Making Biodiesel .....n/c related

[cowz]

Do any of you folks tried making biodiesel?    We were thinking of taking the plunge with used restaurant oil.  Has anyone made or purchased a small generator?

I'm wondering what your experiences have been?

 

[kanshow]

My brother-in-law has made it for several years.  Early on, he had lots of problems with it.  He built his own processer from scratch - no kits.    It wasn't refining or filtering it quite enough so he was always having plugged fuel filters & fuel lines in his vehicles.  He also tried to run it straight that first winter and he had all his cars, pickups gelled up.    Now his biggest problem is what to do with the by-product which is glycerin.  I'm also not sure how much he saves as he has to buy methanol and then drives quite a ways to collect all the used frying oil that he uses, plus there is some energy cost to make it. 

 

[jason]

At one time I was all about doing this, well when gas and diesel where $4.  There is a lot of variables that go into it, I would say the most important would being able to have a good supply of clean used vegetable oil.  Different restaurants leave different qualities of oils depending on the food they cook and how often they change the oil.

I never got too far in it, but read a lot.  Tons of info on the web.