Massive blast in Superior Wisconsin
- Thread starter Silent Earth
- Start date
Help Support Homesteading & Country Living Forum:
Guess this will be another excuse to raise gas prices....
They are doing a fine job of raising the gas price here. Seems like it goes up at least.10 cents every time I look at it.
Gas has already gone up more then 10 cents a gallon in most places here.
P.s. thats up from last week.
P.s. thats up from last week.
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2013
- Messages
- 18,449
Gas has gone up over .50 cents in the last 3 weeks. It's over $3.10 a gallon now. No reason for it. What's even worse is the Feds want to raise the gas tax another .25 - .50 a gallon. Unbelievable.
its over $8.50 in the UK
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2013
- Messages
- 18,694
Yes, but it takes me 12 hours to drive from Georgia to my daughter's house in Virginia. You can go from Liverpool on the West coast of England to Scarborough on the East coast in less than three hours. Even driving from one extreme end of England to another (Penzance to Marshall Meadows) is three hours faster than going to visit my daughter.
5 hours is nearer the mark Liverpool to Scarborough but its still motoring costs regardless.
Ok you win, we have no reason to gripe! Ouch!
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2013
- Messages
- 18,449
I have a reason to gripe. I've been involved in the oil and gas industry for many years and know what it takes to produce a barrel of oil and refine a gallon of gas or diesel. For example, we had a cracking plant in one of the fields I worked at and it cost .12 cents to make a gallon of diesel. Now figure in government taxes, excessive government regulations, environmental costs, etc, etc and the retail cost at the pump is sky high.
I'm not really concerned about the cost of fuel in other countries, much of which is taxes.
It always ticks me off when I hear that gas taxes are going up. So you raise the gas tax , and it costs more for contractors to build roads, and in order to offset the increased cost of building/maintaining roads you have to raise the gas tax...
It's always made me kinda pissy that diesel was higher priced than Premium at times, and it's only basically one grade above kerosene it seems. I guess it's cause they refine less of it on a regular basis than the other vehicle fuels?
Cor I actually thought the US would use more diesel than petrol because the hundreds of thousands of diesel RR locos and the millions of trucks on US roads, you learn something newevery day on DPF. I still say Diesel should be the main fuel of choice for preppers.
THE CASE FOR DIESEL
Yes I know there are far more people driving Cars, Vans, SUVs’s , Pickups, 4X4’s etc with petrol (gasoline) powered engines than there are driving similar vehicles running Diesel engines in the UK, But hang on a moment is that a good thing for us claiming to be switched on survivalists?
Some points I think need chewing over by the preparedness communities especially those with retreats, homesteads, secure homes and bug out plans.
If (or more likely when) TSHTF and fuel availability & storage becomes a major issue what will society in general start doing?
Let’s accept that most of us already keep our vehicles topped off most of the time and also keep a few gallons of fuel stored for “The Day” but nearly all of us must admit that overall we have not got enough fuel cached to get by with.
Question? What is the general public going to do as soon as finding fuel supplies become difficult?
Answer, yes they are going to form huge queues at almost every petrol (gas) station they can, the rest of this tale you already know, huge queues, long waits, rationing, violence, riots, people getting killed for a gallon of fuel. The public will go berserk in next to no time at all.
(This scenario came 100% spot on accurate during the 2005 hurricane season in the US)
So what are the big boys and the prepared people doing?
What do the Railways (Railroads), Truckers, Maritime trade, leisure boats use as fuel? What do farmers choose as fuel for their tractors, ploughs, etc? What do the military choose to power their vehicles?
Diesel, Yes Diesel, This fuel is found almost everywhere a survivalist would choose to look. It’s safer to handle and store than petrol, it’s got a better shelf life untreated than petrol and it’s used to power most of our commerce.
Next time you are out and about take a look around and try to identify places you could ‘Source’ petrol (gas) and diesel. Petrol in general is only available at fuel stations and in other petrol powered vehicles (cars, lawn mowers and jet skis?).It’s only found in fairly small quantities as well. If you are lucky you will be able to fill your vehicle and a few jerry cans from a retail source before government restrictions or shortages become an issue.
