Lots of guys are reporting success with WVO. I wonder how cost-effective it is. Utah Biodiesel has a nice spreadsheet you can use to figure out how much you are saving. The BioPro 190 costs $8,395. Of course there are a few chemicals in addition to the machine. They show ZERO costs for the WVO itself. If you use their figures and get 15 mpg average, then your payback is at about 35,000 miles. That's when you break even. I plugged in Dino at $4.45 per gallon, which is what it is selling for in my area right now. You can also plug in dollars for your time, if you are so inclined.

However, there's more to the story. First, there IS that pesky fuel tax. I know most people figure they don't have to pay it and nobody knows, so who cares. But let's plug in 35 cents per gallon for legality's sake. Secondly, people are reporting that it is harder and harder to find free oil. I think we can assume that in a truly free and unregulated market as a commodity becomes in more demand, the price goes up. Restaurants are now being paid for their waste oil. So for those of you who maintain you can get 'free oil' no matter what, that's good for you, but it's not good for me just coming into the market. In act, I may visit that same restaurant you get your oil from and offer to pay them for it. It won't take long for these guys to figure out they could make a buck rather than give it to you free. Third, there are extra costs if you need a separate tank, more filters, or a heater for your oil. That stuff doesn't come cheap.

In other words, it's just a matter of time before you won't get free oil any more. Anyone just getting into this will have to factor that possibility into the equation. Of course, on the other side, dino will keep going up, no doubt. So they show 85 cents a gallon as the cost to make it. I've heard on thse forums costs up to $1.50, which would take nearly 50,000 miles of driving to break-even. You are not saving a dime until you get past this point, though it is a moving target.

Obviously everyone's circumstances vary. For me it would take several years to break even. You guys who drive a zillion miles a year are likely to see a payback much quicker. I run commercial bio-diesel not to save money, but because I've got a couple hundred gallons in reserve to guard against a supply problem. The calculators can be found here: http://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com/biopro190.php

I did a lot of # crunching the last couple of days real costs to me just for the wvo, methonal & lie it comes to about $1.83 a gallon. no this dose not include electricity, filters, water if you have to pay for it I have a well but electricity to run my pump. Now for the machine well will I build one 300 to a grand or buy a pre built. Then there is my time running around to pick up the wvo try & get it for free not around here in 15 places I have checked with they are all on a contract & wont or cant get out. One resturant where I know the owner say she gets 65 cents a gallon & gets new people in all the time wanting to buy the grease. The last one offererd her 80 cents a gallon but she is on a contract. Well I dont drive enough miles in a year I have decided to give up on the bio deal I can make more in my shop working then I will save running all over trying to just get the oil let alone proscess it. I would save less then $20.00 a week for the driving I do just in material cost not including the machine cost Dino wins out for me at least for the present time. Now if some one live's near me & wants to produce it for sale for less then dino fuel then speak up I will be a customer. I love driving my new used diesel 3500 dully crewcab.

http://www.inkacola.com/greenbeat/soybenz/b101man/man_041708.pdf

here is an awesome free source for info on how to build a reactor,,, Once you understand the ins- and outs of the system you can customize it to your needs. I took this info and printed out the few pages I needed,, studided the pics, and made my own parts list then bought some extra's. I even printed some pics of the others systems,, and took the pics to the garage for my first dry fit of my setup,, copied the pics to a tee!
My first batch with free oil,, $4.00 ger gallon of Methanol, and $3.75 per Lb of Lye, with a yeild of 97% my cost was $1.25 per gallon. Now I just today bought a 55 Drum of Meth for $190 out the door, and got some Koh for way less that $3.75 per Lb, So this next batch will be bout $1.05 per. there are a bunch of unpaid figures here, like your lights, elc, and time,fuel to collect oil, more time,,ect. This is a hobby and unless you treat it as such, you will be a slave for your savings,,, but if you enjoy the process, and like to tinker, you will be rewarded with a big smile everytime you smell your exhaust and pass by a fillin station.

