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Wednesday, February 01, 2006

 

"if you can make coffee you can make bio-desel"

John and Kara Weld have started producing their own biodiesel fuel utilizing discarded cooking oil from local restaurants in what is a surprisingly simple, inexpensive and safe conversion process.

"If you can make coffee, you can make biodiesel," John Weld said.

'It takes about two hours to collect the oil," Weld said.

He then takes the used oil to the couple's business near Somerset, where he has rigged together two plastic tanks, placing about 55-60 gallons of the used oil in one and then mixing together a catalyst made up of methanol and lye in the other.

After adding about 12 gallons of the catalyst to the oil and mechanically stirring that mixture for about an hour, Weld lets the mixture sit for another eight hours, allowing it to separate.

The result is about 60 gallons of 100 percent biodiesel fuel, which Weld, after a washing process, uses in varying concentrations in his Volkswagen diesel station wagon and in the oil furnace in his home.

The only downside with the B-100, Weld said, is that in the winter it may tend to thicken and gel, requiring it to be heated before being used or mixed with methanol to lower the viscosity. Also, in older vehicles or furnaces, rubber seals may deteriorate.

That is not a problem with newer vehicles and furnaces with synthetic seals, Weld claimed.

Another plus of producing your own biodiesel, Weld said, is its low cost.

Because the used vegetable oil is free, once the equipment is purchased for about $1,000, the only significant cost is for the methanol, which currently runs about $4.50 a gallon.

"It costs about $60 to make a batch," Weld said. "That's works out to about $1 a gallon."

http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-review/s_418826.html

I am not sure why you have to use methonal rather than ethonal in the mix..

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