But look at places you can find diesel in an emergency and in what quantities? Trucks alone have tanks that carry many hundreds of gallons of diesel, truck stops hold huge amounts in comparison to petrol stations. Look at your local railroad locomotive, even the smallest carry 1500 gallons of diesel whilst the mainline locos can carry as much as 6000 gallons.
Also in recent years modern diesel engines have advanced technologically, to a point that the power issues that traditionally separated diesel vehicles from petrol (gas) powered vehicles has been eroded. So that unless you are into sports cars a turbo diesel can and will match your gasoline powered car in everything except the 0-60 MPH stakes, plus modern diesels are still more economical than petrol engines.
Then of course when it comes to the reliability and vulnerability aspects of comparing the two types of engine diesel wins hands down.
I am also advised that certain types of heating oil can be used to run a diesel engine. Certainly after the lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina you need to carry enough fuel to travel 3x the distance to your retreat, this allows for diversions and long periods of very slow driving in heavy traffic.
So in closing if you have a rural retreat or bug out plans and you believe that sourcing fuel is going to be a major issue common sense directs you to choose the good old compression ignition engine.
Last edited:
I’ve read that the cost of making gas is pretty much the same everywhere. Like you said state, federal and local taxes is why you see different pricing all over the place. Too many groups with their hand in the pie.
In the Uk up until the 1990s diesel was way cheaper than petrol, then the labour government told everyone to buy diesels as they did not produce as much C02 as petrol engine, so millions switched to diesel. Suddenly diesel became 20% more expensive than petrol through greed of oil companies and extra tax.
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2013
- Messages
- 18,449
Everyone likes to bash the oil companies. Why? The oil companies just produce a product that everyone on the planet depends on for modern life. And they sell that product on the open market. The oil companies have zero control over the price of fuel at the pump. Every oil company (except for foreign cartels) would love to produce more oil, which would help lower the cost of fuel at the pump for the end user. But thanks to high government taxes, over regulation and insane environmental compliance, we'll never see "low" fuel prices again. Even in the unlikely event that prices at the pump did drop considerably, governments would just add more tax in order to keep the price artificially high. Remember, the tax added at the pump is just a small part all the taxes that go in to making that gallon of fuel. Also, thanks to electric, and other high mpg cars, the government claims that it's "losing" tax revenue and needs to raise fuel taxes. There is no winning for the consumer.
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2013
- Messages
- 18,694
If you have a farm, you can get a big diesel tank and have it filled with agricultural diesel, or "red diesel" as it's called because of the red dye, which is not subject to highway use taxes. Red diesel is cheaper than gasoline. Tanks run about $1 per gallon capacity new. So a 1000 gallon tank will run you about $1000. Not a bad investment...
The penalty for using red diesel in your highway vehicle is $1000, or $10 per gallon, whichever is greater (in other words minimum fine $1000). It is administered by the IRS and is nationwide.
But... Post SHTF, if there is no IRS, then...
The penalty for using red diesel in your highway vehicle is $1000, or $10 per gallon, whichever is greater (in other words minimum fine $1000). It is administered by the IRS and is nationwide.
But... Post SHTF, if there is no IRS, then...
Last edited:
If you have a farm, you can get a big diesel tank and have it filled with agricultural diesel, or "red diesel" as it's called because of the red dye, which is not subject to highway use taxes. Red diesel is cheaper than gasoline. Tanks run about $1 per gallon capacity new. So a 1000 gallon tank will run you about $1000. Not a bad investment...
The penalty for using red diesel in your highway vehicle is $1000, or $10 per gallon, whichever is greater (in other words minimum fine $1000). It is administered by the IRS and is nationwide.
But... Post SHTF, if there is no IRS, then...
You can buy kits online to remove the red dye from the diesel
There are companies that modify used deep fryer oil from fast food restaurants that can be combusted in diesel engines. The exhaust actually smells like French fries I've heard. I have no idea regarding recommendations for these modified fuel possibilities at this time, but I would think that's worth looking into for sure.
