Has anyone tried making their own bio-fuel from chip oil?

Question

Only I noticed in asda that the cheapest vegetable oil is 1.20p a litre which really is more than just getting fuel from the pump. what do you think?

Answer 1

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I have used 75%svo 25% diesel in my vectra on a regular basis over the last 3 years and done over 87,000 miles

the only thing i have had to do is change the filter a little more often every so often i add some green x

It has saved me a lot of money so i dont think it is cost efective to recycle old oil

I have used bio diesel from the pump but i cannot see the difference.

So i stick to my mix.

A friend of mine bought the plant for making bio. Tanks pumps etc he said the amount of animal fats in the oil from chippys and take aways is normally 20% or more and he had problems getting rid of the waste animal fats and the waste from the recycling process,so now he has give up

Answer 2

Diesel is around £1.30 a litre, so you would save something.

If you are serious, I'd check out any fast food restaurants or fish and chip shops in your area for used or waste cooking oil. They have to pay to dispose of it and would probably give it to you for free if you asked them nicely (they may even chuck in a burger, but you might want to skip that!). You would at the very least need to filter it first to get fragments of batter and chips out before you pour it in your tank or put it through processing to turn it into biodiesel.

Depends what vehicle you have:VW's are known to be very tolerant of SVO, that is 'straight vegetable oil', as it comes from the bottle or filter.I would ring the manufacturer with your model number and year of manufacturer and ask them first.

At low temperatures SVO can become very dense and block fuel lines. You either want an in-line fuel heater or mix with standard diesel to stop this, say at least a third standard diesel to 2/3rds vegetable oil.

Making biodiesel is easy: first filter and them add your enzyme. Leave overnight and hey presto almost free fuel!

I forgot to add that biodiesel is very lubricating to the engine, reduces wear and tear and improves MPG. It also cleans out the sludgy residue left in the tank.

After a week of running on biodiesel, I would suggest that you change the in-line fuel filter. Notice what colour it is!

After another 3 months, take the same filter out again and look at the colour. You should notice a big difference.

Answer 3

Even if vegetable oil was cheaper per liter than normal fuel, it doesn't produce as much energy, and thus it takes more of it to cover the same distance. In the end, it will end up costing more then normal fuel.

Some modified cars use a diesel engine that can burn vegetable oils. Drivers like this use cheap waste oil from deep fryers in order to keep costs down.  

The other cost is smell and pollution. Burning vegetable oil produces a foul, black smoke that is rich in pollutants, including carbon monoxide.

Answer 4

This has been around for years, 15 years ago, 3 of my son's fellow students at the university of Alaska, converted a vehicle to run on oil from fast food restaurants, and drove from Alaska to New York, using only oil they had gotten free at fast food restaurants.

Answer 5

Corn oil is one of the cheapest oils that you can buy at the moment.

I ran my old jeep on re-cycled oil that had been collected from chip shops and restaurants, i got no black smoke pumping out and the fumes coming out of the exhaust smelt like a Chinese takeaway, i got my exhaust fumes tested at a garage and the emissions were lower than the emissions from when i was using normal diesel.  You spend a little more on filters but i saved alot of normal fuel pump costs.

Answer 6

Using fresh veg oil as a bio-fuel is less sustainable than using used oil.  At current prices it is uneconomical to produce bio-diesel using shop-bought oil because you have to factor in the cost of ethonol (to replace the glyceride in the oil) and the lye (e.g. Potassium Hydroxide) to make the chemical reaction.  This is how you make biodiesel:

BIO DIESEL PRODUCTION

Stages:

1.Filtration – To clean the oil

2.Titration - To determine the quantity of catalyst required  

3.Transesterification – Chemical reaction to convert oil to biodiesel

4.Washing – To clean impurities out of the biodiesel

Ingredients:

1.Oil

2.Methanol

3.Potassium Hydroxide (Lye)

4.Isopropyl alcohol

5.Turmeric

Equipment:

1.Sieve

2.Jay Cloth or denim

3.Storage Bottles

4.A graduated eye dropper

Filtration:

1.Allow oil to settle for 24 – 36 hours

2.Pour oil through a sieve

3.Pour sieved oil through a jay cloth or old piece of denim

Titration:

1.Dissolve 1 gram lye in 1 litre of water.

2.Dissolve Tumeric in 10 ml Isopropyl Alcohol until it is coloured

3.Drop the lye solution into the Isopropyl Alcohol until the colour changes and holds for a minute. (this negates any acid in the Isopropyl Alcohol)

4.Dissolve 1ml. of vegetable oil in. Isopropyl Alcohol

5.Drop the lye solution into the oil mixture, one drop at a time.

6.Continue to add the lye solution into the oil solution, until the colour changes and holds

7.Write down how many ml. of the lye solution you needed.

8.To determine the proportions – add the number you wrote down + 9. The result is the number of grams you need to catalyze each litre of oil (9 being the amount needed to catalyse 1L of clean oil).

Transesterification:

1.Measure a 10L of oil into a suitable container and heat to 120F.

2.In separate container mix 2L Methanol with lye (calculating the amount using the method outlined above). The lye must be added slowly as it will become extremely hot. The resulting mixture is Potassium Methoxide.

3.Add the mixture to the heated oil mix vigorously for about an hour.

4.Stop mixing when it appears that the separation has stopped.

5.Leave the mixture to cool and settle over night.

6.Glycerine, will sink to the bottom forming a cloudy layer. On top will be biodiesel (methyl esters), but before using it, any remaining soaps or salts should be removed (or they may cause engine damage).

Washing:

1.Syphon the methyl ester into a separate clean container and add water.

2.Gently stir the mixture then leave it to settle overnight.

3.When the water has separated from the methyl esters, drain or syphon the water out from the bottom of the container.

4.Add more water and bubble air, through the water and biodiesel, using an aquarium stone for 24 hours.

Personally, I don't bother processing Wast Veg Oil into biodiesel, I simply clean it and use it staight in the tank, but have heating on the fuel lines to thin it.