Biodiesel Kits: Make Your Own Fuel

Bio-diesel is a fuel that can be used to run everything from cars to electric generators. It can be used to run any diesel engine, completely without modification. The engine will run cleaner and need less upkeep over it's lifetime because bio-diesel is so clean.

It is not only a clean fuel, it is a completely renewable fuel resource! It is cheap, and relatively simple to make at home for about 80 cents a gallon or less at current (2007) prices. In fact, you may be able to get the chief component of this fuel completely free!

What is the basic building block of this amazing fuel source? Cooking oil. Vegetable oil. The kind that any fast food place used by the gallon. The kind restaurants pay large sums of money to have removed from the premises. The kind you can get in the grocery store for a few dollars. Bio-diesel, put simply, is made from processing used cooking oil or meat fats, and lye or potassium hydroxide. Easily obtainable materials.

You do not need a Master's degree in science to make bio-diesel. In fact, it is easier than it has ever been because there are numerous websites where you can obtain Home Bio-diesel Kits.

With one of these kits, which range in price from about $1,800.00 to about $4,000.00 depending on what you want, you can learn to make your own environmentally friendly, low cost fuel in under an hour.

The only by product of making bio-diesel is glycerin, a sticky substance that is natural and can be composted easily in your compost pile to add nutrients to your soil.

Having owned a small restaurant I can tell you that small restaurant owners have a difficult time getting rid of used frying oil. It cannot legally be thrown in a dumpster and must be disposed of in a certain manner. Most would be glad to allow you to remove the oil for them, free of charge!

You will need to run the cooking oil through a filtration process to get out all the food particles before you begin to process the fuel. An average bio-diesel kit will make about 40 gallons of fuel in 24 hours.

It is also possible to make your own bio-diesel processor from a converted electric water heater, using a conversion kit. There are numerous detailed instructions on the Internet, which I have posted links to, however here is the basic method:

First you will need to remove the cold water inlet tube and the bottom drain and attach the T assembly. At that point the pump will bolt to the T, and the fuel transfer manifold will attach to the top of the pump. The electric elements will need to be rewired to heat only at the bottom of the tank. With a few other tube connections and some wiring changes your bio-diesel processor is ready to go.

By making your own bio-diesel fuel you are making inroads into a cleaner environment. You are taking steps to be more self reliant. You are utilizing a renewable energy source that biodegrades harmlessly.

Bio-diesel can be used to run any diesel engine, including home generators. It can be used as a home heating oil. Because the components are made and processed with in most individual countries, it allows a population to reduce its' country's trade deficit and boost the local economy. It creates jobs and benefits farmers.

Not only that but it is good for the engines it is run in, cleaning out old residues and keeping them running clean. It lengthens the life of the machinery it is used in because of it's cleanness so saves money in that way as well. Using bio- fuels could reduce the production of greenhouse gasses by reducing life cycle carbon dioxide as much as 78%.

It is completely legal to create and use your own bio -fuels in most , if not all, states in the United States. Bio-fuels comply with all standard emissions systems requirements. This is definitely something to look into for the present as well as the future.

Really the only negatives in using bio-diesel is the fact that it is not readily available. This means that if you are going on a cross country trip, for example, you are going to have to tote your own fuel supply or use the regular diesel that you can get at the gas stations you pass by.

The other problem is that due to a lack of understanding about the long term use of bio-diesel and it's effect on engines most car manufacturers state that use of bio-diesel will cause their manufacturer's warranty to be invalid.

All in all, bio-diesel is an excellent choice for both the environment and the pocketbook.

The Department of Defense and the Congressional Budget Office (in the US) have both confirmed that bio-diesel is the lowest cost, renewable fuel source that complies with the EPA's requirements. There is fascinating information as well as charts at Bio-dieselBasics

Chrysler Group has put over 150,000 miles on it's fleet cars using bio-diesel over the last five years. GM has been monitoring a fleet of over 238 vehicles, using bio-diesel, that have racked up over five million miles- all on bio-diesel. Not one of the cars has experienced any problems related to the fuel.

More and more cities are using bio-diesel exclusively in their public use vehicles. The Department of Defense is using bio-diesel. In fact the DOD is one of the BIGGEST US users of bio-diesel. The car companies do not honor a warranty if you have used bio-diesel. Why?

One reason that they state is that up until recently bio-diesel has not been as carefully regulated by the government as gasoline. There has been voiced concerns that this could mean that there would not be a consistancy in the quality of the fuel. Some feel that switching back and forth between regular diesel and bio-diesel would harm engines. The switch would be necessary during long trips when bio-diesel supplies could be sporadic.

Yet at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri the Transportation Division has been experimenting with just this very thing for most of the decade. Operation and maintenance for the more than 70 High-Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWV) studied was unchanged.

The US Navy uses bio-diesel for all non-tactical vehicles. At Guantanamo Bay's Environmental Department they are currently experimenting with the use of used cooking oil for bio-diesel manufacture to run the various vehicles on base. The DOD Great Lakes uses bio-diesel, the Department of Energy uses bio-diesel at three of it's major facilities and the US Postal Service is utilizing bio-diesel more and more.

Perhaps bio-diesel will become something car manufacturers accept when THEY can profit the most from it.

While none of this links to a specific scientific study it seems the trend is pretty clear. Bio-diesel is a safe fuel, a environmentally friendly fuel, and a low cost fuel, at least for now.

As the government gets more involved the price will go up, as well as agricultural issues similar to the ones we see with coffee today. Potentially farmers in poor South American Countries will begin to clear large amounts of land to produce crops to make bio-diesel fuel, totally defeating the positive qualities of it as it is.