Bio-Diesel

[SevenCorners]

Has anyone tried mixing up a batch and successfully used it in their vehicle? I am hearing more and more about this as diesel prices go up and thought it might be worth looking into. There is a guy down the road that burns it in his VW and swears its better than the real stuff for only pennies a gallon. I don't much care for the idea of all that nasty old cooking oil around my property, I might make a the super fund list....

 

[Hambone]

There is plenty of info on Biodiesel. Might due a search in oil, fuel forum. It is a little more expensive, about .02 right now. I have used a 2% soy mix for two years with no problems.

 

[PBinWA]

You'll get some interesting opinions on this board. I'm not sure you need to take every opinion you get here at face value. What may show up in this thread are largely just opinions.

Check out this site for some more information and they have a dealer locator if you want to try it out:

National BioDiesel Board

In my area Bio-Diesel is priced higher than regular Diesel due to the trendiness factor. If you have the time to make your own then there is lots of information on the process on the internet.

 

[TBrown]

I'm not sure where this question belongs, and it may be a dumb one anyway, but...

If #2 fuel oil is the basically the same thing as diesel fuel, why have I never seen or heard anything about bio-fuel oil? Around here, fuel trucks run seven days a week pumping thousands of gallons of home heating oil. Wouldn't using a bio-blend take a big chunk out of what we pump out of the ground? I realize that it has a higher gell point than regular oil, but I don't see where that would be a factor, as most tanks are in people's basements. Folks with outdoor tanks have to burn kero or a fifty-fifty blend anyway.

Would it not work in a furnace application?

 

[PBinWA]

The industry isn't set-up to grow enough crops to feed the demand. I've heard of all sorts of different sources for the oil though: Fish Oil, Recycled Cooking Oil, Bio-Mass.

The easiest and cheapest source is currently from the ground.

If you have the time to do it then the cheapest source is recycled oil from a renderer(companies that pick up waste oil from restaurants etc). Currently, there isn't much demand for waste oil so you can get the raw materials fairly cheap. If everyone was doing it then the demand for the oil would drive the price up higher than fossil fuels.

Search on BioDiesel and you will find lots of discussion on the topic with lots of different opinions about it. It's a cool concept.