 5 grams om 99% NaOH. When using KOH as the catalyst you need more
Hi Robert, I have a 5 Kilowatt Diesel Generator that I run on waste veggie-oil that I let settle for two weeks, then filter it through multiple-cleanable bucket filters down to 75 microns. I then run it through multiple-cleanable Polyester cartridge filters down to 1 micron nominal. The final stage is to thin the viscosity with 30% Gasoline (petrol) during the winter months and 15% during the summer. I do not separate out the glycerol, because the petrol acting as a solvent works wonderful. Kilowatt for Kilowatt my generator costs less then the power grid. Would you consider doing an episode on my process and give your opinion?
Thank you prof. Robert, for sharing this intresting subject and video.
Glad you enjoyed it
Just bumped into a channel called Greg's Garage, and he has a three video series on biodiesel and it is very well done. Perhaps if you gave it a look and a think you might have another inspiration towards this project.
Love your videos mate! You are a shining light.
Robert Murray Smith is great value to watch and the comments with the punters below and you get something at whole new level. Only just found this channel and can get enough, some may call it binge watching. I'm ok with that. With Bio diesel I finally found something to try...
By the way, it looks like vegetable price is higher than diesel in moste of Europe. So only used oil is an option.
Re. (Bio "diesel" oils, excluded from the options.)
If you believe there is really such a thing as a "free market", that actually determine price.
Then, for you and others who concur...
Those of You have found a truth. -Your truth.
But I believe, there is a truth that ring more clear.
In 70's and closer to the turn of the millennium. ( South African expirience/tangent )
Farmers were prohibited to produce bio diesel. (mostly sun flower origin)
Reasoning- it will drive up the price of food oils. - Eventual food scarcity.
S. A. being a region of relative drought - Farmers tried to counter argue - sunflower hardly need irrigation - they can more than double production - excsessive suitable arid land...
End result - farmers may only produce for their own farm use.
Absolutely no sales of this product.
Then the issue got no more media coverage - nothing more to see or hear, move on...
And within months food oils nearly doubled in price. (Keep on accelerating, especially these days.) Though we never saw bio diesel for sale. *
(*at least at the time, not sure what may be imported lately)
Shortages created, emergencies..... That's the way the cookie crumbles.
Bio fuel ❤️
@@louisfkoorts5590 GREED , GREED , GREED GREED
They Get The Cookies , We Get The Crumbs !
Blessings From Birmingham England
yep
Here in Ireland rapeseed /veg oil is 1.40 per litre and diesel is 2 quid per litre. Just for reference
@@michaelwilkinson8368 Terrible
This was a great intro to biodiesel. I’d like to see what can be done with the glycerol, how it can be distilled to reuse, and what uses there are for byproducts.
I was thinking about this too
Just do not mix it with nitric acid. It's too unstable .
@@iindium49 Make in tiny quantities in a very cool room add diatomaceous earth as a stableizer and build a boombox to store it in.
PS a boom box has 5 strong sides and a weak side made of as light and harmless material as possible insulation foam board works great where the blast will safely be directed, keep the boombox cool and dry.
This basically soap production. Watch the movie "Fight Club" /this is what they were doing and that is why they were raiding the hospitals for the liposuction waste. Oh and did you notice the big explosions and buildings falling at the end ;) It is all related. Most people missed this.
@Robert; i have just been checking out Vevor to buy a diesel heater, they also sell distillers. Would those be useful to distill the bye products?
btw awesome tutorials and experiments!
I truly wish someday to have your yard and my yard together so we can share our journeys with each other… so interesting Robert!
that would be cool mate - cheers
Great video Robert, thanks for sharing!
cheers mate
Excellent content, thank you very much for the informative presentation as well. For what it's worth, the "cat oil" reference was not lost on me, and many others I am sure. I liked the book of Eli as well! Cheers!
Wicked vid. Well done lad
Thanks once again. I made a plant to produce and although long winded it worked fine. The pump prices came down so it was laid up for a year . Just as I recommissioned it, as prices were rocketing, I found your Video using gelatine powder / paraffin mix, so I'm trying that for a while now. All the best.
Love this we need more of this in the word
Thanks for explaining biodiesel and how to make it at home and for the reference to the book of Eli.
