Converting diesel vehicles to run on vegetable oil

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Hydrogen can be split from water directly without creating a secondary process. I am not talking about photovoltaics combined with electrolysis. I am speaking of photoelectrochemical cells.

Heat engines based on hydrogen can be designed to opperate much more efficiently than with traditional fuels. conversion of solar energy to hydrogen can exceed 90% eficiency. We do not need more than a small fraction of gasoline's energy density to opperate an intelligently designed efficient vehicle.

 

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Then there is this disturbing turn of events:

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/earth/mg18825265.400.html

 

Another source of information on biodiesel is BiodieselAmerica's websight, good information in there as well as kits to help you make your own. If you get your own spent grease from a restaurant for free, the materials to make it cost around 1.50/gallon. I've managed to get pre-made biodiesel at "progressive" gas stations for around three bucks a gallon, but I imagine if more people buy it, the cost will come down.

We now own two VW Jetta TDI's, they get like 40-50 mpg, they run fine on biodiesel, and it smells like french fries, much better than conventional diesel. You can consult the manufacturer of your car to determine if biodiesel is appropriate, but I understand that in most cases it is, and you can also mix it with conventional diesel to make it run cleaner in colder weather. This was the primary factor that influenced our decision to buy the TDIs, since we can now run our vehicles on renewable energy sources, and we can make our own biodiesel if and when petroleum-based energy sources become scarce and/or expensive.

The problem with other alternative energy sources is that they are often prohibitively expensive to implement or impractical. If you can invent your own or you have the bucks to buy one, more power to you, but I wanted something that would be simple to convert, and yet run on something that is currently plentily available.

Hybrids are cool, but my concern is with the batteries, 'cause you now have the issue of chemicals in the battery banks, which will eventually need to be disposed of, plus you have more components in the system to worry about maintenance, etc.

Biodiesel is the way to go IMHO.

...Just read the above link, it's ironic that the demand for vegetable oil to produce bio-diesel has actually led to an environmental crisis, but bear in mind that in European countries the cost of petroleum fuels is so high that biodiesel makes a very attractive alternative (not true in the US at the moment, as vegetable oil is a good deal more expensive than gas at the moment). I guess it's a matter of ramping up the production of corn, not as difficult a proposition in America than it is in areas of higher population density like Europe. Furthermore, as Shaggie points out, there's no shortage of spent grease at this point...

 

Growing oil for fuel is an inefficient expenditure of land area. Biodiesel is a "mom and pop' fix for small scale application. If you try to supplant fossil fuels with biodiesel, you end up using a huge percentage of the land to supply energy needs. Even today's inefficient solar cells are far better at yielding energy per acre. Solar technology is on the verge of expansive improvements. Don't get sold a bill of goods on biodiesel. It is just an excuse not to spend research dollars in an intelligent method for replacing fossil fuels. Furthermore, it is made using a toxic, petroleum product, Methanol. methanol can be made by other methods, but it is more expensive.

great Hobby though, have fun!

 

Liquid fuel replacement I guess is a stopgap, vegetable oil for Diesel, and the idea of ethanol (from fermentation of sugar products) to replace or supplement *octane* range motor spirit is floating around too (and of course has been big in Brazil since 1989?). There will always be a need for liquid-combustible fuels in future, long after fossil fuels are history, but powering our cars and trucks another way will be a good idea in future.

Solar-electric-rechargable cell technology might well have a lot going for it!

 

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Of course I agree - and the diversification argument, ie; using locally appropriate technologies to add electricity to a universal grid - Hydro in the mountains, tidal on the coast, wind farms on the windswept capes and headlands, solar farms in the deserts of Australia, Arizona, North Africa, geothermal in Iceland, NZ, the Pacific Rim - could have something going for it, and why can't we use that uranium for a few hundred years of fission too? Fusion! Oh I wish I didn't see Dr Octavius in Spidey II, but yes, fusion, the ultimate energy prize, the ultimate weapon!

 

An interesting point, and you might be right, bio-diesel may be impractical for a large scale main stream application, based on the demand for motor vehicle transportation in this country. I guess I need to keep an open mind and examine it further from different perspectives. It's certainly no good if we end up taking out rain forests for bio-diesel instead of drilling in the Arctic for oil, that just transfers the problem.

It's amazing how such a seemingly "green" solution can have so many drawbacks when you look at the big picture, but on a smaller scale it might be a useful way to stretch the supply of diesel by cutting it with biodiesel made from fryolator grease, at minimum it presents an attractive short-term solution...and if I can keep my TDI's running relatively inexpensively the next time the cost of fuel skyrockets, I'll have found a worthwhile hobby...

 

absolutely Mellow. i wish i had a greaser set up at this point. from a personal viewpoint, it could be very useful

 

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We've been trying to educate ourselves on th how to of a small operation to suppliment our own needs. We thought maybe in one bay of a two car garage. Does anyone here actually process their own biodiesel at home Does anyone use it for home heating as well?
Thanks

 

Mana,

The only practical issue that you have to face is how you will safely handle the methanol. Also, if you do not buy methanol in bulk from an inexpensive source, the price of the methanol will make your biodiesel too expensive to be worth while. Just remember that methanol absorbs through the skin, and even the vapors are quite good at attacking the optic nerve!
Also, the only methanol cheap enough to use for biodiesel is a petroleum product. Biodiesel is not an alternative to petroleum products, only a reduction in the use of refined petroleum.

Anyone interested in trying the biodiesel process with relatively nontoxic, sustainably produced ethanol, write me and i can help you with the related chemistry issues. I have come up with some practical options, but such chemistry is not for amateurs with makeshift equipment.

the alcohols themselves are actually better fuel choices in the end.


Most waste oil is already being recycled and used (at least in the US), so we do not need to work on creative uses for this valuable waste.

Solar is already advanced enough for full-scale application. Nobody needs to waste land area growing fuel crops! this is a very bad environmental move!

Mana and Mellow have the right idea. use this hobby technology for your own entertainment, but do not think that it is a useful technology for large-scale application. And be aware that it is definitely not a "green" technology.


Jim
jim

 

It seems you can't just pour vegetable oil in your diesel-vehicle fuel tank - you will have "low temperature starting and performance" issues, especially if you add more than 10-20%. You need to "split" the plant oil first, in a way similar to soap making, but taking it a step further and creating a new "ester", that which is lighter and which "burns" better. So sodium hydroxide (caustic! take care!) splits the vege oil (glycerol lets go of the three long-chain fatty acids), then you have methanol or ethanol in the mix (other alkanols will do the trick) and it re-esterifies the fatty acids, making a lighter ester that will burn with diesel a lot more smoothly. The two step chemical process and separations must be done with care, as the sagacious firelip suggests.

http://www.cyberlipid.org/glycer/biodiesel.htm

a good page with a simple explanation and some further links.

 

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Two words.

Hemp

and

Butanol.

Why aren't we doing TDP?