I also think it's important to remember that storing things also depends greatly on the temperature in which they're stored in, and fuel...of either kind is also sensitive to this factor. Diesel has micro organisms in it that if are untreated, ruin the fuel over time. There are treatments you can add to both gasoline and diesel to help prevent this, but they do have to be stored in climate controlled environments for maximum usability over larger spans of time.
I also think it's important to remember that storing things also depends greatly on the temperature in which they're stored in, and fuel...of either kind is also sensitive to this factor. Diesel has micro organisms in it that if are untreated, ruin the fuel over time. There are treatments you can add to both gasoline and diesel to help prevent this, but they do have to be stored in climate controlled environments for maximum usability over larger spans of time.
- Joined
- Sep 7, 2013
- Messages
- 18,694
Biodiesel will be a hot commodity in a SHTF situation, but it usually congeals in cold weather. Some biodiesels start getting cloudy 34°F (1°C).
You can get DIY Bio Diesel machines to convert oil into propper bio diesel. But its not very good in cold climates, it needs blending with real diesel the further north you get. Many vehicles fitted with the older type Bosch Injector pumps can handle neat Veg oil as well.
In winter I occasionally add Acetone (nail varnish remover) to my diesel tank as I somethings think modern UK winter diesel is not as good as it is supposed to be, it waxes at minus 12 to 15.
All hydrocarbon based fuels can " go off" if not stored they develop a black sludgy algae that clogs fuel lines. Worst though is Petrol ( gas) because it relies on assorted volatiles which evaporate, plus petrol can form a laquer that clogs fuel lines and injectors / carbs. The additives in petrol ( gas) also break down in time.
ALL prepper fuels we store should be treated with fuel stabilisers and presevatives like Sta-bil and octane / cetane boosters are worth having as well
We should be storing our fuels in sealed NATO standard Jerry Cans that are plastic coated on the inside to stop evaporation, fuel decay, fungal growth, laquering etc
Fuel in unsealed containers soak up water from the atmosphere which damages engines.
Regardless of your vehicle type or fuel you NEED a fuel filter to trap water/ grit / sludge etc if you have have one fitted as standard get one.
Its always worth keeping a big bottle of acetone and perhaps some cetane booster to keep your diesel useful after TSHTF but by far the best method is storing it in sealed containers where it cannot go off or sediment up, or absorb moisture or evaporate its organic volatiles.
In the mid 1990s Veg Cooking oil was cheaper than diesel for a few years, the amount of people driving vehicles smelling of french fries was amazing, but over here it only worked with Bosch fuel injector pumps, it damaged the seals on other types
https://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/hybrid-electric/a4717/4332200/
How to Make Biodiesel With a Commercial Kit
With a wide variety of new biodiesel kits, it's easier than ever to turn used fry-oil waste into diesel fuel. Here's how to make clean, high-quality biodiesel for cheap.
By John Decker
Sep 29, 2009
1.2k
Senior editor Mike Allen (who used to teach organic chemistry in a previous career) gloves up to pump methanol into the processor.
"Make your own diesel for 70 cents a gallon," the Internet ad claimed. I was tired of paying for 30 gallons of regular diesel each week to fill my pickup, so I downloaded the instructions. It wasn't long before I was sucking used fry oil out of tanks behind a restaurant, and mixing it with lye and methanol in a 5-gallon bottle before pouring it into an old water heater.
Two hours later, I opened the valve at the bottom of the heater and black goo oozed from the hose, a biodegradable substance called glycerin. Before long the glycerin drained and gave way to a thin, clear, amber liquid: I had my first batch of biodiesel.
I made that first batch of fuel five years ago. If you factor in all the time I spent making the homebuilt biodiesel processor (a converted electric water heater) and experimenting with the design (some batches went, umm, less than perfectly--I had to replace two injection pumps on my truck), my experience with DIY fuels was often a frustrating and, occasionally, very expensive process.
Since then, the biodiesel industry and the technology have evolved. With the professionally engineered biodiesel systems available today, the process is simpler, safer, takes less time and yields more consistent results. So I decided to try one of the commercially available processors--it came boxed with all of the equipment and reagents needed to turn out consistent, high-quality biodiesel fuel. The FuelMeister processor used here has five fewer valves than the eight in my old homemade one. It also mixes the lye and methanol inside the tank to prevent the chance of dangerous spills.
