Alternate fuels, Biodiesel

[cranetruck]

Some observations after another 100 miles on 90% biodiesel....
1) Starts a bit rough in 60 degree weather. Takes a minute or so to smooth out.
2) Maximum boost noted was 9 psi with a EGT of about 1,100 F. Still seems to have the same amount of power as in the past based on a total vehicle weight of 20,000 and the same country roads.
3) Fuel consumption may be a bit higher, hard to determine with the combination of idle, stop and go etc.
4) Wife doesn't get too upset when house gets dosed with exhaust fumes during a typical warm-up period with the deuce in the driveway. The fast food restaurant smell is much preferred to the petro diesel exhaust. She even came along on one trip and thought it was "a blast".

That'll do for now.
Have a great day!

 

[Polverone]

People around you are going to think that you are giving the Kentucky Chicken Colonel a run for his drumsticks.

 

[1ton]

Bjorn sorry to get off topic but, I see you painted the flood lights and the headache rack too.
i kept staring at the one green flood light.
What's that Yellow cord for?

 

[cranetruck]

The yellow extension cord is for the "Chargetek 500" battery maintainer. Whenever possible, I have it plugged in (120vac). It's mounted on the wall behind the companion seat of the deuce.
It charges the batteries individually, which is needed since I use ther CB-radio on the grounded battery alone. It also keeps the batteries in great shape in cold weather.

Since the truck is used for work a lot, painting has not been a priority. It came from the USMC in 4-color desert camo MERDC when I purchased it in 1995. I started painting it for it's first visit to Aberdeen last year and got more done for this year's visit. Perhaps by next year I 'll have it done. The pattern I picked is the NATO desert color scheme (Sand, Field Drab and Earth Yelow).

 

[Wyattearp]

Bjorn I have been following the biodiesel posts and your never short of amazement, sounds like your on to something big with the biodiesel, keep up the work.
I may have to slip down there one weekend and check out your set up it sounds very interesting for sure. I would also be interested in knowing the pollutant numbers you were talking about with the used oil, I wonder if the multifuel burns it beyone the point of polluting, let us know if you find out anything on that.

I myself have started dismantling the deuce to prepare for engine replacement, I have decided to take the engine i got from you and have it rebuilt as time permits(limited time = slow process) [^] Im in the process of getting funds for one thats up in KY. Hope the funds come and its still available :hop:

Talk to you later and hope all is well down in Floyd

 

[cranetruck]

Wyattearp, your are always welcome to stop by. We are only 65 miles away straight East on Hwy 58.
Don't know about the pollutants, it is not routinely measured for diesels, apparently it's pretty complicated.

 

[cranetruck]

This image show the girls at the restaurant (Jim's Grill) dumping the hot cooking oil into the trash can I use to haul the oil.

The deuce runs as good as ever, over 1,000 miles now with a percentage of biodiesel and/or cooking oil. Currently it's 90% biodiesel.

Ryan asked about coking of the injectors on the mil-veh forum. I don't know how that would effect performance, but so far the engine runs well except for running rough when first started (a minute or so).

 

[Elwenil]

Bjorn, one of the guys posted this up on the M715 Zone:
http://www.freedomfuelamerica.com/



Anything on there worth looking at? The stuff seems expensive, but I thought it was interesting.

 

[cranetruck]

Elwenil, if I had $3,000 I'd be paying off a few bills and maybe buying another Gama Goat from Howard's.
With all these processors, one has to think about where to get that much used cooking oil and most of us can't burn it that quickly anyway.
I prepared a bach of 20 gallons last night and it took me just over one hour.
My equipment consists of two clear plastic storage tubs from Dollar General for $5.00/ea, a calibrated bucket for filling the tubs with 30 liters of oil, a jewler's precision scale to weigh the lye (ebay for $9.99), a graduated 1,000 ml glass flask for measuring the methanol, a set of wooden spoons for stirring, vinyl throw-away gloves, a 200 micron fit-in-a-5-gallon-bucket strainer (ebay a few bucks ea) for filtering the used oil before processing, glass beakers, paper towels, pH meter (from a yard sale, pH strips may be used) and a 5-micron sock filter set-up for filtering the final product before using it in the fuel tank (filters cost about $5/ea and the stand is borrowed from a friend, don't know the cost).
Heating the oil speeds up the processing, but the oil I use is clear and pours freely at room temp. I don't heat it.
To meet ASTM standards the biodiesel must be "washed". I don't do that for my personal use. My biodiesel most likely contains some methanol and residual methoxide, but from what I have read "From the fryer to the fuel tank" book, it doesn't harm the engine.

Washing the biodiesel is something I plan to do eventually. I have a large barrel and a couple of aquarium "bubble stones" for that purpose. You simply mix water with the biodiesel and let the bubbles trickle through the mixture. After a day or so the water settles on the bottom along with methanol (absorbed by the water) and other impurities. To get rid of any water that may now be present in the BD, the BD must be "dried" by heating so that the water will evaporate.
Now you see why I haven't bothered to wash my biodiesel.

When I pick up the cooking oil from the restaurant, it is very hot, about 300 F so there is no water present.
When I get my ducks in order, I'll process it while it's still warm from the restaurant.

Bottom line: No processor for me at this time.

