Home made Biodiesel

[WedWon]

Had the idea to make a small bidiesel plant behind my shed.
The research I have done makes me think that it is in no way overcomplicated.
Read for yourself
http://www.tasmanenergy.com.au/books.htm

I already have a source for 25 litres of used cooking oil a week (free) add to that the cost to set up the mini plant, the cost of caustic soda and methanol and average it over a year i am projecting a cost of between 3c to 7c per litre.

My original plan was to use it in my old Turbo Toyota Surf (whose 2.4l motor would probably burn most anything). Due to a bit of bad luck, a blow out and the graded road edge on the Oodnadatta track I rolled the Surf over Easter
(pics available here for you grusome minded folk:)
http://www.toyotasurf.asn.au/forum/viewtopic.php't=12855

To replace the Toyota I'm buying a Disco 1 300TDi (even though I'm still fighting with the insurance company over the Toyota.....b***ards)

Before I go on and build the pilot plant does anybody have any bad stories on running a 300TDi on biodiesel?
Anybody got any good stories about L/Rs on biodiesel?
Anybody tried making this stuff themselves?

Any other comments, suggestions or advice?

Jason

[abaddonxi]

I run my '96 300tdi Defender on the "biodiesel blend" sold by Volume Plus for about 18 months. I assume that it is close to 100% since their profit margin increases with the percentage of bio in the mix.

I've had my fair share of problems, although I reckon they all boil down to crud in the bio problems, and fuel supply issues that follow when the crud gets caught up in the may hidden filters/gauzes in the fuel system.

I'm planning on installing a ryco filter on the top of the sedimenter just outside the fuel tank. My Defender doesn't have an in tank filter, so the sedimenter is the first place after the fuel tank to fit a fuel filter.

Since you'll be making it yourself you shouldn't have this problem.;)

I have replaced my lift pump a couple of times, and I have replaced the fuel injection pump at frightening cost as well, but I'm not convinced that the injection pump was a result of bio diesel, the lift pumps might have been.

Cheers
Simon

[kaa45]

Have you seen this??????????? http://www.dieselsecret.com/

[vnx205]

Have you seen this??????????? http://www.dieselsecret.com/

and this
www.newenergyreport.org/019346.html (http://www.newenergyreport.org/019346.html)

[abaddonxi]

Whaddya reckon, they send you a bottle of acetone or kero and a stocking to filter the fish and chip oil with?

Or

Do they also send you a bumper sticker saying my car runs on snake oil.

Cheers
Simon

[kaa45]

and this
www.newenergyreport.org/019346.html (http://www.newenergyreport.org/019346.html)

Interesting

[Ace]

i have been poking around on the biofuels forum and there is a thread about this, and they reckon that secret stuff is a waste of money dont touch it.

[Cap]

Sorry to drag up an old thread, but has there been any more news on running bio on the tdi 300?? I am wanting to make my own bio soon, now that deisel prices have reached 1.80c and look to top over $2 very soon.

Cheers,

[mcrover]

I think very soon it will be cheaper to replace your lift pumps like you do filters and your injector pump once a year than it will be for a tank of diesel.

But for the record, if not made properly it can be pretty acidic and cause damage to fuel lines, filters, pumps etc but if made right and tested all the way through the process then there is no problem and shouldnt be any worse for your system that diesel and in some cases better with more lubrication.

DONT BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ.....there are some real nutters out there that make unrealistic claims (the secrate is one of them).

Go buy a book called "from the fryer to the fuel tank", look it up, it is a good read and very informative but again is written by a bio nutter but one that has been very successful using Bio in many different vehicals.

I havnt tried it yet as I get fuel from work but Im nearly tempted to start making it at work for the machines as it is a huge chunk of our budget that is just getting bigger and our budget thus is getting smaller.

good luck and let us know how you go.:D

[CaverD3]

Bio diesel will rot rubber fuel lines, you will need to change them if they are rubber ones.
The older motors can run on well filtered plain chip oil so I understand. modern diesels with high pressure and common rail injection can sustain major damage.

[Blknight.aus]

The pre td5 diesels love bio so long as it is well dewatered and filtered.

Ive personally run a series donk on nothing other than filtered and dewatered WVO just to see if I could biggest problem I found was a build up of waxy type stuff in the corners of the housing of the injector pump but I suspect that was more to do with the fact that Id taken the vehicle from townsville summer to albury winter.

[plugma]

As always.... I watch these forums with a great deal of amusement when it comes to the subject of bio-diesel.

And..... every time, I say the same thing...!!!

I've been making it for the past five years and have run it in a number of different vehicles without any ill effect whatsoever!

The 300Tdi loves the stuff and the only problem so far is the injector return lines on top of the engine. Change them to nylon and you simply would not know the difference between dyno and bio.

For the ignorant... keep up the good work in promoting the myth that it kills engines. Just means more oil for us that know the truth.

If you want to know how it's done..... PM me!

Marty

[mcrover]

As always.... I watch these forums with a great deal of amusement when it comes to the subject of bio-diesel.

And..... every time, I say the same thing...!!!

I've been making it for the past five years and have run it in a number of different vehicles without any ill effect whatsoever!

The 300Tdi loves the stuff and the only problem so far is the injector return lines on top of the engine. Change them to nylon and you simply would not know the difference between dyno and bio.

For the ignorant... keep up the good work in promoting the myth that it kills engines. Just means more oil for us that know the truth.

If you want to know how it's done..... PM me!

Marty

Geez Im sorry, BUT.......

Are you a mechanic?

Do you know what is happening inside your engine or is it that it just hasnt stopped YET that means that the engine loves it?

If you really know what your doing then post the correct way of making the stuff rather than just posting insults.