Biodiesel Safety
Yes, you can make biodiesel in a plastic bucket with little more than some drain cleaner, gas-line de-icer and a wooden spoon, if you know what you're doing. But it can be dangerous. Splashing lye and/or methanol into your eyes can blind you. And electrical pumps unattended in the presence of hundreds of gallons of flammables will make your local fire marshall understandably nervous. In addition, poor-quality product will damage your very expensive diesel-injection pump. Our advice? Research biodiesel production properly before doing the mad-scientist routine.
1. Start by filtering your waste vegetable oil to remove chunks of food left over from the fryer. We used a paint filter. The filtrate is mostly breading, with the occasional chunk of ... something. Mix all your oil from different sources to achieve a uniform sample.
2. Next we need to titrate to see how acidic the oil is. Add a small amount of phenolphthalein indicator dye to a carefully prepared mixture of methanol and sodium hydroxide. Add a sample of the acidic waste oil to the mix with a calibrated pipette.
3. Trickle in a prepared basic reagent until the mixture stays purple for 10 seconds of swirling. The quantity of reagent you add here determines the amount of methoxide (methyl alcohol/sodium hydroxide mixture) to add to the oil to complete the transesterification process. It takes some simple math or a look-up table to calculate the amount.
There's quite a bit of chemistry involved in transforming vegetable oil into biodiesel, in a process known as transesterification. Vegetable oil (VO) is made up of chains of fatty acids held together by glycerol molecules. Methanol breaks those chains of fatty acids apart. The corrosive, alkaline lye (sodium hydroxide, although you can also use potassium hydroxide) breaks the glycerol (a heavy alcohol) off those chains and the methanol (a light alcohol) in turn takes the place of the glycerol, leaving shorter, lighter, more combustible molecules. The result is an oil that burns well as a direct replacement for petroleum-based diesel fuel, with 12 to 15 percent glycerin left over at the bottom of the tank. The lye acts only as a catalyst in this case, and isn't consumed in the process.
On the other hand, waste vegetable oil (WVO) , like we get out the back door of restaurants, is somewhat acidic because it has free fatty acids, which are produced during heating and cooking. Fortunately, that acidity is neutralized by the extremely alkaline lye essential to the transesterification. Adding lye converts free fatty acids to a form of soap, most of which will drain out with the glycerin. The remaining soap is removed in the wash. Of course, we have to be sure that the amount of alkaline lye is just enough to counterbalance the acidity, or we wind up with poor-quality fuel.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
4. Heat your oil to 120 F, then add the calculated amount of methanol/hydroxide mixture. The FuelMeister processor we used conveniently lets you do the methanol/lye mixing inside a tank mounted to the lid. Agitate for an hour by running the transfer-pump hose back into the vessel. At this point the oil will have been converted into biodiesel. Allow the heavier glycerin to settle out for a few hours.
5. Drain the glycerin from the bottom until you get lighter-colored, thinner biodiesel pouring from the valve. Then use water to wash the excess methanol, lye and soapy residue from the biodiesel. The water will settle to the bottom of the vessel in a few hours, where you can drain it out.
6. Allow the fuel to air out for a day or two with the top off to let any cloudiness (caused by a small amount of remaining water) dissipate.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
You can't make biodiesel if you don't have a couple of high-quality restaurants in your area. Greasy spoons need not apply. That's because the more pure the WVO is, the better the biodiesel. Restaurants that overcook their food, don't change their oil frequently or cook lots of frozen food will have oil with high free-fatty-acid content.
As for water, less is better. As little as 5 percent in the WVO can leave you with a batch of soapy glop instead of biodiesel in your processor. You don't want to deal with the mess of cleaning up, so care in selecting feedstock will pay off in the long run. Heat a couple of ounces of the WVO in a frying pan. If it sizzles, there's too much water. This water can be removed by heating the oil to above 220 degrees in an open container, and then letting it cool down. But that consumes a lot of energy, and you'll need to baby-sit the whole business because of the danger of fire. Best just to find higher-quality WVO.