 

[mangus580]

I agree with Bjorn on this. I have less than $200 in my homemade processer, that will work every bit as good as that $3k one. The other thing is, if you do some reasearch on that $3k one, you will see that the plastic tank setup in it can cause problems. Its alot of money to spend to save a few $. Think about the payback on it... and everything. I am very happy with my homemade setup (although i havent made any yet!! but close)

 

[Albin]

For those of you interested, this is the book to buy for biodiesel:


http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0970722702/qid=1119614842/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-5118446-6145612?v=glance&s=books



"From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank". Very good book, well worth the $24 or so. It goes into extreme detail on how to make BD and the three ways to use VO to fuel diesel engines.



The last time my friend bought BD, it was in Chattanooga for about $2.08/gal. This compares to $2.15 or so he was usually buying dino juice.



There are three ways to use VO in diesels:



- Straight Veggie Oil by modifying the vehicle to clean and heat the oil prior to the engine. Vechicle mods include heated fuel lines, extra heated tank and heated filters. You have to start and stop on diesel. Bad news if you forget and stop on SVO.

- VO/diesel mix: easiest but not recommended.

- BD or a mix of BD & diesel fuel. No vehicle mods necessary. You do, however, have to be careful of materials compatibility between any leftover alcohol (methanol) and natural rubber gaskets, seals and hoses. Properly manufactured BD that has the methanol scrubbed should be ok.



Thanks,



Al

 

[cranetruck]

It was good to see you again, Wyattearp, you are welcome to stop by at any time and I'll try to keep you up to date on the biodiesel stuff.

If you don't have a source of used cooking oil, there isn't much one can do. I collected poor quality oil from a pizza place for about 6 months and only really got going when the relatively good oil became available from Jim's Grill. They change oil twice a week and most of the time I can pick it up so the average volume now is about 20 gallons/week.
My connection with the Go cart race track is not terribly reliable, sometimes I have to wait for a delivery up to two weeks (methanol). If I had the cash, I'd buy a 55-gallon drum at a time, but as it is now it's batches of 10 gallons. Cost for methanol is $2.50/gallon.

Adrian (my son) spotted a black bear near the house two times during a 2-3 week period and you may be on to something, James, when you suggested that the bear may have been attracted to the smell of french fries from the deuce exhaust! I had the deuce running for hours at a time recently when working on the log cabin kit (crane work to handle logs etc).

A side effect of using biodiesel.

 

[cranetruck]

Quote from Cgarbee in the "Upcoming Event" section:

"I've got several race tracks near me as well as bulk chemical/fuel suppliers so if anyone needed methanol or such, I could bring some to the rally..."

Cabell, have you checked on the cost of methanol from your bulk suppliers?
My race track cost is $2.50/gal.

 

[Albin]

Bjorn,

We're getting ready to start experimenting in making small quantities of BD. Maybe in concert with a local High School chemistry class, they learn, we learn, then maybe we can scale it up.

Question: What specific procedures are you using? I've got the book "Fryer to the Fuel Tank"; my friend with a '02 PSD has a homegrown book by a girl named Mark. What are you using?

Thanks,

Al

 

[mangus580]

Al, I would suggest using Both.... although I am leaning more towards the Girl Mark book, and theories.

 

[cranetruck]

Al, I think it's a great idea to get the school involved.
My procedure has been outlined in many previous posts in this thread,
just go back and read them and if you have any further questions, let me know.

 

[cranetruck]

Last night when I brought home another batch of used cooking oil from Jim's Grill
I decided to process it while it was still warm.
I bring a steel trash can and they pour the hot oil in it for transportation home (see image in a previous post).
It was still 280 F when I got it home.
I filled my two clear plastic storage tubs with 30 liters each of the hot oil, diluted with cold oil so that
the resulting temperature ended up about 125 F or so.
Next I prepared the methanol/lye and dumped it in the tubs.
I stirred it for about 20 minutes and it turned uniformly dark sooner than before (room temp processing),
so it appears that processing at an elevated temp will speed up the reaction at least.
This morning it looks like the batches I have done before with a 1-inch layer of the dark brownish
glycerine on the bottom.

In a test a couple of weeks ago, I mixed some biodiesel with water in a flask, shook it up and let it stand.
The biodiesel is now on top with the water and a whitish soapy sediment on the bottom.
The biodiesel on top is crystal clear and slightly lighter in color.
This is what "washing" is all about. Apparently, just shaking it up with water and letting it stand
for a week or two will do a fair job as opposed to bubble treatment etc.

 

[Wyattearp]

sounds like washing won't be that big of a deal then, can't wait to see if i can get set up like cranetruck and if washing it will take the methanol and lye residue out then I know what the Dodge Cummins will be getting during spring, summer and early fall along with the deuce.... :hop:

 

[cranetruck]

Processing the cooking oil at about 120 F produces a uniform almost clear biodiesel.
Now, for every 10 gallons of BD there is about 1 gallon of by product, mostly
glycerine and I have about 12 gallons of it.
This byproduct can be used to make soap and is a degreaser.

 

[cranetruck]

The other day I tested this glop (including a few overcooked french fries)
on the oily front axle of the deuce.
Wiped it on and rinsed it off with water.
Lo and behold, the degreaser emulsified (like Gunk engine degreaser)
and left a clean surface behind.