[Blknight.aus]

Geez Im sorry, BUT.......

Are you a mechanic?

Do you know what is happening inside your engine or is it that it just hasnt stopped YET that means that the engine loves it?

If you really know what your doing then post the correct way of making the stuff rather than just posting insults.




The 300Tdi loves the stuff and the only problem so far is the injector return lines on top of the engine.


Well I'll back him that far... providing hes talking about correctly made stuff that meets the euro standards for commercial grade biodiesle (which isnt actually that hard to hit if you dewater and filter correctly)

[mcrover]

Well I'll back him that far... providing hes talking about correctly made stuff that meets the euro standards for commercial grade biodiesle (which isnt actually that hard to hit if you dewater and filter correctly)

My point exactly Dave,

There shouldnt be any problems but the so called expert isnt backing up his coment with anything but an insult......:mad:

Show us some proof of what your making is actually decent and some tech proof other than.....it's still running....

A diesel engine will run on a lot of different fuels including LPG but it isnt nessesarilly good for it and there are signs that things arnt as good as it all sounds such as economy for an easy one.

I like Bio, I think it is the only way to go if we are to keep driving around in Diesel vehicals but there are cowboys out there that even though it isnt hard to make Bio, you dont want to nessesarilly follow their instructions and put it in your D3 TDV6 and not expect to have problems.

[CaverD3]

Dr. Diesels original engine ran on straight peanut oil.:o
As I said early engines are more forgiving and will run on veg oil without an issue. Later ones are more complex and have finer tolerances and run at much higher pressures.
If I had an old diesel I would be happy to run it on fitered used chip oil but I would not put anything greater then 10% in the D3.
I think the proof is in the pudding in whether there have been any problems and the conquence of failure (if second car and an old bomb less drastic cost of failure).

[Blknight.aus]

Actually the reason why I'll back him on the tdi 300 is that Ive run both it and the 2.25 from a series on nothing more than well filtered dewatered cooking oil from a couple of fast food places in townsville The tdi wasnt mine but the owner wanted in on the bio act and I had a 2.25 diesel that was due for a rebuild..

so after a non tech inspection of the pumps, replacing one injector so we had one to pull down for a guide as to how bad the rest should be and so that each engine had one injector that was known quantity for comparative purposes..

[stevejo43]

There is a book available on how to make biodiesel. It is call From The Fryer To The Fuel Tank by Joshua Tickell

It tells you how to make biodiesel with used vegetale oil. it tells how and what to mix it with. what you can do with the by product, how to filter it and in what way it also tells you how you can set up a heated sub tank for the purposes of running pure vegetable oil through a system of starting on diesel and then running the heated veg oil. Pretty intereting read

[Graz]

I attended the training course offered by BioWorks in Perth which contained both theory and practical training. Appart from the extreme left wing political jibberish the instructor tried to force down our necks I found the content very informative. Its worth the effort to attend.

They also offer the equipment to make your own. Their middle of the road kit costs around $3000. and makes around 200 litres of bio at a time.

They are Also selling 100% bio @ $1.25 litre for <1000 litres and $1.20 for >1000 litres.
I've just ordered 200 litres. Cost me $33 deposit for the drum.

I'm going to run the Disco on it. I'll post how it went when I have used up the drum

Cheers

[mcrover]

I think very soon it will be cheaper to replace your lift pumps like you do filters and your injector pump once a year than it will be for a tank of diesel.

But for the record, if not made properly it can be pretty acidic and cause damage to fuel lines, filters, pumps etc but if made right and tested all the way through the process then there is no problem and shouldnt be any worse for your system that diesel and in some cases better with more lubrication.

DONT BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU READ.....there are some real nutters out there that make unrealistic claims (the secrate is one of them).

Go buy a book called "from the fryer to the fuel tank", look it up, it is a good read and very informative but again is written by a bio nutter but one that has been very successful using Bio in many different vehicals.

I havnt tried it yet as I get fuel from work but Im nearly tempted to start making it at work for the machines as it is a huge chunk of our budget that is just getting bigger and our budget thus is getting smaller.

good luck and let us know how you go.:D


As I said before, that is the book you want to read and obviously someone else agree's with me.

[Cap]

Ok, so by the sounds of it it all depends on the quality of the bio one makes?? So far it sounds like I will run my 300tdi on bio, so I guess my next step is to get this book you guys recommended and check it out. Im also going to have a 'serious' chat :D with Justinc to get something started as a cooperative maybe (chip in $ and labour to make it).

Thanks all for your replies.

[Demo]

I also did that training course.
Have made a lot of bio, but not to successfully, good enough to run farm machinery.
After many trials found that 100% bio did some damage to "o" rings .
I now run on 50/50 mixture.
still have 3000 ltr of oil to use up yet
Thinking about a Biopro unit. has any one got one up and running in aus?

[Blknight.aus]

Ok, so by the sounds of it it all depends on the quality of the bio one makes?? So far it sounds like I will run my 300tdi on bio, so I guess my next step is to get this book you guys recommended and check it out. Im also going to have a 'serious' chat :D with Justinc to get something started as a cooperative maybe (chip in $ and labour to make it).

Thanks all for your replies.

Just for numbers...

My tdi has been running on pretty much any blend of pure dewatered and filtered wvo, diesel, commercial bio, home brew biodiesel, diesel and reject avtur for a couple of years now, short of the ex- trying to proove the tdi 300 is aircooled and sump oil is an optional extra the only potential fuel related issue I've had has been fuel lines on the injector return line, the boost compensator diaphragm rupturing (which I suspect has more to do with how I've tuned it than the bio) And changing the fuel filter with every service.

Oh and I had to.replace.then lift pump, but that was dying before I go t it.