[Brian]

I have always been a huge fan of Bio-diesel in my trucks and tractors. The increased lubricity and cleaning benefits are great for todays engines. It seems that its not easy to find it anymore in my town. It used to be everywhere.

Deere recomends B5 and will approve up to B20 in thier engines.

Anyone else running?

Is it available in your town?

 

[RandyM]

No, I don't use it. Not sure if or where it is available here. Never really considered it before.

 

[Spudland_Dave]

It seems that its not easy to find it anymore in my town. It used to be everywhere.

Same here...2 years ago they built & opened a new gas station which had B20 available...a year later it was bought out by another oil brand and the B20 went away. :unknown:

I'd love to run Bio fuels in EVERYTHING I own, from an "ethical" standpoint of I'd rather support American farmers then the middle east.

 

[Aaron]

A local truck stop seems to have B5 in the winter and i run it when availiable. They don't seem to carry it in the summer though :unknown:

 

[BigDogTrain]

I use B5 in all my equipment! I try to run B20 in everything that has the plumbing to take it.

I can find it at most places around here without issue, but I am in farm country.

 

[KB9UDE]

We tried to run Bio in our JD 9670 combine and 8300 MFWD tractor last fall and it was not working out well for us. We were losing horsepower and throwing a nasty black smoke out the exhaust. We emptied out the tank and went back to regular diesel. All was ok after that. I dont know if it was some bad fuel or what but our machines didnt like it.

 

[Brian]

Do you know what mix you were running? I have only heard of that with people running the home made stuff made with waste cooking oil.

 

[KB9UDE]

No I am not sure. I will try to find out. All I know is it didnt work out well for us at all.

John

 

[Nuru]

same here...2 years ago they built & opened a new gas station which had b20 available...a year later it was bought out by another oil brand and the b20 went away. :unknown:

I'd love to run bio fuels in everything i own, from an "ethical" standpoint of i'd rather support american farmers then the middle east.

yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[dellwas]

Hey guys/gals...

I made my own bio for 5 yrs before I gave it up. Too much like a second job. Didn't have a tractor when I gave it up, but I've run it in an '03 Jetta TDI, '97 F-350 PSD, and an '06 Smart car.

Let me know if you have any questions on the 'home brew' aspect of bio....

 

[Brian]

I almost bought a kit to start making it a year or so ago. If it was not for the oil collection at the restaurants, I would do it!

I had an 06 TDI and I miss it. I keep looking for a resonably priced on out there. I don't miss the diesel trucks I had as much as that car.

 

[dellwas]

Sure, I'll give you the condensed version and some links to bio-diesel forums where you can learn as little, or as much as you want. I want to stress that this is a very condensed version, but it isn't near as hard as it sounds.

Start by gathering up your waste oil. Chinese/Asian are the best sources as they tend to use a higher grade of oil.

Filter the oil to get out as much junk as possible. Next step is to test the oil to determine how much methanol and sodium to use in the conversion process. You then mix the sodium and methanol together, this is your catalyst to convert the veggie oil into bio.

Pump your waste veggie oil into your processor. Mine was what is called an "Appleseed", basically a hot water heater converted. Pump your oil into the processor, add your methanol/sodium mix and circulate in the Appleseed for a couple of hours at 130 degrees. Shut off, and let sit overnite. Filter off the crud that drops to the bottom.

Now you pump your "bio" into your was tanks. You add water (yes water) and "bubble" it. Bubbling causes water water/air to rise to the surface which captures any remaining soap/sodum/methanol and it then sinks to the bottom. You do this for a couple of days, draining off the water periodically until your PH measure is the same as the tap water you had started with.

Drain your "bio" and put in your drying tank. This tank basically is used to heat your mixture to about 180 degrees or so, while circulating it trhough a couple of fllters. You keep doing this until it's nice and clear. Test by putting in a freezer and cooling to about 34 degrees. If you can read a newspaper through your clear container at this temp, then you're done.

Throw it in the tank and go.

