Biodiesel plant

[biodoctor]

i've got an old zx with the xudt in. that gets run on cooking oil with no problems. not tried it on processed stuff yet.

word of warning though - more modern stuff doesn't like any form of bio fuel, and the repair can be *very* expensive! i've got a 2002 transit sat on my drive awaiting repair. at 50k miles it was moved onto bio fuel from regular pump diesel. by 65k it now needs a new fuel system. bio diesel doesn't lubricate the pump as well as diesel and it wears prematurely. this puts small bits of swarf into the fuel system that also kills of the injectors. my bro killed his brand new clio diesel by running it on homebrew veggie diesel. it ran for just over 30k then was back to the main dealer for new pump, injectors, lines and filter head.

i'm not saying this shouldn't be done - quite the opposite in fact. just make sure you know your motor is going to like it before you start

i know of several transits that run on homemade Bio,there's a delivery company in lincolnshire that runs all it vans on bio,it is a large commercial operation and its producing around 1500 litres of bio a week,but home produced non the less,some of the vans have now done over 100k with no problem.

 

[madkayaker]

its probably a case off fuel pumps fail from time to time its just that ones being run on bio are reported more

 

[Justme]

you can add 10% petrol to the finished bio (it's perfectly safe to do this ), or you can add a proper additive that's commercially available, i use "coldflow 350",

Jerry

I thought the duty exemption rules were that if you added anything to the mix that you had to pay duty on ALL of the batch not just the additive?

 

[Drains]

Common mistake with the fire extinguisher sitting.

Its far to close to the thing that might catch fire. Best near the door or even out side the room. Get out first, raise the alarm & then only if safe tackle the fire. You use the extinguisher to make a safe exit in most cases.

It's also CO2. They're great for playing with, but you ever tried putting out an oil fire with one?

Foam or dry powder, for all your liquid fire needs...

Bio doc - top set-up mate. I'm very envious. So's my accountant...
Used to run cooking oil in the Hilux, but I was never happy with the pinking, or the smell. Had a heat exchanger to warm it up, and it worked fine though, even cold starting.

 

[biodoctor]

It's also CO2. They're great for playing with, but you ever tried putting out an oil fire with one?

Foam or dry powder, for all your liquid fire needs...

Bio doc - top set-up mate. I'm very envious. So's my accountant...
Used to run cooking oil in the Hilux, but I was never happy with the pinking, or the smell. Had a heat exchanger to warm it up, and it worked fine though, even cold starting.

ooopppsss thanks for advise on the extinguisher better get another one, as for the smell,yes it must be like following a chippy down the road,when i first went green laning the lads were all saying they were starving and craving do-nuts

 

[biodoctor]

I thought the duty exemption rules were that if you added anything to the mix that you had to pay duty on ALL of the batch not just the additive?

You are allowed to add a certain percentage to the bio (I think its upto %4 although not sure) without paying additional tax, however the coldflow will take up a portion of your allowance.

I.e.
99l of bio + 1l coldflow would use up 100l of the allowance.

 

[Robotstar5]

Unfortunatley the handbook for my Freelander (TD4 BMW engine) states "NOT compatible with bio diesel fuels"

 

[biodoctor]

Unfortunatley the handbook for my Freelander (TD4 BMW engine) states "NOT compatible with bio diesel fuels"

Aw sorry to read that damm Germans

 

[brightspark]

get it filled with tizzer

 

[graffian]

bio diesel doesn't lubricate the pump as well as diesel and it wears prematurely. this puts small bits of swarf into the fuel system that also kills of the injectors. my bro killed his brand new clio diesel by running it on homebrew veggie diesel. it ran for just over 30k then was back to the main dealer for new pump, injectors, lines and filter head.

I thought the Lubricity [?] of bio was much better than petro diesel?

 

[Shox Dr]

I thought the Lubricity [?] of bio was much better than petro diesel?

it is, however it is thicker than Diesel, so doesn't lubricate as well

 

[Can'tWeld]

It's weird because some vehicles can run perfectly on SVO, too.

I had a Cavalier once that I ran on SVO for many thounsands of miles, not a single problem and £20 a fill up. Good times

(This was before it was legal, of course)

 

[madkayaker]

ran an escort van on svo for a while till it pulled the rust out of the tank and killed the pump. kind of think it would have done same on derv

 

[rtbcomp]

I think there are two three different ways of making bio-diesel, with varying levels if purity so perhaps it's the cruder ones that give all the trouble?

 

[biodoctor]

it is, however it is thicker than Diesel, so doesn't lubricate as well

i wouldn't like to say whether bio's thicker than white diesel or not,to be honest mine doesn't look any different,but bio is definatly for oily

 

[Shox Dr]

If Bio is made correctly it is no different in Viscosity to Petroleum Diesel. I read somewhere a group of people have been making Bio for a number of years in europe, and regularly send samples off to be tested and it always scores higher than Pump Diesel. They did this so VW couldn't blame the Bio if the Engine/Injection systems went poop they were using it in



ISTR it's somewhere in this link

 

[rtbcomp]

You & Yours, Radio 4 Today discussing biofuels.

 

[biodoctor]

If Bio is made correctly it is no different in Viscosity to Petroleum Diesel. I read somewhere a group of people have been making Bio for a number of years in europe, and regularly send samples off to be tested and it always scores higher than Pump Diesel. They did this so VW couldn't blame the Bio if the Engine/Injection systems went poop they were using it in



ISTR it's somewhere in this link

I use a very similar method, what i do is after mixing the methanol and caustic together is, add 80% of the mixture to the oil,mix,wait for seperation,draw of the glycol,re-heat,add the other 20%,mix,wait for seperation,perform a 27/3 test,add back in the glycol from stage 1,mix,then add 5% water,mix then leave to settle for 12 hrs, (the water helps to bring any "soaps" out when drawing off the glycol)

 

[white van man 2]

as for the smell,yes it must be like following a chippy down the road

mine smells more like a dodgy kebab van than a chip shop

 

[craig8661]

pmsl a very good thred this has turned out to be at the min i kno all diesel is a min of 5 to 10% bio mix at the pump.
also vw are rated for b5.
i kno a peugeot specalist in rotherem running his 307 hdi on his own bio not sure if i will use it in my jeep yet.
also could i alter the mix to make it a little hotter to say burn in a keroseen boiler