I am looking to buy a duramax but I want to run b100 home brew (very good and clean) any reason why I shouldn't switch to a duramax?
Previously ran a 7.3 powerstroke (ran awesome on bio)
Switched to 6.0 powerstroke (couldn't wait to see it go).

It will run great in a 04 or 05 Duramax. I run homemade B100 all the time in my 07 LBZ Duramax. Just make sure it is consistently good quality. The Duramax is very picky on bad fuel and requires a clean/new fuel filter.

Thanks for your reply. Do you know of any other place in this forum where I can get additional feedback?

Adamrc: what does EFI live mean, I have seen it a couple of times, is it pertinent to running bio?

Just curious as to what is needed to make biodiesel work on the LLY, can I just pump sone from a BioDiesel station and roll with it? Or do I need to do anything?

Pump and go. Caution is you may plug a fuel filter as it cleans your system.

I've been running home brew in my 05 LLY for 6 years with no issues and no modifications to the truck.

Would I have to be concerned about certain temps? With winter months coming up, does it have a freeze point?

I run straight WVO , now that its geetting a little colder I'm putting in about 25% diesel to make sure it doesn't get to thick. Temps have dipped to low 40's so far and I havnt had any problem .
I have a 98' 6.5td 220K plusmiles , my fuel isn't biodiesel , its WVO and just heated to seperate the water and filtered with a centrfuge to 1/2 micron, then in the tank it goes.

Sorry to ask this, but I'm a noob to the diesel lingo, what does WVO mean?

WVO = Waste Vegetable Oil, and if you try it with your Duramax you can count on screwing it up. His 98 diesel uses a different injection system... Why he's posting on a thread related to 2004-2005 trucks is a mystery.

Okay now I'm really lost, so I can not run the BioDiesel?

You can run full biodiesel, you can NOT run straight WVO.

So I could drive to a biodiesel station and pump B100 in the tank and it'll be fine? Or would I have to run a lower grade?

Yes you can just make sure you have or change your fuel filter bio is a great cleaner and cleans all the shit diesel fuel leaves behind.

So I could drive to a biodiesel station and pump B100 in the tank and it'll be fine? Or would I have to run a lower grade?

Whatever you want to run is fine... B5, B10, B20, B100, or #2. However, when it gets cold (below 45F) you don't want to run more than maybe B5 or B10, as biodiesel will gel up at a higher temp than #2 unless they add kerosene or something else to it.

Whatever you want to run is fine... B5, B10, B20, B100, or #2. However, when it gets cold (below 45F) you don't want to run more than maybe B5 or B10, as biodiesel will gel up at a higher temp than #2 unless they add kerosene or something else to it.

I was talking with my dad this afternoon and we both decided that I should just wait to Spring to try it. What is the price for BioDiesel average? The closes station is ~ 40 miles away from my house.

I was talking with my dad this afternoon and we both decided that I should just wait to Spring to try it. What is the price for BioDiesel average? The closes station is ~ 40 miles away from my house.

Around here it's the same price as #2, but it has about 10% less thermal energy, thus you get 10% less MPG.

Way better to make your own... It's only about 1.10-1.30/gallon.

Makeing bio-dieselo only Cost $1.10 or so, after you spend countless hours doing research , educating yourself, and sifting thru all of everyones opinions. After all ,anyone with a smartphone can post online and say what they want, that doesn't make it fact.
After putting the bullshit asside , then you need to invest time and money. A lot of time. And a fair amount of money. That's why I only "filter" my WVO (centerfuge) and don't turn it into bio. It isn't cost effective for me.
With the oil I get ,Gel Temp on a 50/50 mix of #2 diesel and filtered WVO doesn't seem that far off from straight diesel. I've run 75% WVO in april with temp dipping into low 30's at nite.
Bottom line is ,there are a lot of myths about WVO,WMO,and BIO-DIESEL that just are not accurate. Such as price, and what you can run it in.

You can run full biodiesel, you can NOT run straight WVO.
You can't run Straight Vegetable Oil in a high pressure CR diesel either... not for long, anyway, unless you like paying for out-of-warranty fuel injector replacement.
Waste Vegetable Oil being even worse, since it's used, degraded SVO, no matter how many times you filter it.