Again, this is simplified, but it's not that difficult, but very time consuming. My cost in the last year I did it was about 40 cents a litre. Current diesel cost here in Atlantic Canada is $1.22 a litre.

Here are some links to check out:

http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/forums

http://www.biodieselnow.com/

Excellent book by "Girl Mark" avaible on how to make bio, a must if you want to get into it.

http://www.girlmark.com/

Appleseed processors:

http://www.make-biodiesel.org/The-Appleseed-Biodiesel-Processor/

Fire away with any questions...

Yes, Please share with us on how you made your ''home brew Bio-diesel''!!:thumbup1gif:

Around here in Eastern, Kentucky... You can't find Bio-Diesel anywhere!

I run ''off road diesel'' in my tractor sometimes, But right now it's priced as high as regular diesel.

.

 

[dellwas]

Brian, glad to hear you didn't get the kit, they are way overpriced, and you can build them yourself, particularily if you buy Girl-Mark's book, very detailed on building one.

I almost bought a kit to start making it a year or so ago. If it was not for the oil collection at the restaurants, I would do it!

I had an 06 TDI and I miss it. I keep looking for a resonably priced on out there. I don't miss the diesel trucks I had as much as that car.

 

[Brian]

Brian, glad to hear you didn't get the kit, they are way overpriced, and you can build them yourself, particularly if you buy Girl-Mark's book, very detailed on building one.

I was going to pick up a used kit from a guy who wanted out. It was quite a large kit and he wanted to give it away to a non profit, but would sell it. Once I looked into how to get the nasty oil from the places around here, I backed out.

IMHO, soy bean bio is so much better! I wish we would switch over to that for all fuels. I know people are against ethanol, but I really think if we went to ethanol and soy diesel, our farmers could make money, more US jobs would be created, and we would not fund terrorists or Islamic states. But what the hell do I know. :mocking:

 

[dellwas]

No prob, Bill...

Dellwas,

Thanks for all the info', and the links!!

.

 

[dellwas]

Brian, no you make good points!

On, gathering, that took up a good portion of my time, and it can be messy. Actually, the whole process takes time, and that is the main reason I gave it up.

Been toying with the idea of Hydrogen generators. Got some videos by a Prof. at Arizona State University that has been running his vehicles off hydrogen since 1963. Pretty neat stuff, lots of vids on youtube as well...

I was going to pick up a used kit from a guy who wanted out. It was quite a large kit and he wanted to give it away to a non profit, but would sell it. Once I looked into how to get the nasty oil from the places around here, I backed out.

IMHO, soy bean bio is so much better! I wish we would switch over to that for all fuels. I know people are against ethanol, but I really think if we went to ethanol and soy diesel, our farmers could make money, more US jobs would be created, and we would not fund terrorists or Islamic states. But what the hell do I know. :mocking:

 

[Stormtruck2]

My main opposition to ethanol and bio diesel is using food stocks for fuel. Making bio fuels out of bio mass I'm fine with. But using food stocks for fuel concerns, nay scares me. Using food stocks for fuel runs up all food prices. Grains used for bio fuels reduces levels available for feeds and processed foods. The increased inputs cost to produce the products increases the cost to the consumer driving inflation. Increasing acres planted for grains to be used for bio fuels has a negative impact on habitat for wildlife, reducing hunting opportunities. In Iowa it is now rare to see a pheasant, quail are extremely rare. Planting fence row to fence has a very negative enviromental impact.
I do not use ethanol because of the lower BTU's per gallon versus petroleum fuels. It also has a negative energy yield in production. On average ethanol gives 11-14% less fuel economy than fossil fuel. My pickup gets 10-11 mpg on E-10, and 13-15 mpg on straight BP fuel. It actually cost me more to run ethanol than it does fossil fuel, even with the price difference.
We can avoid giving billions to our enemies in the middle east for oil by drilling our own. Enviromental whacko's, on the street and on the hill, though are stopping the drilling of our own natural resource. Oil drilling today is much safer and cleaner than it used to be. We could still have regular unleaded fuel at less than $2.00 per gallon by drilling for our own oil.
Oil is a semi-renewable resource. Every substance has three basic states. Gasous, liquid, and solid. The three states of petroleum is natural gas, oil, and coal. Natural gas is "young" oil. Coal is "old" oil. The US has the largest natural gas reserves of any country in the world. We also have the greatest reserves of coal. As NG ages it becomes oil, replenshing depleted oil stocks. But not at the rate of depletion. Hence oil is a SEMI renewable resource. Coal can be liquidfied back to an oil state The Nazi's did it in the 30's. Petrolum in it 3 natural states is the most abundent fuel resource available to man, at the lowest cost. Per BTU/Watt solar and wind is much more expensive. I quess all this boils down to DRILL HERE, DRILL NOW! Sorry to be so long winded. Please do not take this to be an anti bio fuel rant, but rather a lets use petro and continue research and development of alternative fuels that match the cost of petro. Lets just not use our food stocks to feed our vehicles.

