bio diesel

[jamiesann]

I love the idea of getting a diesel sometime next year and running bio diesel.
I have some questions:

1. I saw that dirty jobs (on Discovery channel) where mike roe followed this guy around collecting oil from chinese and mexican resturants, and then processed it in his barn/garage. The biodiesel guru said it costs about $ 0.50 per gallon for the bio diesel. But they did not detail how they arrived at this number. He seemed to have ALLOT of gyros, boilers, kettles and all sorts of pumps and doo dads to process the recycled oil. He did not explain the $0.50 per gallon number to reflect thousands/tens of thousands of dollars of upfront costs divided by X amount of hypothetical gallons per year for many years ?? or was this to reflect the time involved in driving around collecting it?

In popular science magazine they had a side bar articile about BIOWILLY. Willie Nelson is marketing a brand of bio diesel and they mentioned there are only 300 biodiesel station in the entire USA. Soo this does not look like its very easy to filler up at commerical pump stations.

Hopefully someone on here is a biodiesel guru or maybe has bookmarked a biodiesel forum or something. Inquiring minds want to know!

[GMCsonoma94]

i think that bio diesel price of $0.50 is just in the oil ethanol and other suplies that go directly in it, i dont think its taking in the effect of the set up. i have seen smaller setups that were a couple grand i think. it looks pretty easy to make tho.

[BMFmike]

We run Bio Diesel on the Angus, I can check out what we pay per gallon? I can find out where we get it from and what not, I think we might run it on the Jackson but we just recently (within the past 3 years) got two detroit 652 turbo diesels so I am not sure if they run on Bio.

[HackSaw]

Any diesel will run on biodiesel. Well, at least commercially produced BioD.

Homebrew stuff can get a little testy in cold weather. I have heard that it is not that hard to make and that the setups can be built quite easily from things you can find at a local hardware store....


so i've heard...

[GMCsonoma94]

Originally Posted by HackSaw

Any diesel will run on biodiesel. Well, at least commercially produced BioD.

Homebrew stuff can get a little testy in cold weather. I have heard that it is not that hard to make and that the setups can be built quite easily from things you can find at a local hardware store....


so i've heard...

every diesel can run b20 with no problems at all and without voiding most warenties to i think. b20 is 20% biodiesel 80% regular diesel

[Tab]

Theres biodeisel from a station (comes in different mix pecentages and thats the 300 stations) and theres the stuff you make yourself and there are thousands of people doing that. The cost of about 50 cents per gallon are when you make it yourself. At stations it will cost almost as much as normal deisel. Go to biozone.com or to the dieselstop.com and you can find more info on making it yourself then you'll be able to read in a week.

[Roadhouse]

I noticed a BP station in Bay City, had a big banner hanging that said Extreme Bio Diesel.

[Bones]

It should also be said that BioDiesel is a lot better for your engine (lubricity mainly).

[84Scrambler]

Nobody warranties your vehicle in the event you get bad gas. This is true of using Bio. If you get a bad batch of dino diesel (or gas) it is up to the station that sold it to you to pay for the damages, not your vehicle manufacturer. B20 can be bad for some older diesels as it can eat away certain seals. But, most newer diesels have upgraded those to allow for the bio. You basically run ANY fuel at your own risk.

[jamiesann]

Originally Posted by Tab

Theres biodeisel from a station (comes in different mix pecentages and thats the 300 stations) and theres the stuff you make yourself and there are thousands of people doing that. The cost of about 50 cents per gallon are when you make it yourself. At stations it will cost almost as much as normal deisel. Go to biozone.com or to the dieselstop.com and you can find more info on making it yourself then you'll be able to read in a week.

I should have been more detailed tab. Yep i knew pump station bio would be very near dino diesel. I just was curious how this fella on dirty jobs came up with the figure of $0.50 / gallon for his homebrew bio diesel.

Well i will read up on the sites you posted and report back how much it costs to get started.

[Tab]

My links blew. I was guessing as I deleted my links from my favorites awlile ago. Here a few good ones to keep you busy for a year or two.
www.biodiesel.org
www.biodieselnow.com
www.greasel.com
And some equipment places. The first is the one that was on Trucks but is like 3 grand. The second is a site that shows you how to build your own (one of MANY) for about $500.
www.biodieselsolutions.com
www.veggieavenger.com
There, that should make up for it.

[jamiesann]

Originally Posted by Tab

My links blew. I was guessing as I deleted my links from my favorites awlile ago. Here a few good ones to keep you busy for a year or two.
www.biodiesel.org
www.biodieselnow.com
www.greasel.com
And some equipment places. The first is the one that was on Trucks but is like 3 grand. The second is a site that shows you how to build your own (one of MANY) for about $500.
www.biodieselsolutions.com
www.veggieavenger.com
There, that should make up for it.

saaweeeet !

[84Scrambler]

The $0.50 per gallon is calculating just the cost of production and does not include the cost of the materials to make the production assembly. You can put a set-up together for around $500 if you do all the work yourself. Pre-packaged kits will set you back $900 to $3500 depending on what you get and where you get it. I have considered doing this myself. I just haven't had the time or the money I need up front to deal with it. Getting the used cooking oil can become an issue as well. Most restaurants have a signed contract with a waste oil transport company that they pay to remove the grease/oil. If you are friends with the owner of a restaurant, you can get past that easily though. But most places are not going to be very willing to have another seperate oil container sitting around taking up space. They are going to want to know when you are scheduling your pickups as well. It sounds like a great idea in theory and the cost savings are great. But, this is a very time intense project. I figured I would break even at about 1300 gallons depending on the price of diesel. The major cost is the cost of the methanol. If you can find a cheap supplier, your costs go way down. If you have to buy from a race shop, you are probably going to be closer to $1.00 per gallon.