And although this thread is about an LLY, I believe this info is also pertinent:
http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4398919&postcount=24
...especially considering that an LMM sans DPF and without late fuel dump (regen) is not that much different than an LLY in biodiesel handling capability.

Even the best biodiesel have a higher viscosity than petrodiesel,
http://www.brevardbiodiesel.org/viscosity.html
quote: '(Note that before transesterification the straight vegetable oil used for biodiesel production has kinematic viscosities somewhere in the 30-50 centistoke range at 40°C which would display off the right side of the chart. Automobiles that run on "straight vegetable oil" aka SVO pre-heat the oil to bring the vegetable oil viscosity down to below 10 centistokes. For example the viscosity of corn oil at 100°C is around 8.6 centistokes. Rapeseed oil has a viscosity of 34 centistokes at 40°C. When heated to 100°C [212°F] this drops to 7.8 centistokes.)'
...with the best being biodiesel made from pure soy, which is still near the upper end of the scale for summer petrodiesel (1.9 to 4.1 centistokes).
This chart shows soy-based 50%/50% Petro/biodiesel to be about 3.2 centistokes

You can compensate for that by adding a fuel heater. The LMLs have additional fuel heating compared to previous Duramax models.


And biodiesel also has a greater affinity for water, which is why you need the new style water coalescing filter (and better yet, another filter ahead of it): http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=434082&highlight=biodiesel

Makeing bio-dieselo only Cost $1.10 or so...
...Not counting how much you have to pay for the waste vegetable oil, and the cost of driving around to collect it, and the energy cost to heat the tanks, etc.

I've found ZERO sources in the St. Louis area that are not already getting paid an average of about $0.50/gal. for their waste vegetable oil.
Maybe the supply is not as tight in some other areas, since Rev. Larry Rice has been on the bio-diesel bandwagon here, and that may have tightened up the local supply of WVO.

...Not counting how much you have to pay for the waste vegetable oil, and the cost of driving around to collect it, and the energy cost to heat the tanks, etc.

I've found ZERO sources in the St. Louis area that are not already getting paid an average of about $0.50/gal. for their waste vegetable oil.
Maybe the supply is not as tight in some other areas, since Rev. Larry Rice has been on the bio-diesel bandwagon here, and that may have tightened up the local supply of WVO.

Larry hasn't found my source yet... I'm paying .20/gal for mine.

Rumor has it that someone around here is offering .70/gal for it now.

Here's my pricing breakdown:

Methanol: .69/liter
KOH: 2.00/lb
Electricity: .12/kwh (need about 5kwh per 16 gal batch)
Oil: .20/gal
Labor: ZERO, I do it in my spare time, takes about 30-45 minutes total labor.

My last 16 gallon batch cost me 17.37 to make, with an 85% yield.

That's 13.6 Gallons net, which was 1.27/gal...

Now that winter is coming on, I'll add 20% kerosene to the biodiesel to lower the gel point to about 15F. That will be my only cost increase.

Makeing bio-dieselo only Cost $1.10 or so, after you spend countless hours doing research , educating yourself, and sifting thru all of everyones opinions. After all ,anyone with a smartphone can post online and say what they want, that doesn't make it fact.
After putting the bullshit asside , then you need to invest time and money. A lot of time. And a fair amount of money. That's why I only "filter" my WVO (centerfuge) and don't turn it into bio. It isn't cost effective for me.
With the oil I get ,Gel Temp on a 50/50 mix of #2 diesel and filtered WVO doesn't seem that far off from straight diesel. I've run 75% WVO in april with temp dipping into low 30's at nite.
Bottom line is ,there are a lot of myths about WVO,WMO,and BIO-DIESEL that just are not accurate. Such as price, and what you can run it in.

Hundreds of hours of research? You're crazy, Ray!

There are no myths about biodiesel, it's a VERY simple chemical process.

If a lot of money to you is $500.00 to build a processor to save thousands, again, you're crazy, Ray!

