New diesel project

[WestTexasS2K]

I dont know if there are any diesel nuts here. I have started making bio diesel for the last month or so. I have made about 600 gallons so far and have run about 120 gallons thru my truck. It is running great plus I haven't been to a gas station in a month which is pretty cool. I have been running around to pickup my used oil for about an 1hr every two weeks.

Its not bad it takes about 1hr to brew a 100 gallons now that I have the hang of it. If there are any home brewers out there chime in.

 

Pics of my flash evaporater and processor.

http://www.usa7s.com/aspnetforum/upload/1191452468_DSC02028.JPG

[slngsht]

how much did the setup cost you?

[MHKflyer52]

How and where do you store your extra home brewed fuel.

Who is the manufacture of the system you have as I have been looking into it for my own use as I have a diesel truck also.

[case sensitive]

nice! i've always wanted to brew biod, but don't have the space or the equipment.

[WestTexasS2K]

 

I have a BioPro 380. It makes 50,75 or 100 gallons at a time. They make two smaller units one does 50 and the other is a 75 unit. There is a really good dealer in Utah by the Graydon Blair. His company is www.utahbiodieselsupply.com . There are tabs there that has alot of info on the BioPro units with prices. He is a really nice guy and is great to deal with. I would highly recommend buying from him. If I were to do it all over again I probably would have gone with smaller unit. I originally had grand plans to make 1400 gallons a month but it is hard to get that much oil.

 

It has been a fun learning experience, I would do a few things different, but I dont regret it.

 

I have a 600 gallon storage tank that I store the fuel in until it is used. I have several friends that buy the fuel from me which helps go towards paying for the machine.

[Arya Ebrahimi]

Holy crap, it all looked good till I got to the price tag at the bottom!

 

How long have you projected it will take to break even?

[scannon]

A friend who works at a nearby foreign car salvage operation was telling me about a VW Golf with a complete on-board bio diesel system that stopped by yesterday.

 

The car has a small gas powered generator used to power the pump that pulls the oil from the restaurant's tank and into his system. I suspect it also powers the conversion system as well.

 

Everything needed to convert to bio diesel happens on the car, apparently while the car is being driven or parked. It is a complete DIY system. It does take up the trunk and rear seat space making it a two passenger Golf.

 

He is going to call me if it comes in again so I can run over and get some pictures and talk to the owner.

 

BTW, the owner said not to get oil from a fish and chips place, the exhaust odor is unbearably bad.

 

Skip

[Ian7]

I second the "holy crap" comment above.

 

$13,000 buy-in, to make $1 a gallon biodiesel.

 

Are there annual or periodic maintenance costs on this equipment?

Is the waste oil always free?

How many gallons can it produce before the equipment is scrap (if applicable)?

Were there any other equipment costs to 'complete' the overall package? eg storage tanks, pumps, nozzles, etc etc?

 

let's say the answer to all the above were zero, so you';re saving what, $3 a gallon?

that 4333 gallons to break even, or 86,666 miles at a pessimistic 20 mpg

 

assuming you aren't near home every time you need to refuel, say that's half the time, then doubles to 173,333 miles to break even

 

sounds like a plan only a tree-hugger could love... more power to you.

 

[Arya Ebrahimi]

He did say he was selling to friends which would shorten the pay-off period. Diesels tend to have large tanks, and perhaps he has an in-bed tank, so that would allow quite an extended range.

 

Loren, what kind of Diesel do you have? I'm curious why you decided to go with the biodiesel route as opposed to converting the truck to just run on WVO?

[WestTexasS2K]

When I first started looking for a system I saw these units and my first reaction was holy sh** that is out of the question. So I looked at every other unit on the market most could be had for as much as a 1/3 less but they are much more labor intensive. Most are made of plastic tanks and hoses they are not heated, and have many other draw backs including fire hazard. I alredy work 90 hrs a week dont have time to work 12 hours making diesel. So I looked at it in another way. I spend aprox 1200 month on fuel. Yes I drive alot and always pull a trailer. So this unit would cut that down to about 300.00 in materials and is pretty much automated. I put the oil in, add the appropiate amount of catalyst and push a button. I come back in 24 hrs drain the glycerin about 5 min of work. I push another button and 24 hrs come back and pump the fuel into my truck.

 

I can make as much as 1400 gallons a month and sell it for 3.25 a gallon when diesel was 4.79 this give me a little over 2.00 profit for each gallon. That is a 2800.00 month profit plus my saving on my own fuel it will take just about 5 months to recoup the expense after that it is all profit. I live in the farming area and it is very easy to get rid of the fuel. I have one guy that want 6000 gallons a month. Of course I cant make that much.

 

This machine is made of 100 % stainless steel. It has industrial grade pumps and impellers in it. It is made to run 24/7 for years. There is no maintenance on the unit other than cleaning the outside off every once and a while. It is heavy about 700lbs.

