I currently use at least $2000 a month in fuel and at 4.36 a gallon, I need to do something about it. As you can tell I'm interested in possibly making biodiesel to help lower my fuel costs. Here's some questions I have:

1) where do you get your vegetable oil? Is it easy to get? How much are you able to round up?

2) what processor do you have to make it? How do you like it? How much was it?

Any other tips or comments are welcome.

Thanks!

I am interested also. It seems $5.00 per gallon may not be too far away. Is it possible to run home brewed bio-diesel in a stock LBZ?

I currently use at least $2000 a month in fuel and at 4.36 a gallon, I need to do something about it. As you can tell I'm interested in possibly making biodiesel to help lower my fuel costs. Here's some questions I have:

1) where do you get your vegetable oil? Is it easy to get? How much are you able to round up?

2) what processor do you have to make it? How do you like it? How much was it?

Any other tips or comments are welcome.

Thanks!
search is your friend...

http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=233982&highlight=biodiesel+kits
many other to choose from as well. I personally like the bioPro 190 but for over 8k that might be a little bit high. fuelmeister is around 3200...search "appleseed biodiesel"

It's getting much more difficult to get waste veggie oil. Restaurants are still the most common sources but there are other sources. My co-op gets a lot of high quality oil from a local cosmetics manufacturer for example. They also get a lot of lower quality feedstock free from chicken rendering plants in the area (messy, smelly, but free). The only thing to do is just go looking in your area. I have heard that it is always easier to get restaurant oil if you are a customer than if you are just a guy walking in off the street asking for free stuff. So have a meal before you ask the manager about oil.

You can buy a pre-made reactor setup, but you can make one yourself that is just as good and a lot cheaper. Another option is to join a local co-op and use their communal reactors. That has both cost and messiness advantages, as making biodiesel can be very nasty work and can be a real pain in your garage. Have you ever seen the oil fight in "The Transporter" movie? That's a lot like what making biodiesel can be like.

You also need to figure out what to do with the glycerin by-product. It isn't hazardous so it can be composted, but there will be a lot if you make a lot of fuel.

There are people in DP who run biodiesel in all kinds of engines. Search for biodiesel, or "biodiesel LBZ". Blends of biodiesel and petro-diesel are usually pretty safe to run, but it all depends on the quality of your homebrew - if you make junk you will have problems, if you make high quality fuel you won't.