Busy restaurants are like food-cooking assembly-lines. They heat their oil at the same time, at the correct temperature, and fry about the same amount of food every day. They also change their cooking oil at the same time and in the same way every week. Other places aren't as careful, and their oil gives me less, and poorer quality, biodiesel per batch. I get almost all my WVO from two local restaurants, and I've never had water in the oil. Biodiesel processing has become popular. Restaurants used to be thrilled when I took the old oil away without charging them. Now WVO is a commodity not unlike crude oil. When regular diesel is about $2.50 a gallon, I pay $0.30 per gallon. When diesel was $4.85 a gallon, I paid $0.60 a gallon.
The 40-gallon processor we used here costs nearly three grand. We saved about $1.20 a gallon over the current price of petro-diesel, if you don't count the $2995 price tag for the processor. That means we'd have to make 62 or more batches to pay back the investment, or one batch every six days--for a year. A couple of batches can be fun, but spending every Saturday with greasy hands can get to be a chore. You'll also need to set up a place to store the WVO, the methanol and the biodiesel, all of which are flammable, and a place to work. Don't forget you'll also need to dispose of leftover poor-quality WVO, a fair amount of glycerin and the occasional batch of glop. There's an excess of methanol and alkali remaining after the transesterification, and commercial biodiesel producers recover the methanol and use it for the next batch. Your local authorities may have an opinion as to the proper, legal disposal of glycerin.
You'll still need to run a fair amount of conventional mineral diesel in your tank along with your home-brew fuel, especially in the winter when low temperatures turn even the best-quality biodiesel into jello.
Also, the current crop of direct-injection diesels don't fare well on concentrations of bio higher than 10 percent. Why? To thermally purge the diesel particulate filter (DPF), the injection system periodically injects fuel into the cylinder during the exhaust stroke to raise exhaust temperatures high enough to ignite the carbon inside the DPF. The carbon simply burns off, leaving the DPF ready to filter out more particles. Biodiesel, more viscous than mineral diesel, sticks to the cylinder walls and washes past the rings into the crankcase. This can dilute the engine oil, potentially causing engine damage. Most car manufacturers prohibit the use of more than 10 percent biodiesel if you expect any warranty protection. Biodiesel works best in older diesel vehicles with precombustion-chamber mechanical injection.
Caveats aside, you can make diesel fuel sustainably while also reducing pollution. Getting a good supplier of WVO when fuel prices are low should ensure an adequate supply when demand rises. Biodiesel stores very well in a cool, dry place if you squirt a little nitrogen from a welding supply shop into the top of the barrel. Making a lot of the stuff now might be one way to have your own little investment in home-brew biodiesel futures as regular diesel prices climb.
How to Make Biodiesel With a Commercial Kit
With a wide variety of new biodiesel kits, it's easier than ever to turn used fry-oil waste into diesel fuel. Here's how to make clean, high-quality biodiesel for cheap.
By John Decker
Sep 29, 2009
1.2k
Senior editor Mike Allen (who used to teach organic chemistry in a previous career) gloves up to pump methanol into the processor.
"Make your own diesel for 70 cents a gallon," the Internet ad claimed. I was tired of paying for 30 gallons of regular diesel each week to fill my pickup, so I downloaded the instructions. It wasn't long before I was sucking used fry oil out of tanks behind a restaurant, and mixing it with lye and methanol in a 5-gallon bottle before pouring it into an old water heater.
Two hours later, I opened the valve at the bottom of the heater and black goo oozed from the hose, a biodegradable substance called glycerin. Before long the glycerin drained and gave way to a thin, clear, amber liquid: I had my first batch of biodiesel.
I made that first batch of fuel five years ago. If you factor in all the time I spent making the homebuilt biodiesel processor (a converted electric water heater) and experimenting with the design (some batches went, umm, less than perfectly--I had to replace two injection pumps on my truck), my experience with DIY fuels was often a frustrating and, occasionally, very expensive process.