I'm not the least bit worried about fuel or food shortage in the long run. If the market gets hot enough, people will start farming algae for biodiesel in long plastic tube bags and growing food in floating greenhouses in the ocean while living in sailboats.
This can not be deployed fast enough
Maybe even in underwater greenhouses. ...
oh people always find a way mate
Used to run my old sprinter on bio. You could smell the difference. Was always told that it caused certain rubbers to perish though.
Yes - but only older cars use rubber seals. Most modern ones are vitreon (or similar) and are fine.
Adapting to having little and understanding that " Lack " is a Fear technique used to Control.....
Enter the next " Crises "....
Refer Kissingers quote on Control
yeah its an old trick, covid, now climate swindle
When I was making biodiesel there was no demand for the glycerin. So most of it was wasted. The rest I burned for heat.
There really needs to be videos of the reasons to keep it and explore the many uses of it. That way you don't end up with millions of people just dumping it into the trash.
absolutely agree mate
Drove through the Minnesota River Valley. Acres of Bio Soy diesel and Bio Corn Ethanol and the huge processing plants for each.
That was it, for mile upon mile, monocultures of soybean and corn, produced to schedule through the use of Monsanto/Bayer products, the final dessicating spray applied to obtain uniform harvest schedule.
Agriculture bent to the corporate schedule. The wasteful potholes and marshes drained, the trees along the riverways trimmed back, the water courses straightened, the fence lines and woodlots removed, the vacated homesteads levelled.
Brilliant. Thank you!!!
cheers mate
Great video. Thank you.
cheers mate
Also possible to run older engines which are pre common rail (ie mechanical injection pump) on clean, filtered and de watered waste vegetable oil using 2 tank system where you start and stop on diesel but run on WVO heated to 80 - 100°C which reduces the viscosity to something closer to diesel although it’s viscosity is still higher than diesel. Is it perfect, no, doesn’t have the same energy yields etc and if you aren’t careful you might foul your injectors and it’s important the engine is at operating temperature before switching to WVO. It’s also important to not contaminate the diesel tank with WVO by controlling sequence of supply and return valves
Finding diy viable alternatives to vehicle fuel is a challenge! Could you do an overview of all the options you can think of? HHO, compressed air, wood, wood gas, ethanol, plastic, etc..? A viable one will be crucial in times to come, I'd like to prepare now (: 🙏💙
I laughed when you mentioned cat oil, the book of Eli is a great movie, one of my favourites.
lol - awesome mate
If you have a mechanical pump, you can just pour old cooking oil straight into your tank. Add a few gallons of diesel every few tank fills and fit a big fuel filter assy. from a Cat., JCB or something military
If you can wash the glycerine ( glycerol) and possible distill it off, then dry it. It has been used as heating oil. However it will pick up any moisture in the air.
It can be added back to the biodiesel & will lubricate the valves.
you can also convert it to propylene glycol and it is 50% of vaping fluid
Knowledge Is Power !
I Was Checking Out The Price Of Parraffin And It's About £10 A Gallon
I Remember It Being £3 If You Took Your Own Container !
I Use A Primus Omnifuel That Burns Anything Flammable Under Pressure.
Waste Oil , Even Rancid Stuff Left For Years Will Work
Brilliant Video Rob
Bless Up Fella
wow - that's a lot of money!
You can also just blend with 20% gasoline to straight oil to reduce the burning temperature. No waiting for a chemical process. I know it's still requiring purchase of gasoline but much less labor intensive. IIRC a small amount of acetone was used as well, as a anti-gumming solvent.
Interesting. I've also seen bushcrafters and survivalists use a variety of oils including vegetable to fuel diy oil lamps and small tent stoves/heaters.
What an incredible guy
Thanks, a great video.
Glad you liked it!
Can't believe the main stream TV channels have not offered Robert a series of his own. He teaches me a lot and makes me laugh more than that.
Thank you sir.
Most welcome
its the glycerol and washing that made me prefer oil/kerosene mix instead. it ran like biodiesel and no extra waste products. i used it in toyota 3L engine and it ran great.