Again, anything you do in your 1998 truck is moot when it comes to a Duramax. Different injection system.

You can't run Straight Vegetable Oil in a high pressure CR diesel either... not for long, anyway, unless you like paying for out-of-warranty fuel injector replacement.
Waste Vegetable Oil being even worse, since it's used, degraded SVO, no matter how many times you filter it.

And although this thread is about an LLY, I believe this info is also pertinent:
http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showpost.php?p=4398919&postcount=24
...especially considering that an LMM sans DPF and without late fuel dump (regen) is not that much different than an LLY in biodiesel handling capability.

Even the best biodiesel have a higher viscosity than petrodiesel,
http://www.brevardbiodiesel.org/viscosity.html
quote: '(Note that before transesterification the straight vegetable oil used for biodiesel production has kinematic viscosities somewhere in the 30-50 centistoke range at 40°C which would display off the right side of the chart. Automobiles that run on "straight vegetable oil" aka SVO pre-heat the oil to bring the vegetable oil viscosity down to below 10 centistokes. For example the viscosity of corn oil at 100°C is around 8.6 centistokes. Rapeseed oil has a viscosity of 34 centistokes at 40°C. When heated to 100°C [212°F] this drops to 7.8 centistokes.)'
...with the best being biodiesel made from pure soy, which is still near the upper end of the scale for summer petrodiesel (1.9 to 4.1 centistokes).
This chart shows soy-based 50%/50% Petro/biodiesel to be about 3.2 centistokes

You can compensate for that by adding a fuel heater. The LMLs have additional fuel heating compared to previous Duramax models.


And biodiesel also has a greater affinity for water, which is why you need the new style water coalescing filter (and better yet, another filter ahead of it): http://www.dieselplace.com/forum/showthread.php?t=434082&highlight=biodiesel

The problem, however, with your chart and the information relating to viscosity, is the fact that it doesn't compare viscosity to lubrication factors. Biodiesel has MUCH better lubricity than any petro diesel on the market. That's the whole reason the petro is so thin, it's watered down junk.

Larry hasn't found my source yet... I'm paying .20/gal for mine.

Rumor has it that someone around here is offering .70/gal for it now.

Here's my pricing breakdown:

Methanol: .69/liter
KOH: 2.00/lb
Electricity: .12/kwh (need about 5kwh per 16 gal batch)
Oil: .20/gal
Labor: ZERO, I do it in my spare time, takes about 30-45 minutes total labor.

My last 16 gallon batch cost me 17.37 to make, with an 85% yield.

That's 13.6 Gallons net, which was 1.27/gal...

Now that winter is coming on, I'll add 20% kerosene to the biodiesel to lower the gel point to about 15F. That will be my only cost increase.

I figured that adding kerosene would be worthwhile for winter. But you could heat the bio too, if you weren't trying to cold-start off of it (separate fuel tank required). For that matter you could electrically heat the fuel too, but you probably can't always plug in beforehand.

You probably already know this, but... one of the Imo's heirs has a biodiesel plant somewhere just west of StL. Larry Rice is working with them to collect as much WVO as possible, maybe causing a tighter than normal WVO supply. I've still heard rumors that you can get it free out in the more rural areas in some parts of the country, but can't confirm it.

Do you get all the WVO you need from just one source? How much can you get per trip? ... and how often do you have to pick up?

How much are you paying for kerosene? Have they started putting red dye it K1 too?

WVO is still free here. I had one supplier say someone offered to pay him for the oil so I offered to pull my barrel out. He declined because he knows we won't trash the place and he can depend on me. When looking for oil, don't make it about price....but about service. I have no trouble collecting 250 gallons per month.

All my vehicles are still running bio-diesel finishing out our 4th season. 108,000 miles on the Mercedes Sprinter, 89,000 on the Duramax, 90,000 on the 6.7L Cummins. Countless hours on the Kubota and 3 home heating furnaces.

Someone mentioned water in the fuel. There is more water in pump diesel than in my fuel. I filled up a 50 gallon clear tank in my truck bed full of pump diesel and couldn't believe how much water settled to the bottom of the tank. After filling up at a Flying J the Cummins went 25 miles and got a water in fuel light. It's awful.