I did a lot of # crunching the last couple of days real costs to me just for the wvo, methonal & lie it comes to about $1.83 a gallon. no this dose not include electricity, filters, water if you have to pay for it I have a well but electricity to run my pump. Now for the machine well will I build one 300 to a grand or buy a pre built. Then there is my time running around to pick up the wvo try & get it for free not around here in 15 places I have checked with they are all on a contract & wont or cant get out. One resturant where I know the owner say she gets 65 cents a gallon & gets new people in all the time wanting to buy the grease. The last one offererd her 80 cents a gallon but she is on a contract. Well I dont drive enough miles in a year I have decided to give up on the bio deal I can make more in my shop working then I will save running all over trying to just get the oil let alone proscess it. I would save less then $20.00 a week for the driving I do just in material cost not including the machine cost Dino wins out for me at least for the present time. Now if some one live's near me & wants to produce it for sale for less then dino fuel then speak up I will be a customer. I love driving my new used diesel 3500 dully crewcab.


Methanol and lye must be costing you a ton. Its about .90 cents a gallon here based off my calculations.

Methonal cheapest I found this week 4.65 a gallon in 55 gallon barrels & climbing last week 4.35 plus they are on short rations due to the huge surgance in the bio fuel demand. I figured it at 22% methonal on running a 50 gallon batch & paying $.80 for the wvo its not free or even close with in a 8 mile radius of my home I have checked with 15 places not even 1 will break there contract or sell me even part of what they have for more per gallon.

If they are telling you methanol is going up because the biodiesel popularity,I think their pulling your leg.It usually goes up coming into cold weather and goes down after that,here its started to drop drastically now,down to 3.39 a gallon and will be dropping more next month.Look at the Methanex website for current and past prices of it.Try Tarr inc for pricing in the Seattle area.:)

Tarr is where I get my methanol from and it is $4.65 ($250 a barrel) a gallon right now. Back in January it was $6.00 a gallon ($330 a barrel)

Don't use bio-diesel. It is VERY expensive to make and will RUIN your truck and VOID your truck warranty and any other warranty you may have...i.e computers, tv's, home....etc... I heard this on the internet so it's true for sure.

OK sarcasm over lol.

I've been playing with the spreadsheet on Utahbio as well, whats nice is that it lets you change the different cels so that you can factor in additional startup costs to give yourself a better idea of your break even point. It definitly adds up quick, but then again we do a lot of driving so we break even much quicker then most.

No need to use a spreadsheet...if you live in the UK that is. Diesel is currently running at over 8 dollars a gallon...it costs me 60 pounds/120dollars each time I fill up - wonder if I can get the BioPro 190 shipped out to the UK - looks a great machine

I just returned from a trip to Germany. I'm no longer scared of autobahns. They are mostly two-lane gutless wonders filled with trucks (Semis) where you hardly have a chance to open it up (Though the A-5 to Frankfurt was a nice 4-laner), but gas is over $10.00 per gallon. (E1.62/liter. Diesel is marginally less expensive than gas (benzin). Note: There are no pickup trucks in Germany--except for Sven's. He's on here and has a police truck Duramax. Right on, Sven! Note 2: The Garmin saved my buttinski.

Well Here is my take...

WVO is not an approved EPA fuel, Bio is.
WVO will polymerize more readily due to heat, than bio or diesel
WVO is very high in viscosity compared to bio or diesel and will cause extreme backpressure in common rail units and IP's
WVO is cheaper up front
Bio does take time to make, but well worth the effort.
Bio is approved by most manufacturers up to a given percentage and I believe they set it so low because many "backyarder fuel blenders" are trying to burn anything under the sun to get by now. I don't blame them.


Just my 2 cents.

Don't use bio-diesel. It is VERY expensive to make and will RUIN your truck and VOID your truck warranty and any other warranty you may have...i.e computers, tv's, home....etc... I heard this on the internet so it's true for sure.

OK sarcasm over lol.

You forgot about how it makes your hair fall out and gives you bad breath too! Oh yeah, if you run more than two tanks of it in your truck you will need to get a prescription for Viagra!

But seriously now..... If the price of a ready made processor is putting you off a bit google "appleseed processor" and you can see how to build one for yourself. It wont have all the bells and whistles of some of the fancy units but you can build one for less than $500.