I used to do this in my back garden. Turned it in to an ice rink with all the oil spills and wrecked an engine. But saved loads on fuel 😃
lol - I'll bet is was a little slippery lol
I have been growing alot of sunflowers this year for this purpose. I have ordered a small electric oil extractor. I love the idea of being able to grow your own fuel while having nice flowers at the same time. Based on my calculations I should get a fair few litres but I'll get a better idea when I press the seeds for oil then see how many litres of fuel my garden could produce if I went sunflower crazy in the garden.
Nice one. Could you provide a link / suggestion for the oil press. Will it work with other feedstock, eg. Soybean, Canola, etc ? Thanks
I have already made that, and i have to say that it is very easy to succeed.
The only problem is that methanol is very expensive in Greece. I made this, with ethanol.
nice one mate
If you have a distiller 78.3 C and wood makes methanol.
@@Barskor1 Thank you , my friend!!!
I worked in the restaurant industry in America from 1978 to 1993. At the beginning, we had to beg for used oil pick up. We got one dollar, fifty cents for a 55 gallon barrel of used oil. By the end of my time in the industry, people started stealing the used oil in the middle of the night. I don't remember how much we were getting at the end.
so i did testing a few years ago with a vw single point injector ( the ones used on lets say 1992 and older vw diesel ) ... i could mix up to 30% veg oil into #2 diesel and still have a proper spray pattern to burn the diesel , which meant no issues with it coking up the engine or any other nastiness of running straight cold veg oil in a diesel .
the other option is to heat the veg oil to at least 150 degree's F , this thins it out enough to get the proper spray pattern at the injector so it burns properly
cheers mate
You could use solar thermal to distil both your wastes and also to purify your end product, which should be close to clear and not have that yellow tint, then it will be less viscous at low temperatures and cleaner burning. The problem is that if it does not go through a vapour phase at some point you are carrying things across that may poison your emissions control gear on your exhaust. Speaking of that I read once about some (MIT?) researchers using a magnetron to form a plasma to clean exhaust fumes on buses, in which case you have a system that is harder to poison but more complex.
I like the solar thermal idea mate - cheers
Hi rob
On garage54 they do some mad stuff. He ran paint cleaner through the engine to clean it out and it worked. Perhaps if you mixed the two it would work.
Given your glycerine video you would need a carburettor maybe with pipes wrapped around to heat the mix before it goes in to get heated to burn the glycerine
oil lamp...
I have seen the book of Eli and laughed when you said that 😁
You can grow singel cell algae for cheap oil and great fertilizer. You can make methanol by boiling wood at 78.3 celsius in a distillation system saw dust, chips, pellets, or splinters work better than blocks or sticks the left over mash can be used as compost material or turned into a aerogel by adding a binder pouring into a mold chilling to 33 F and then to
32 F this forms microscopic long thin ice crystals that "fluff" the gel when the binder sets thaw the gell and let the water drain and evaporate away.
One question from lab assist where is the bit of NaOH in there? My guess would be the "muck" with the diesel which is washed away with water, as it might've been saponified a bit.
PS. I make soap so thats almost the same thing, which is interesting.
Awesome video 👍...I'd heard Willie Nelson talkin bout bio diesel b20 I think and had wondered...Thank-you for the easy explanation.
cheers mate
Used to mix rapeseed oil half and half diesel and ran it in a peugeot 405 during summer and winter for years no problem.mechanical pump then.The motor ran for a couple of years after that and was scrapped for suspension fault was still running great?
This one is a good one. Specially when Europe bit the hand that fed them and "did the right thing" i wanna make a centerfuge.
They are very useful, Get a old ten speed bike or three regular pedal bikes get some hinges set the chains and gears to increase rpm semetrically mount the hinges to the rim of the wheel so gravity holds the containers vertical when still and swings horizontal when spun build the machine so the wheel is horizontal and a surrounding container to keep anything from killing people if bits fly off.
Add a motor for more fun or less exercise depending on how you look at things. :)
I love your channel and visit almost daily. What's in the waste water and how do you best use/dispose of it? Thanks.
IRC it is leftover glycerine and the drain cleaner. edit you could dehydrate it to get more glycerin and after that is removed reuse the drain cleaner by further dehydration to concentrate it.