Since then, the biodiesel industry and the technology have evolved. With the professionally engineered biodiesel systems available today, the process is simpler, safer, takes less time and yields more consistent results. So I decided to try one of the commercially available processors--it came boxed with all of the equipment and reagents needed to turn out consistent, high-quality biodiesel fuel. The FuelMeister processor used here has five fewer valves than the eight in my old homemade one. It also mixes the lye and methanol inside the tank to prevent the chance of dangerous spills.
Biodiesel Safety
Yes, you can make biodiesel in a plastic bucket with little more than some drain cleaner, gas-line de-icer and a wooden spoon, if you know what you're doing. But it can be dangerous. Splashing lye and/or methanol into your eyes can blind you. And electrical pumps unattended in the presence of hundreds of gallons of flammables will make your local fire marshall understandably nervous. In addition, poor-quality product will damage your very expensive diesel-injection pump. Our advice? Research biodiesel production properly before doing the mad-scientist routine.
1. Start by filtering your waste vegetable oil to remove chunks of food left over from the fryer. We used a paint filter. The filtrate is mostly breading, with the occasional chunk of ... something. Mix all your oil from different sources to achieve a uniform sample.
2. Next we need to titrate to see how acidic the oil is. Add a small amount of phenolphthalein indicator dye to a carefully prepared mixture of methanol and sodium hydroxide. Add a sample of the acidic waste oil to the mix with a calibrated pipette.
3. Trickle in a prepared basic reagent until the mixture stays purple for 10 seconds of swirling. The quantity of reagent you add here determines the amount of methoxide (methyl alcohol/sodium hydroxide mixture) to add to the oil to complete the transesterification process. It takes some simple math or a look-up table to calculate the amount.
There's quite a bit of chemistry involved in transforming vegetable oil into biodiesel, in a process known as transesterification. Vegetable oil (VO) is made up of chains of fatty acids held together by glycerol molecules. Methanol breaks those chains of fatty acids apart. The corrosive, alkaline lye (sodium hydroxide, although you can also use potassium hydroxide) breaks the glycerol (a heavy alcohol) off those chains and the methanol (a light alcohol) in turn takes the place of the glycerol, leaving shorter, lighter, more combustible molecules. The result is an oil that burns well as a direct replacement for petroleum-based diesel fuel, with 12 to 15 percent glycerin left over at the bottom of the tank. The lye acts only as a catalyst in this case, and isn't consumed in the process.
On the other hand, waste vegetable oil (WVO) , like we get out the back door of restaurants, is somewhat acidic because it has free fatty acids, which are produced during heating and cooking. Fortunately, that acidity is neutralized by the extremely alkaline lye essential to the transesterification. Adding lye converts free fatty acids to a form of soap, most of which will drain out with the glycerin. The remaining soap is removed in the wash. Of course, we have to be sure that the amount of alkaline lye is just enough to counterbalance the acidity, or we wind up with poor-quality fuel.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
4. Heat your oil to 120 F, then add the calculated amount of methanol/hydroxide mixture. The FuelMeister processor we used conveniently lets you do the methanol/lye mixing inside a tank mounted to the lid. Agitate for an hour by running the transfer-pump hose back into the vessel. At this point the oil will have been converted into biodiesel. Allow the heavier glycerin to settle out for a few hours.
5. Drain the glycerin from the bottom until you get lighter-colored, thinner biodiesel pouring from the valve. Then use water to wash the excess methanol, lye and soapy residue from the biodiesel. The water will settle to the bottom of the vessel in a few hours, where you can drain it out.
6. Allow the fuel to air out for a day or two with the top off to let any cloudiness (caused by a small amount of remaining water) dissipate.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
You can't make biodiesel if you don't have a couple of high-quality restaurants in your area. Greasy spoons need not apply. That's because the more pure the WVO is, the better the biodiesel. Restaurants that overcook their food, don't change their oil frequently or cook lots of frozen food will have oil with high free-fatty-acid content.
As for water, less is better. As little as 5 percent in the WVO can leave you with a batch of soapy glop instead of biodiesel in your processor. You don't want to deal with the mess of cleaning up, so care in selecting feedstock will pay off in the long run. Heat a couple of ounces of the WVO in a frying pan. If it sizzles, there's too much water. This water can be removed by heating the oil to above 220 degrees in an open container, and then letting it cool down. But that consumes a lot of energy, and you'll need to baby-sit the whole business because of the danger of fire. Best just to find higher-quality WVO.
