What is Biodiesel?

The invention diesel goes all the way back to 1892 in France. Dr. Rudolf Diesel made the first diesel engine and designed it to run on many different fuels including vegetable oil. He thought it would help develop the agriculture in many countries but this idea was soon lost due to the fact that fossil fuels were much cheaper than vegetable oil. Although diesel engines can run on vegetable oil true biodiesel is much more convenient. You can make biodiesel from animal fats, grease, or vegetable oil. The most common way to make biodiesel is from restaurant grease because most restaurants will pay companies to dispose of their used oil when you could throw it in your fuel tank. The fuel is made through a process called transesterification in which the oil molecule is broken down and joined together by methanol leaving which replaces the alcohol. Because the fuel is made from vegetable oil the final product is safe and biodegradable.

What are the Benefits of Biodiesel?

There are many more benefits of biodiesel now than there was when it was invented. Back in the 1890’s when the diesel engine was designed to run on many different fuels there was a surplus of oil and it was cheap. Now that oil has become more expensive it makes sense to find a cheaper fuel than petrodiesel. Biodiesl is cheaper in the long run than petrodiesel and it provides fewer emissions. It also doesn’t contribute at all to global warming and provides benefits to your engine. Biodiesel works as a lubricant in an engine prolonging the life of the vehicle. The best part about biodiesel is that it doesn’t affect the power of the engine; some people even believe that their car has more power while using biodiesel.

A world full of biodiesel would be beneficial. It would bring more jobs to America because the fuel can be made here. This would improve our economy and we wouldn’t have to rely on the Middle East for oil. Occasionally there is news about a big freighter that spills thousands of gallons of oil into the ocean damaging the ecosystem severely. With biodiesel there would be no environmental problem because it is biodegradable. Smog around cities would almost be wiped out entirely and global warming would be slowed to a crawl. Even with all of these benefits it is hard to change the lifestyles of the three hundred million people who live in America.

What are the Consequences of Biodiesel?

Even though biodiesel sounds great it also takes time and money. It costs money to build or buy a processor to make the fuel and it has to be made. Oil is needed on a regular basis to keep making the fuel. The only real downside to biodiesel is the manufacturing process. Also during the manufacturing process glycerin is produced and needs to be disposed of carefully causing other potential problems. There are also tests to make sure that the oil is good enough to use in the manufacturing of biodiesel.

What Is Titration?

The first order of business is to get different sources of grease of vegetable oil. Chinese restaurants tend to have the best oil because they change it more frequently as opposed to fast food restaurants. When you have sources you need to make sure the oil is good. You should know how often the oil is changed one week or less is usually a good time frame. The longer the oil is being used the more free fatty acids tend to be in it. A necessary way to find the amount of FFAs is the titration test. For the titration test you need the following ingredients:

Isopropyl Alcohol
Turmeric indicator solution
Catalyst- KOH or Lye
Distilled water

To make the indicator solution you need to mix 1 part turmeric with 5 parts alcohol and let it settle. Then use an eyedropper to extract the liquid from the top without taking any of the sediment on the bottom. And that gives you the titration indicator solution. Then mix about 20ml of alcohol with 5 or 6 drops of the indicator solution and mix well. A blank titration is not necessary but provides better results. This is when a mixture of a liter of distilled water and a gram of KOH is mixed and added to the alcohol/turmeric mixture. Then alcohol is mixed the oil and heated to dissolve the alcohol into the oil. Then titration fluid is slowly added to the oil and mixed. When the color stops changing the amount of titration fluid that is used is measured and called the acid number. The lower the acid number the better the oil is for biodiesel production

How to Make Biodiesel?

After finding good oil the next step is to make a test batch. A test batch is easily made in a 2 liter bottle. First you heat the oil to about two hundred forty degrees to remove all of the water then begin the process of making the oil. The methanol and the KOH need to be mixed completely before it can be mixed with the oil. When the methanol and catalyst is mixed well it is called methoxide. Then oil and the methoxide can be mixed in the two-liter bottle. It needs to be mixed very well and vented occasionally. The mixture should settle for about one day before it is completely separated into biodiesel and glycerin.

After the biodiesel is made it needs to be washed. Great care should be taken during this process to ensure a good finished product. Washing the biodiesel consists of mixing water with it and shaking it. The first wash needs to be shaking very gently for about thirty seconds. This process should be repeated numerous times and each time the bottle can be shook harder. After the water is mixed with the biodiesel it will separate and the water can be poured out before the next wash. The washing process is complete when the water poured out is nearly clear.

For larger batches of biodiesel a processor is necessary. There are many ways to get a processor. You can design it and build it yourself, buy a do it yourself guide, buy a kit with instructions and parts, or buy a processor. Each approach has its pros and cons.