Rudolf Diesel's first engine (1892) actually ran on coal dust suspended in water. It didn't work too well so he switched to peanut oil in time for the World Fair Exhibition in Paris 1900. Far later than you said.
Please tell me what you add for washing biodiesel 😢 i am so interested in.
I ran b99 in a 91 dodge with a Cummins 5.9 liter inline 6 cylinder turbo diesel for 7 years, put 500,000 miles on the truck running exclusively biodiesel (in Oregon at the time it was cheaper than pump diesel) never had a single problem and the truck got 35mpg on biodiesel only got 22 on regular diesel. Also I ran a 47ft bluebird school bus on waste vegetable oil for 9 years and was getting 20mpg in a 36,000lb vehicle. That system used heat and filtration to make the waste vegetable oil anhydrous and to clean out the particulates. Never had a single issue with either one.
so you where driving your truck exclusively 40 hours a week , every week for 7 years ? without letup ?
@@charlesboston1 yes, had a delivery job and had to go from Oregon to Southern California almost weekly, and sometimes up to Washington state. That truck was the best vehicle I've ever owned, no issues whatsoever for 7 years. And almost 300hp too.
awesome story mate - thanks for sharing mate
I ran a 77 MBZ 300D for a few years on reclaimed restaurant oil with a small amount of diesel to thin. Didn't even bother with converting. Warm California weather needed only a small prewarming unit when it got cold. Filtering was the main expense.
Thanks for sharing
@@ThinkingandTinkering Too bad my son busted something underneath joyriding in a parking lot at his college...
Fantastic.
cheers mate
Could you use the recovered glycerol in a bio ethanol fireplace?
That's awesome, I didn't know methanol could be recovered 🎉
fractional distillation is one method used mate
read a paper that stated by adding Graphene oxide to the diesel fuel> increases mileage by as much as 20% Thinking about those water bubble guys you mentioned before...FYI make some Graphene soap mix and blow bubbles with it...very colorful and the bubbles are quite sturdy
Regarding the b50, how do they solve the blendwall problem ? biodiesel blends are great up until 30% and then the viscosity tends to have too much of an increase same the gunk build-up in the engines.
The blendwall is also the reason why some companies prefer using hvo (hydrated vegetable oil) as an alternative, only since EN 590 or ISO 12xxx has biodiesel classified as trans esterfication of vegetable oil they can't use hvo as a biodiesel
Hi Robert (or anyone else that knows the answer), can you tell me the device/ make / brand of equipment you’re using to heat and mix the solvent? Thanks in advance for any help, Andy.
I looking into biodiesel yesterday and YT suggested this video, which I missed when it first came out. From the perspective of a non-chemist methanol strikes me as pretty bad news, but you mentioned that ethanol (iso-propyl or vodka?) could be used as alternative. A quick Google suggests that oxalic acid helps (I have no idea what that is either). Could you suggest an alternative recipe? I don’t imagine that the yields would be as good but being able to do it at all is potentially a very useful trick.
I have been burning straight veggie oil in pre chamber engines the latest being 2004 over 15 years with no coking issues at all.
Think you....
Great video !!! .Only one question :what are proportions ? It dont look like there was 22gram of oil .
From what ive learned scouring video's its ...
200ML of Methanol
3.5g Sodium Hydroxide
1 Litre of veg oil.
This should make 1 litre of biodiesel.
After using Vegetale oil to run my van I found the most cost effective way apart from using pure vegetable oil and making biodiesel was to mix a biodiesel blend, you mix 1/3 veg oil to 2/3 filtered and de watered veg oil and you will have the same consistency of biodiesel and will burn just as well.
standard in the uk is b7 and b 10 for super diesel
I just like your laugh 😊.
Instead of methanol, that is very difficult to obtain, it could be used technical alcohol (or cleaning alcohol)?
Robert do you have a recipe for used motor oil for diesel heater.
