biodiesel as fuel additive for gasoline

[larryg]

Ok, i have to admit that as a teenager I rarely had enough money to keep my 73 Pontiac grand ville (455 no less) in gas. but i lived on a farm and my dad had a diesel tractor and we had diesel fuel around. so i ran a few "experiments" myself. Fact is it rarely minded having a little diesel in the gas (couple of gallons in a tank) and it even would run on 100% diesel but just barely (no power, but it would move around the yard, oh and it would continue to run after you turned off the key sometimes) my guess is that it was not really good for the engine, but then again at 16 i did worse things to the car anyway

[GasSavers_nathan]

so it looks like i should start with more then originally planned. maybe start with a 1:40 ratio and go up from there.
i better start making some more.

[GasSavers_nathan]

Well i added one liter of biodiesel today, I've gone about 8km since i added it so i cant be sure if i'm burning it yet. I would think that all the gas in the lines would be out by now but i cant say i notice any difference at all. I guess it will take more then a liter to find out.
Anyway, guess we'll have to wait a couple weeks to see.

[GasSavers_Ryland]

it should take less then a minute for the fuel to cycle thru the fuel lines in any vehicle that has a fuel pump, so you should be burning biodeisle already, I didn't notice any change in proformance, so I'm not sure what kind of changes you might be looking for.

this last weekend I went to a short talk on growing your own bio-diesle, it was pretty amazing, and not the kind of thing I would want to start doing on a small scale, as the equipment is a large investment (tens of thousands of dollars), and you only get about 110 gallons per acer.

[omgwtfbyobbq]

That's odd. I was under the impression it was pretty simple, but labor intensive, for the DIY'er. What crop was used for BD production?

[GasSavers_nathan]

my car doesn't have a return fuel line so it might take a bit longer then most. I drove more today though so i know i'm burning it now, no difference at all though. I was thinking with the added lubrication it might be quieter. I guess not.

[GasSavers_Ryland]

Originally Posted by omgwtfbyobbq

That's odd. I was under the impression it was pretty simple, but labor intensive, for the DIY'er. What crop was used for BD production?

the costly part of growing your own was the equipment to harvest it, and press it, if you are going to grow more then an acer, I would think you would want some kind of mecanical harvester, altho I supose spending a few days out there with a trailer or a pickup truck, and a big knife loping off the heads of sunflowers (that was there recomended crop) I think they said it was about 2000 pounds of sun flower seeds would make round 70 gallons, then you have to press the seeds, for that a screw press was being recomended, $5,000 to $10,000 for a screw press, the more exspensive german made one was being recomended, chinese made ones had many complants ranging from low oil production, to sloppy workmanship, to short life.

[Lug_Nut]

WOW! I had no idea it was so difficult to obtain biodiesel (please note the spelling of the word). Your home production of your gasoline is a good idea. Why not share with us the costs of the equipment you use for that?

My B100 biodiesel comes from a fuel pump at a full service (gasoline, diesel, biodiesel, home heating oil, kerosene) fuel station. I have yet to make my own biodiesel, not even a test batch, just as I have never made my own gasoline.

Sunflower has a relatively low oil yield per acre (again, note the spelling) and is not a crop usually selected primarily for oil production. Sunflower, soy, rape, cocoanut, Jatropha, corn, mustard and any other oil producing seed grain have other uses that are their primary reason for being harvested, the oil frequently is a byproduct of that prime use. About the only oil crop for biodiesel for which I know of no other prime purpose is algae. Although algae has the highest oil yield per acre it is not yet commercialized due to no high profit primary market value as with the other, more traditional crops.
Even when the vegetable oil IS the primary product, biodiesel can be made from the oil at the end of its use for it's primary purpose.
And the byproduct of biodiesel production can be used as a food ingredient.

[omgwtfbyobbq]

Originally Posted by Ryland

the costly part of growing your own was the equipment to harvest it, and press it, if you are going to grow more then an acer, I would think you would want some kind of mecanical harvester, altho I supose spending a few days out there with a trailer or a pickup truck, and a big knife loping off the heads of sunflowers (that was there recomended crop) I think they said it was about 2000 pounds of sun flower seeds would make round 70 gallons, then you have to press the seeds, for that a screw press was being recomended, $5,000 to $10,000 for a screw press, the more exspensive german made one was being recomended, chinese made ones had many complants ranging from low oil production, to sloppy workmanship, to short life.

Ouch $$... I suppose with sunflowers the press that gets the most oil out is preferred. I bet sunflowers are the only decent oil crop that could grow up there, so even if the kwh/ha is on the low end (~6,000kwh/ha) and upkeep is on the high end, it's the best that can be done. All the really good oil producers like oil palm (~35,000kwh/ha) and jatropha (~23,000kwh/ha) grow in the tropics, don't require much in the way of upkeep, and provide for other crops, which is why China is going to use it. But, it's a perennial, and can't take frost, so outside of a greenhouse it can't be used up north. At 100mpg I'd need a little less than half an acre per year of Jatropha to drive 10,000 miles... Which isn't too bad imo, but using sunflower I'd need almost two acres... Not as doable.

[The Toecutter]

Hemp is about 12,000 kWh/ha, but is much easier on the soil and less finicky about climate. You're almost always garunteed a harvest with hemp.

After I convert the GT6, I'm considering building a biodiesel dune buggy, modelled after that custom aero Model T metrompg posted on. It would be nice to have a V8 turbodiesel and a large 50 gallon tank on a small, aerodynamic(at least relative to open wheeled vehicles) vehicle like that. Imagine the cruising range, performance, and fuel economy all rolled into one.