Your Questions About Biodiesel Stations

admin answers:

Yes, but not 100% biodiesel yet. In the US, you can find them usually at Truck Stations.

Biodiesel is diesel fuel (petro version is #2 heating oil) but made from non fossil sources. Veggie oil and Ethynol is a great biofuel. Rendered animal fat and Ethynol is a new source.

Rudolf Diesel designed his engine to run on cheaper fuel than gasoline, specifically peanut oil. Naphtelene, or pre-gasoline, is the lightest practical diesel fuel. Milk is the heaviest.

Modern “biodiesel” has more btu per gallon, therefore it gives you better fuel economy. More BTU means heavier fuel. Heavy oil solidifies and gells in the winter. This is why biodiesels are mixed with regular diesel fuel.

admin answers:

You can change the engine of a gasoline engine car to diesel engine but it is just impossible (theoretically or otherwise) to convert a gasoline engine to diesel-fed engine.

This is due to the following reasons:
1. Diesel engine has a higher compression rate than gasoline engine regardless of whether the latter engine is carburation or injection-fed type of fuel.
2. Gasoline engine make used of high intensity current to ignite the fuel inside the compression chambers of the engine while diesel engine does not. It only needs the high compression inside the chambers to ignite the diesel fuel.

In other words, even theoretically speaking said conversion is just impossible or even improbable because if you have to do so, you have to change and replace the basic configurations and components of the gasoline engine such as the crankshaft, camshaft, bearings, pistons, injector, engine block, cylinder head, gaskets, and a lot more.

So my advice to you is, just change you engine if you really would have to. More often than not, if you have a good mechanic, a good second-hand or surplus diesel engine is the best alternative.

admin answers:

Sure… It costs 3 bucks more a gallon, and you’ll probably have major repair bills on your engine very frequently.

There’s nothing to balance. You have one of the most efficient cars made, and you’ll get close to 50 mpg once the car is broken in. That’s without forcing toxic production of batteries to make a silly hybrid, and without the cost to the taxpayers of the subsidies paid on hybrids.

admin answers:

Do to the increased number of hydrocarbons, biodiesel is heavier. You run into a problem in the winter (if you live where it gets really cold) when it gets really really cold. The cold causes the biodiesel to kinda jell up. Thats all i know about it.

admin answers:

The problem with diesel is that it on a stone cold, winter air temperature engine,they are hard to crank as well as getting the glow plugs up to temperature can be a challenge since they are having to heat the interior of the cylinder to 160F before the diesel will ignite.

Thankfully they sell 0W30 and 0w40 synthetic oils today and this will make the engine easier to crank in the dead of winter.

The other problem is gelling of the fuel. There’s water in all fuels and diesel has a higher moisture content than gasoline. You’d need blended fuel in Winter months which is a mix of Diesel #1 (which is more like jet fuel) and Diesel #2 and costs 10-20 cents more per gallon.

The other thing you can do is to use “Howe’s” diesel fuel treatment to prevent gelling and it removes water from the tank/fuel as you run the engine. In any case you would need to let the engine warm up to operating temperature which might take 15 minutes so the oil and gaskets are ready for you to hit the accelerator.

The reason for block heaters is so the engine will crank and not blow a head gasket or crack the cylinder head(s) when you try to start it at subfreezing to subzero temperatures. When an engine is at 0F to minus 30F degrees the cylinder head metals would suddenly jump from -30F to over 200F ++ in a matter of seconds. Hard on the engine to do such a thing.

Good Luck!

admin answers:

Http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html

admin answers:

Sadly, your idea for turning the glycerine by-product into soap won’t work since soap manufacture produces the same by-product, glycerine!

As you know, plant oils are triesters of long chain fatty acids and glycerine.

Vegetable oils (and animal fats) are saponified when soap is manufactured. The part of the plant oil that your are after for biodiesel is EXACTLY the same as is required for soap namely the long chain fatty acid part.

Http://chemistry.about.com/library/weekly/blsapon.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soap

The difference between the two technologies is that biodiesel involves a process of transesterification to produce the final product.

Http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel

Given that large quantities of glycerine are becoming available due to biodiesel production, new technologies have been developed to use this as va fuel in its own right:

http://www.anzacfueltech.com/biodiesel-glycerine.htm

Apart from burning glycerine, it can be used as a chemical feedstock in the manufacture of plastics, pharmaceuticals, food additives etc

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glycerol

As for your concern about peanut allergies, these are as likely to be as much of a problem for your biodiesel as for the glycerine by-product. Having said that, there is little danger of peanut allergies since these are caused by exposure to peanut proteins. Both transesterification (biodiesel production) and saponification (soap production) are likely to destroy these proteins.
Http://www.eatwell.gov.uk/healthissues/foodintolerance/foodintolerancetypes/peanutallergy/

admin answers:

I would follow the contact information on the Environmental Agency’s website and give them a call. The legislation and regulations on this are changing almost daily.

You might also want to contact the Biodiesel Board or equivalent in the UK and ask them.

admin answers:

You can order E85 from MFA Oil Company..