This is one that I have done for fuel for my truck. Of course to be responsible you need to use used cooking oil. The first problem I had was filtering out all of the food debris in the oil. Once you have accomplished that you can process it with standards methods. Then the problem I ran into was the jelling of the fuel, so I installed a small tank heater and a fuel line heater. Then you will need a fuel diverter switch so you can switch from bio to diesel. So two fuel tanks, my bio tank was mounted in the bed of the truck, a switching device and a warning label on the dash to remind you to switch it back to diesel before you shut off the engine. It worked flawlessly. But by the time you figure in the refining setup, the time it takes to filter and refine the oil, the cost of the equipment needed, it would takes years to pay it back. Then you run into the issue of getting the used oil in the first place. I thought this would be easy, but boy was I surprised. Of course I wasn't the only one doing this so soon enough the restaurants wanted you to buy the oil from them and then the cost goes up, let alone the time and money it took to go from place to place getting 10-15 gallons of oil at a time. After a year I just left the switch set to diesel and stop using bio. About a year later I took it all off. I even tried using used motor oil, it works just fine, but you end up with the same issues. This is one thing that I feel needs to be done on a large scale to make it worth while. But it's nice knowing I have the knowledge to make fuel if it were the only way to power my truck.
Grow single cell for oil the side products are also useful if you garden.
Can you do one on black deisel? Repurposing old oil? Cheers
Very nice. I will have some beeswax next year and I wonder if the glycerol and wax can make some sort of cosmetic/smelly/health product with the addition of essential oils.
Curious about the waste-water, and how nasty it is/n't. Would you consider chucking it in your garden? I assume it's mildly acidic.
I would guess it was alkaline mate because of the addition of caustic soda - that is a catalyst so it would still be there
Plenty of people in the US are running on B100 home brew and have been doing it for years now, sometimes the exhaust smells like French Fries (Chips)
it's not so popular here mate
Could this be used in a diesel heater?
Hey Rob, what do you think would be a good source of making oil at home if you didn't want to buy it? It looks like you can grow sunflowers or pumpkins for oil seeds. I wonder if there is any forageable material that could be used. What are your thoughts? Also, diesel can be great as a vehicle fuel but in some areas, it can be difficult to get a diesel-powered vehicle. I think a cool video idea would be making a home water or air heater that is powered by this biodiesel to show alternative ways it can benefit our lives.
I think algae grow fast and produce a lot of oil. Soybean can be a good option as well.
I agree mate - there are diesel heaters on the market and they are fairly cheap, sources of oil include reclaimed, algae, fungi, seeds and nuts
@@ThinkingandTinkering Great stuff Robert. Thanks so much for the education.
Yes - I would like to build a a rocket Mass heater to run on Veggie or B100. Workshop / garage.
Seems a good use - avoid the challenges of running a car on home brew.
Also - heating water - something obv we need 365 d / yr. Space heat - only 5 months.
Not ling ago, chip shops paid to get their old oil taken away, so they were happy to give you gallons of it. Now they get paid for it so you need to find dozens of neighbours to get any quantity worth using.
I have a few questions for you please.
.
1. If I were to make biodiesel from absolute scratch using ethanol and wood lye, AKA potassium hydroxide, what purity ethanol would I need to get to and how would I get to that?
2. Would the wood lye need to be dry after extracting it from the ashes?
3. Also would I be able to cut the biodiesel with the ethanol afterwards to get a fuel comparable to gasoline instead of biodiesel?
Hello if i have only etanol what percentage must be? 70% or 90%
Gosh this is just the detail I’ve been looking for for ages now! Thank you!
I’m so tempted to try this. I think maybe it would be wise to buy an old paddock bomb to test it on first though, as I really need my current car to last me until I have solar sorted and have saved for an EV, plus there isn’t one out here (Australia) yet that has quite enough range for what I’ll need. In a few more years I should have lots of options, but I can’t kill my car with dodgy fuel until then!
I was thinking the same. I live in Australia to and until EV's get enough range to be able to handle the long distances my ute can currently do it just doesn't make sense to go electric.
@@AJ-ts6dx yeah I’m about to move to the country and need to be able to come into town, where I currently live, do my running around and go back home. About a 3 hour round trip. It will already be a big day and to have to add in driving to somewhere to charge it (nearest fast charger is 20 minutes out of my way) and waiting there for 45 minutes it’s just too much. Plus I need the freedom to have the radio and air con on as I drive too. So I have to wait. Got myself a second hand diesel car so it will be really efficient on the long trips, but that’s the best I can do for now. It’s a shame isn’t it. Oh well. A few more years and we’ll have much more choice.