Busy restaurants are like food-cooking assembly-lines. They heat their oil at the same time, at the correct temperature, and fry about the same amount of food every day. They also change their cooking oil at the same time and in the same way every week. Other places aren't as careful, and their oil gives me less, and poorer quality, biodiesel per batch. I get almost all my WVO from two local restaurants, and I've never had water in the oil. Biodiesel processing has become popular. Restaurants used to be thrilled when I took the old oil away without charging them. Now WVO is a commodity not unlike crude oil. When regular diesel is about $2.50 a gallon, I pay $0.30 per gallon. When diesel was $4.85 a gallon, I paid $0.60 a gallon.
The 40-gallon processor we used here costs nearly three grand. We saved about $1.20 a gallon over the current price of petro-diesel, if you don't count the $2995 price tag for the processor. That means we'd have to make 62 or more batches to pay back the investment, or one batch every six days--for a year. A couple of batches can be fun, but spending every Saturday with greasy hands can get to be a chore. You'll also need to set up a place to store the WVO, the methanol and the biodiesel, all of which are flammable, and a place to work. Don't forget you'll also need to dispose of leftover poor-quality WVO, a fair amount of glycerin and the occasional batch of glop. There's an excess of methanol and alkali remaining after the transesterification, and commercial biodiesel producers recover the methanol and use it for the next batch. Your local authorities may have an opinion as to the proper, legal disposal of glycerin.
You'll still need to run a fair amount of conventional mineral diesel in your tank along with your home-brew fuel, especially in the winter when low temperatures turn even the best-quality biodiesel into jello.
Also, the current crop of direct-injection diesels don't fare well on concentrations of bio higher than 10 percent. Why? To thermally purge the diesel particulate filter (DPF), the injection system periodically injects fuel into the cylinder during the exhaust stroke to raise exhaust temperatures high enough to ignite the carbon inside the DPF. The carbon simply burns off, leaving the DPF ready to filter out more particles. Biodiesel, more viscous than mineral diesel, sticks to the cylinder walls and washes past the rings into the crankcase. This can dilute the engine oil, potentially causing engine damage. Most car manufacturers prohibit the use of more than 10 percent biodiesel if you expect any warranty protection. Biodiesel works best in older diesel vehicles with precombustion-chamber mechanical injection.
Caveats aside, you can make diesel fuel sustainably while also reducing pollution. Getting a good supplier of WVO when fuel prices are low should ensure an adequate supply when demand rises. Biodiesel stores very well in a cool, dry place if you squirt a little nitrogen from a welding supply shop into the top of the barrel. Making a lot of the stuff now might be one way to have your own little investment in home-brew biodiesel futures as regular diesel prices climb.
Over here several wholesale cash and carry companies now offer a cooking oil recycling service for restaurants and takeaways. They act as agents for the big biodiesel companies and buy back the used oil. The takeaways and restaurants return it to the wholesale warehouse and when they have enough, it is collected by the recycling company to be turned into diesel.
- Joined
- Mar 29, 2013
- Messages
- 18,449
A lot of people run off road (dyed) diesel in their pickups and motor homes. It's easy to tell who does because they tend to smoke more, especially when pulling a load up a hill. Some cops carry a test kit and will pull over a vehicle if they suspect they're using off road diesel. I use the off road diesel in my tractor and generator and the savings is substantial.If you have a farm, you can get a big diesel tank and have it filled with agricultural diesel, or "red diesel" as it's called because of the red dye, which is not subject to highway use taxes. Red diesel is cheaper than gasoline. Tanks run about $1 per gallon capacity new. So a 1000 gallon tank will run you about $1000. Not a bad investment...
The penalty for using red diesel in your highway vehicle is $1000, or $10 per gallon, whichever is greater (in other words minimum fine $1000). It is administered by the IRS and is nationwide.
But... Post SHTF, if there is no IRS, then...
Amazing isnt it sally how things change, only a few years ago diners, take aways etc were struggling to get rid of their old cooking oil, now I have seen people trying to steal the stuff.