Cost: Methanol $3.21 gallon (10 gallons per 50 gal batch)
Soda Beads (NaOH) $1.91 lb (1520 grams per 50 gal batch)
Electric $olar; we're 500 kwh ahead as of 7pm tonight
Time spent $1/2 hr per 50 gallon batch (hobby)

Do you get all the WVO you need from just one source? How much can you get per trip? ... and how often do you have to pick up?

How much are you paying for kerosene? Have they started putting red dye it K1 too?

Yeah, I don't drive much, so I only pick up once every two weeks, and I get two 16-gallon drums full. They were having to tote that crap out to their previous collector's 320 gallon bin and dump it. In the process they were making a mess.

When I showed them a 16-gallon drum that would fit under their kitchen counter they fell in love. I even left them a 5-gallon bucket paint strainer. Now, they strain it for me into 5-gallon buckets, and if they need to change it more often, dump it into the drums then fill the buckets again.

I come in and empty the buckets into the drums, swap out the drums, and clean any and all mess up. Hand them $6.00 and tell them I'll see them in two weeks unless they call sooner.

Eddysel has it right. It's about service more than the money. They want something saving them labor in the kitchen without making a mess.

As for the kerosene, I have yet to mix any into the bio... I found a calculator online giving approximations on percentages. However, that time is coming quickly with the temps in the upper 50s.

Hundreds of hours of research? You're crazy, Ray!

There are no myths about biodiesel, it's a VERY simple chemical process.

If a lot of money to you is $500.00 to build a processor to save thousands, again, you're crazy, Ray!

Again, anything you do in your 1998 truck is moot when it comes to a Duramax. Different injection system.

As for hundreds of ours , yes , most likely, looking at online videos , going out to see othr peoples set ups . As for myths, maybe not myths but bulshit wich I fell for and filled my tank with shit oil. Opps , but the guy on google has ridden across the us 8 times so far doing this, and I filtered mine better. And then had to drain my tank . It did work well the first 2 times.
Bottom line is I got my toes wet, then my feet, only recently have I jumped in nd built a heting tank to seperate the water and a centerfuge to filter down to 1/2 micron. I am still way over $500 in materials and I had a lot of the plumbing stuff and motors where free.
Pump and motor is over $500 alone, plubing fitting AVERAGE $4.00 ,I cut and tread my own pipe that I've salvage from jobs. Also had to redo a lot of my work, the firs one was made out of galvenized. Big no no .
To buy a ready to go centrufuge set up is over $1,500.00
As for getting WVO, there are 3 big companies around here that pay $1.00 per gal. I have no regular source yet. When I called the 3 companies, I got no where, they wouldn't lt me purchase any refined or raw. Basically if I didn't have oil to give or sell them , they said illl have someone call you back, which never happened.
And then there is the space it takes, I have 3 55 gl drums, and 8 "cans, carboys" what ever you call them, and everything has sticky veg oil on them. And when your doing real bio , there's storing the methonol, and what ever corosive ph balencer you use
So far it it time consuming, space consuming , messy and expensive !
And if the couple of tanks didn't burn so good, I probably would have given up.

As for hundreds of ours , yes , most likely, looking at online videos , going out to see othr peoples set ups . As for myths, maybe not myths but bulshit wich I fell for and filled my tank with shit oil. Opps , but the guy on google has ridden across the us 8 times so far doing this, and I filtered mine better. And then had to drain my tank . It did work well the first 2 times.
Bottom line is I got my toes wet, then my feet, only recently have I jumped in nd built a heting tank to seperate the water and a centerfuge to filter down to 1/2 micron. I am still way over $500 in materials and I had a lot of the plumbing stuff and motors where free.
Pump and motor is over $500 alone, plubing fitting AVERAGE $4.00 ,I cut and tread my own pipe that I've salvage from jobs. Also had to redo a lot of my work, the firs one was made out of galvenized. Big no no .
To buy a ready to go centrufuge set up is over $1,500.00
As for getting WVO, there are 3 big companies around here that pay $1.00 per gal. I have no regular source yet. When I called the 3 companies, I got no where, they wouldn't lt me purchase any refined or raw. Basically if I didn't have oil to give or sell them , they said illl have someone call you back, which never happened.
And then there is the space it takes, I have 3 55 gl drums, and 8 "cans, carboys" what ever you call them, and everything has sticky veg oil on them. And when your doing real bio , there's storing the methonol, and what ever corosive ph balencer you use
So far it it time consuming, space consuming , messy and expensive !
And if the couple of tanks didn't burn so good, I probably would have given up.