Hi Robert, I have followed your procedure and I have bumped in a problem during the biodiesel water washing phase: the biodiesel and water form a white foam that does not separate with decanting.
I thought the container was contaminated with some detergent: I washed the container well, 3 times, but the problem re-appeared.
I have got a centrifuge (I work at uni) so, i have put some of this foam into that for 1h and 4000 rpm and the result was 3 very distinct layers into the cuvette: biodiesel, water and a funny suspension of white stuff.
I can send you some pictures of what I have used.
Could you help me, please?
Giovanni
Hi Giovanni,
I've been making bio for many years.
To make it properly and on a large scale takes rather more steps than are described. It's almost more of an "art" than a science in some ways, and experience is worth a lot!
Your foam and white suspension is almost certainly soap.
Soap is caused either by water in the mix (either in the original oil you start with, or introduced later as a result of washing as described in the video) or by an excess of catalyst. Even in an apparently "perfect" reaction, you'll always get some. If you wash before the reaction is fully completed, you will definitely get a lot! I don't water-wash, but let the soap drop out over time, as described below.
Even after the reaction is complete, there is still some methanol left over, and that keeps the soap in suspension. Therefore, even if you distil most of it off as I do (you'll never get it all!), you still need to make sure to thoroughly de-meth the bio to get rid of every last bit.
To do that, I use an aquarium bubbler and a fan on top of a 205 litre tank that sucks the residual methanol away from the workshop through a pipe (the fumes are toxic).
As soon as the methanol is gone, the soap will drop out, so you then need to let your completed biodiesel sit for a few days. You will see orange soap collect in the bottom of the settling tank and the clear yellow/orange biodiesel on top. Syphon that off (without disturbing the soap layer) and you're done.
How do you know if the reaction is complete?
Biodiesel dissolves in methanol, so put some in a test tube and add, say, 3 or 4 cc of your biodiesel. The biodiesel itself will dissolve, turning the methanol light yellow. If there is any oil that still needs to react, it will pool at the bottom of the test tube. That tells you that you either need to let the reaction run a bit longer, or increase the heat to speed it up, or perhaps add some more catalyst (careful here, as too much will definitely produce soap!). This is when the experience comes in!
My advice is to read up on the subject thoroughly. This video, although an excellent intoduction, only scratches the surface.
Great Vid -👍👌👌For a successful yeald, especially when using used oil - you often have to employ a step called titration where you test how much free acid radicals are present. Then you can alter the catalyst values accordingly. Also Diesel himself was regarded as a threat to the petrochemical industry 😓 Also methanol is poisonous and especially with the catalyst - check the MSDS for Methoxide or Ethoxide -
Wow that’s crazy simple
Thanks again for the complete answer. I learned the myth of peanut oil instead of mineral oil.
Knowing the methanol can be recovered, just the sodium hydroxide is consumed, helps.
Kind of surprised the British tax man would stop home made bio diesel as it cuts down or fuel taxes. So far they let it slide in America as long as its not heating oil or "farm use" diesel. they put a red dye in farm use diesel as there are no taxes.
I think it is illegal here too and it's the same they let it slide as not that many folks do it
@@ThinkingandTinkering Thank you for the reply sir.
Would this work with transformer oil?
love this channel lol
What are the ratio's? 100g methanol, 22g oil, 3g sodium hydroxide? Not sure I heard correctly.
what would be the ratio's if using 1 liter of oil?
the ratio by wieght is 100:22:1 by weight of oil to methanol to sodium hydroxide mate
@@ThinkingandTinkering cheers mate
I work for a company that make waste oil tanks for another company that recycles waste veggie oil from deep fryer. That sell it for biodiesel and animal food additives.
4:45 here comes "Fight Club" vibe!... .:D
Hola amigo, buen informe. abrazo.
cheers mate
Choked on my coffee at the cat oil/Book of Eli reference :)
lol - I think you might be the only one who got the reference mate!
Some old motors don't give a toss.
Just chuck 15% petrol or 50% diesel in the VO and be done.
Helps to run twin tanks and have a preheat on the VO side.
very true mate