[Vwdiesel] Biodiesel vs Waste Vegetable Oil

[Will Taygan]

What type of system did you buy?  You can handle methanol safely (I
mean, really safely, not just kinda safely) in a home biodiesel
system.  

You need to have a sealed processor and a sealed methanol system, and
good ventilation.

I make biodiesel the http://www.biodieselcommunity.org way.  A sealed
reaction system, and I pump from a 55 gal methanol drum to 5 gallon
carboys and mix the KOH by swiling in a sealed container.  I thien
switch caps and pump directly into the system from the ealed container.
This is the mostly safe way, since there are fumes when I pump from the
55 gal drum (but none in the mixing or adding stages).

I just finished reading "Biodiesel, Basics and Beyond" by William Kemp.
He is not a fan of cheap backyard biodiesel, so be prepared for some
criticism on quality controls and waste disposal.  He does, however have
a great set of plans on how to build a methanol system that is fully
sealed and vented.  It's a small poly reaction tank and vent tubes to
outside with a indoor air exchange fan.  He also has a series of
methanol recovery units.

THAT BEING SAID.  I also run SVO.  I always run 2-tank systems, because
I live in cold places.  I would recommend a 2-tank system on any VW,
even in warm places.  Old Mercedes are tanks, I drive one myself, but
they don't get great mileage.  Old VWs work great too, I have converted
3 of them to SVO.

http://www.plantdrive.com and http://www.frybrid.com are the two best
systems IMHO.  They are also the most expensive.  You may be able in
install less robust and cheaper systems if you live in a warm place.  I
mix and match parts from both.

"Sliding Home" by Ray Holan is the only SVO book out there (and it's
quite good) get it from Biodiesel Cleveland.

http://infopop.biodiesel.cc is your best forum for SVo or biodiesel.

http://vegoilconversions.netfirms.com/ sells SVO conversion plans, for
the home do-it-yourselfer.  Usually you end up saving $$ using Dana's
plans, versus trial and error.

---

For Hydrogenation, it's thick, ask to see the label from the restaurant
before you pick up the oil.

Good Luck!


Check out the book "BiodieselOn Wed, 2006-12-27 at 02:15 -0800, William
J Toensing wrote:
> I reciently bought a new device, plant, machine (what is the correct name?) to convert new or waste vegetable oil into biodiesel on a home use basis. The main cost & possible problem that I want your opinion on is the use of methonal which I am told brings the cost of biodiesel to around .70 cents a gallon. However, after buying this plant, someone warned be that methonal is very toxic & breathing the fumes could damage your lungs, cause cancer, etc. Since I already have CLL or Chronic Lymphytic Lukimia which is responding well to chemotheraphy, I don't need any more health problems. What are the safe ways of handling the methonal?
> 
> With the above in mind, I have been thinking of modifying my 1981 VW Dasher wagon to run on waste vegetable oil (wvo). Is this Dasher a good candidate for conversion to run on wvo or should I consider getting a good used Mercedes Benz (1979 to 1985) 240D/300D/300SD? Do I need to install a second tank for the wvo & use the engine coolent to heat the wvo. Or are the conversions which heat a special filter inside the engine compartment plus the injection lines & claim you can start, run, & stop using wvo OK? www.greenbenz.com & www.lovecraftbiofuels.com  advocate a single tank sustem which  say you can with their kits. They also say you can  switch from wvo to new vegatable oil or streight petroleum diesel or intermix them in the same tank.
> 
> Also I recall reading somewhere you should not use hydroginated cooking oil. When getting wvo, how do you tell the difference other than what the restaurent tells you they are using? Comments?
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