Olympus-OM
[Top] [All Lists]

[OM] Re: [ot] alternative fuels

Subject: [OM] Re: [ot] alternative fuels
From: Steve Dropkin <steve@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Thu, 05 Apr 2007 17:42:48 -0500
Dan Mitchell wrote:

> Jan Steinman wrote:
>> I drive on biodiesel I make myself (when not cycling or walking),
> 
>   Where do you get the raw materials for this? I've seen a number of 
> shows/articles about people who start with used cooking fat from 
> restaurants and then reprocess it -- this seems like a great idea, but 
> what happens when you pull up to the back of Eat-At-Joes and someone 
> else has already cleaned them out for their vehicle? Does it make 
> economic sense to start with (say) sunflower oil or something instead?
> 
>   (this is a genuine question, I'm not trying to pick holes in biodiesel 
> as a concept or anything -- presumably you can still run on regular 
> diesel, right?

In the summers, I run B20 -- 20% soy biodiesel and 80% "dino 
diesel". They mix just fine at summer temperatures without any 
preparation on my part. It's a different story below about 30 
degrees F (zero degrees C), however, as 100% biodiesel and untreated 
vegetable oils start gelling.

The raw materials for making biodiesel are a suitable oil, lye, 
methanol (wood alcohol), and phenolphthalein. The hardest material 
to get is the oil (mostly because of how much you need). Some folks 
"contract" with specific restaurants to collect their waste 
vegetable oil, which helps to eliminate the problem of someone 
"tanking up" before you get there. At current diesel prices (even 
commercially-available biodiesel), it does not pay to be buying 
pails and barrels of vegetable oil unless you really want to stick 
it to Big Oil.

Steve

==============================================
List usage info:     http://www.zuikoholic.com
List nannies:        olympusadmin@xxxxxxxxxx
==============================================

<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Sponsored by Tako
Impressum | Datenschutz