My latest (second) processor:

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb199/onebadgmc/Biodiesel/IMG_0289.jpg

All stainless steel tank, black iron fittings, and brass ball valves.

$250.00 in stainless steel, $50.00 to pay to have it bent by a sheet metal company, then my own time in TIG welding it.

Floor space is 15" square. The tank processes, water or air washes, and dries the fuel, all in one processor. It does 16 gallon batches, but can do up to about 18 gallons in the 23 total gallon volume of the tank.

Everything is air mixed, no complicated pumps or lines.

I store my methanol ($2.65/gal) in my race car trailer in a 55 gallon drum, and buy a single 50 lb bag of KOH at a time ($100.00).

It doesn't have to be complicated or expensive, but people tend to make it that way.

You just made mad and jealous at the same time !
Feel free to donate your old set up.

I'm sure for small scale guys cost vs return means alot..it would for me too if I was only using 100 gallons per month or less.

I use 250+ gallons per month and felt the Bio-Pro was worth the investment ($10,000 or so) I was saving $1000+ per month in fuel. I recovered my investment in the first year and have had 3 trouble free years of bio-diesel production and consumption. That being said, it would take the average daily driver 1 vehicle household a long time to recoup 10 grand.

You just made mad and jealous at the same time !
Feel free to donate your old set up.

I've got my old processor drum on craiglist: https://post.craigslist.org/manage/2606968014

I'm sure for small scale guys cost vs return means alot..it would for me too if I was only using 100 gallons per month or less.

I use 250+ gallons per month and felt the Bio-Pro was worth the investment ($10,000 or so) I was saving $1000+ per month in fuel. I recovered my investment in the first year and have had 3 trouble free years of bio-diesel production and consumption. That being said, it would take the average daily driver 1 vehicle household a long time to recoup 10 grand.

Yeah, it'd take a long time to recover the cost of a $10k biopro setup.

Ive been looking at the biopro, defiantly don't like the price but I calculated that id pay it off in a year or less. 30,000 miles a year at 15 mpg is 2000 gals of fuel at 4.10 a gallon thats 8,200 a year. Ive found a few biopro 190 and 150 for sale between 5k and 8k. Just haunt found any locally.

I bought a FuelMiester II 6 years ago and it paid for itself in a years time. I only have 1 truck but use about 3000 gallons a year with my racing travels.

You can find plug and go ready units for a lot less, some of thes things have extra bells and whistles that are WAY over priced, like thermostats and timers. Those are things you Cacn go to home depot or ebay for under $10.00.
If bought on the unit it cost hundreds.
I know there is no harm in making a profit, but taking advantage is just baad.

On another note, I have yet to see first hand anyone that makes a batch biggger then 30gal at a time. WVO filter or bio-diesel proccess.
So the units like the bio 9000 Might be bigger than you actually need or want to deal with at one time. I thought I was going to process 50 gal at a time. I did about 35 gal one time, the rest have been arounf 20gal.

Ray, once you start digging into the "community" and get on the right track, you'll find there's people making batches up to 300 gallons or so.

40 gallons in a 55 gallon drum is pretty popular and a regular occurrence. There's also people doing the "bucket brigade" making 5-gallon batches due to lack of space and having cars with 10 gallon tanks rather than trucks with double or more.

Diesel Wanna Be is correct. I too make bio in 40 gallon batches all the time. Yes you can build your own for much less than buying a manufactured system. But alot of people can also build their own house cheaper than paying a contractor to do it. It just is a personal preference to time and money.