 

Several advantages of bio diesel over WVO (waste Veg oil) is that the WVO needs to be relatively clean oil. It cant have to much acid or water in it. Another problem is that WVO must be hot befor it can be used. So the way most systems work is you run the vehicle on diesel when the vehicle gets warmed up the hot water runs thru the veggie tank to heat it. Then you can switch to veggie oil, but before you shut down you have to switch back to diesel and run a while until it the sytem is flushed. I used my truck doing service calls all day. So I might start and stop my truck 30 times a day I dont want to do all that switching around. WVO system is in the vehicle and can only be used in that vehicle. If you have multiple vehicles you have to have multiple systems.

 

Bio diesel can be run in any diesel vehicle. Nothing needs to be changed to run it. You put it in just like pump diesel. Another advantage is you can take nasty rancid filty oil and make really nice diesel out of it. I can make make diesel out of any animal or veggie based oil. I can use lard, shortening, tallow or oil. The only requirement is that the oil needs to titrate under 5 and it must be dry under 200 ppm of water in the oil. Having a bio processor makes a fuel that will run in any diesel engine or heater. Alot of guys use it to make heating oil for there homes.

 

I am currently working with a large construction company that does paving and highway construction. They used to use diesel fuel in the paving rollers as a lubricant to keep the asphalt off the rollers. EPA shut that practice down. Now the only thing that they can find that works is wd 40 in 5 gallon drums at 91.00 a pop. They are going to experiment with my bio fuel because it is a non toxic form of fuel and has no enviromental impact. I will be able to sell them as a fuel lubricant and can sell it for 4.50 per gallon which allows me to increase my profit as well as decrease their overall operating cost.

 

Getting the oil is tough. The demand is pretty high for old nasty oil. Go figure. I pay as much as .40 per gallon for some oil others I get for free it just depends.

[1-t]

Looks like an impressive system. A number of people I knew and I tried brewing our own Bio D six years ago. It was sort of fun going from a car that stunk people out of the way to one that smelled like french fries.

 

Could have been because we made our own systems and the formulas were not yet stable. We all ran into motor problems. They ranged from fuel pump failures due to lack of lubrication to burned valves and pistons.

 

Later on I found a Redline additive that lubes the fuel pump, and the motor failure were due to formulation.

 

Looking forward to reading your success stories because there are a lot of advantages to home brew. Have a look at your oil the next time it is run only with Bio-D. You will be amazed at how long it stays clear and clean.

[WestTexasS2K]

There is a wealth of info on it now. There is all kinds of test to do that ensure a quality conversion. Bio Pro makes ASTM quality bio fuel. Bio diesel should be a much better lubricant than pump diesel more so now than before with the low sulfer diesel.

 

There are many folks that have well over 100k miles on 100% bio. If a insuffcient conversion is done then you end up with excessive soap and gylcerides in the fuel. It has been fun learning this stuff and it is really cool to make a usable fuel from trash.

 

It is amazing how when running on dino diesel how the black smoke poors out in a cloud under a heavy load. Running on Bio fuel it is clear at all times no black at all.

[spotcheck]

Curious - How does the State/DOT/Feds look at this? Fuel tax avoidance, etc. Maybe like my days in SW Va: Franklin County, VA moonshine was the best, just gotta know where to get it and how to keep it quiet from the ATF "revenoors"?

[WestTexasS2K]

Better to claim stupidity than ask for permission. It varies from state to state. In TX they are working on some legislation to exempt bio diesel producers as incentives. Since most of mine is used in off road use I dont worry about it too much

[BobDrye]

Loren:

Here is the link to grease car. http://www.greasecar.com/ The system works very well. I installed one for a customer about 5 years ago. To heat my shop we store 2500 gallons of waste oil in the summer. It would cost over $1000.00 per month if I had to use fuel oil. It's a nice feeling to be warm in the winter when it costs nothing. KEEP UP THE "GREAT" WORK!

 

 

[chetcpo]

What do you do with all your Glycerin waste? Have they found a use for that yet?

[RGTorque]

i am / have been using a wvo blend for about 80k between 2 cars. we get soy/canola oil from local food joints and run through the following process:

 

pour into 3micron sock filter and let gravity drain into 50gal drum

pump into second 3micron sock filter and let gravity drain into 50gal drum

pump 40-45gal into mobile car with 50gal drum

add 5-10gal of k2 kerosene or diesel to make 50gal

use 2 inline electric pumps to pull the fuel through a final 1 micron cartridge filter and cartridge water block and into the car

 

i vary the 5-10 gallons of diesel/kero depending on the weather. in the summer i run less in winter i run more.

 

this is a system ive used for 3 years now and is run ALL year. i run no special filters in the car, no second tank, no silly gauges or controls. just my original car as it came from the factory (plus power mods hehe).

 

2003 jetta wagon tdi with power mods she is running about 160-180hp and 360-385 tq depending on fuel blend (90hp/150tq stock).

 

http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/529/cimg1894wj3bq7.jpg

 

 

[WestTexasS2K]

Evil that is pretty cool. It is defenitely simpler than what I am doing. I hadnt heard of using that method before. It seems that you have had good luck with that system since you have so many miles on it. I am more impressed with that VW power. I still want to do the turbo diesel 7.