 

[Spudland_Dave]

My main opposition to ethanol and bio diesel is using food stocks for fuel. Making bio fuels out of bio mass I'm fine with. But using food stocks for fuel concerns, nay scares me. Using food stocks for fuel runs up all food prices. Grains used for bio fuels reduces levels available for feeds and processed foods. The increased inputs cost to produce the products increases the cost to the consumer driving inflation. Increasing acres planted for grains to be used for bio fuels has a negative impact on habitat for wildlife, reducing hunting opportunities. In Iowa it is now rare to see a pheasant, quail are extremely rare. Planting fence row to fence has a very negative enviromental impact.

Coming at this from the farmer side, I dont think that's true at all. Do you know how much farm land is sitting idle right now? Some by "Choice" and some because of Gov programs/payoffs?
Short term it would/could pump prices up, but I can tell you that if prices were to jump like that I'd be able to head home and farm....and much more idle land would be tilled again. More Land, More Crops, and prices would go back to normal..in the process employing more farmers and american workers.

 

[Erik]

This is an interesting thread. Thanks for the info and opinions. With the increase in fuel prices at the pump, this is a topic that has been on my mind lately.

 

[Nuru]

Coming at this from the farmer side, I dont think that's true at all. Do you know how much farm land is sitting idle right now? Some by "Choice" and some because of Gov programs/payoffs?
Short term it would/could pump prices up, but I can tell you that if prices were to jump like that I'd be able to head home and farm....and much more idle land would be tilled again. More Land, More Crops, and prices would go back to normal..in the process employing more farmers and american workers.

Agree, Dave, Brazil's sugarcane ethanol provides the country with half of its transportation fuel needs. It uses only one percent of its arable land. Sugarcane does require a warm, rainy climate to thrive. using just sugarcane would help us out quite a bit and the MPG is better than ethanol. also we could grow switch grass on land unfit for food crops and help the atmosphere out at the same time.

http://www.ehow.com/list_7533411_grass-energy-sources.html

"Miscanthus produces a clean fuel, and nitrogen is transferred to its rhizome for use the following season. When burned, the plant produces only the amount of carbon dioxide it removes from the atmosphere when growing Unlike fossil fuels, this balance means burning miscanthus for energy has no effect on the atmosphere. Miscanthus is also hardy, needing little water and minimal fertilizer. According to University of Illinois' Emily Heaton, devoting 10 percent of Illinois' land mass could meet 50 percent of the state's electricity needs."

we could start switching over and reduce out exports to eventually nothing and use our own capacity plus the farm-produced fuels.

we have the premiere farming capability in the world, and why do we not explore switching some of our energy needs over to these type of sources - the oil industry is too powerful. So we have one President who said "I can't do nuthin about the gas prices", and another who stays silent even though he considered a windfall profit tax. And all the while, anything that happens over in the PG, gives the industry an opportunity to raise the prices on us.. I am really thinking for my next car to go for diesel and then having 2 vehicles that require diesel, getting it brought in and put in a large tank in my yard to save bucks - then go to bio-diesel and see how I can make it locally and/or buy it locally.