Please help! Biodiesel?

Question

Which types of cars use biodiesel? i really need 2 know for my speech about it!

Answer 1

Most diesel engines will run on biodiesel but they may need modifications to the fuel line to preheat it as it is slightly thicker than ordinary diesel.

http://www.biodiesel.com/Conversion.htm

Answer 2

i may be able to help . most diesel powered vehicles can run on biofuels,,i am going to convert my diesel powered unit in my sailboat to burn cooking oil from my families resturuant..most diesel power vehicles can be adjusted to burn the biofuels and with the recycling of most plant and organic based matter perhaps it will take off and be great source of renewable energy.

Answer 3

Only cars with diesel engines

Answer 4

Let me all help you the difference between all meanings of biodiesel:

(Info taken from Diesel Truck Forum)
WHAT IS WHAT - DEFINITIONS

WVO is used veggie oil, usually picked up from a restaurant or food processing plant. Once processed it may need to be warmed in your tank or pickup in colder weather so your engine can use it.

SVO is new straight veggie oil (any kind, never used). May also need heated, like WVO.

Bio Diesel is fuel made from oil through a process called transesterifacation. That is the seperation of the glycerine from the esters in the oil. This is what the methanol and lye do. The glycerine is the waste and the esters is the bio-d.

Blended Vegetable Oil Mixing Vegetable oil with a thinning agent to lower the viscosity of the Vegetable Oil so it pumps and injects more like diesel.

Bio-Diesel FAQ

While there are some people that have "broken out" and started commerical enterprises, it is important to note that this arena is still in experimental form. BioDiesel may have gotten some recent nods and warm fuzzies in the general world, but for the most part, our homebrew methods and shade-tree tinkering still seems to remain the red-headed bastard step-child to the diesel engine manufactures at large.

Every kit is different. Some are good, some are bad... just like any cross-section of products in any competive marketplace. You need to search, read, search, read, and search and read some more.

After that, take a step back and note that what you are paying at the pump represents the cost of the CONVENIENCE of having a 3rd party collect/filter/process/store/distribute your petroleum product for you... and give you the ability to fill up your tank all over the nation.

BioDiesel and WVO may offer significant cost savings, but the trade-off here is that the "convenience" factor is gone. You are doing your OWN collection... your OWN processing... your OWN storage... etc etc etc.... not to mention the fact that if your engine takes a nose-dive (for ANY reason), not many Ford Dealerships will give you the time of day once they find out you decided to go against the grain.

What kind of mileage/performance differences are there in running BioDiesel or WVO? There are two answers to this question. 1) It's free... who cares?
2) From what I have gathered, if you compare a single drop of WVO to a single drop of #2 Diesel, the petro-fuel contains APPROXIMATLY 5-10% more potential combustible energy than the WVO. While this SEEMS like it should translate to a 5-10% drop-off in mileage and power, most (if not all) folks never seem to notice. So while the scientists in lab coats wag their fingers, the rest of us just shrug and say "whatever".


Can I use "off-road" (red) Diesel in my truck? Can I use heating oil? Will it hurt anything?
The only thing you are hurting is your wallet if you are caught. The risk that you run is getting nabbed by the police/IRS. "Off-road" diesel is intended for use in machinery such as farm equipment that doesn't typically travel on public roads, and therefore is cheaper because of the difference in fuel tax. Off-road diesel is dyed with a red coloring, making it easy to spot if a dip-stick is ever placed in your fuel tank. From what I have read, the fine from the IRS alone is $1000 or $10/gallon... whichever is greater. This penalty doesn't include any fines from your local/state government.

Can I just use any type of oil?
Most (if not all) vegetable-based cooking oil will work for BioDiesel and WVO... in general folks like to find quantities of non-hydrogenated oil, as it has the lowest gel/cloud point... making it much easier to manipulate/filter/use in lower temperatures. Most folks also (with a few exceptions) tend to stay away from the hydrogenated oil used at fast food restaurants, as it has the consistency of Lard/Crisco at room temperature and is very hard to work with.

Can I just throw a few gallons of WVO into my stock tank without modifying anything?
"Cutting" your #2 diesel fuel with WVO is a common practice, particularly in the warmer climates. Typically, you will see this as something like "10/90", representing a combination of 10% WVO and 90% #2 Diesel. The short answer is "Yes", but again... this is a process that goes well beyond the "15 minute answer". In short, you want to pay CLOSE ATTENTION to how you are changing the viscosity of your fuel. The additional X-factor here is the ambient temperature of your area. Hotter temperatures in the summer mean you can typically mix higher percentages of WVO with your fuel. Lower ambient temperatures mean (obviously) that a lesser ratio should be used.

Can I burn WMO? (Waste Motor Oil?)
There has been a lot of discussion on this topic..... and the brotherhood here seems to be divided evenly into the "YES" camp, and the "NO" camp. While the general consensus is that you CAN (everything has a flashpoint)... the answer might just be that you SHOULDN'T. (I am trying to stay impartial here, and avoid any flaming). WMO contains the very stuff that your engine is trying to get RID of... and turning it right around and stuffing it into the other end of your piston chamber makes some people uneasy. That being said, there are a number of folks who surface here from time to time talking about their successful blends of WMO to #2 Diesel whenever this question arises.

more defenitions below:

Biodiesel - An environmentally safe, low polluting fuel for most diesel internal combustion and turbine engines, containing methyl or ethyl esters made from fresh or waste vegetable oils (triglycerides).

Biodiesel Recipe - Like a recipe for making a cake, a biodiesel recipe specifies the ingredients required, and the steps for combining and processing them to make biodiesel fuel. The most common recipe uses waste vegetable oil (WVO), methanol (wood alcohol), and sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) to produce biodiesel and glycerine. The most common steps are: (1) cleaning/heating WVO, (2) titration of WVO sample, (3) combining methanol and sodium hydroxide in exact amounts, (4) combining (3) with (1) and mixing at 50c, (5) waiting for separation, (6) separating the biodiesel from the wastes, (7) washing and drying the biodiesel, (8) disposing of the wastes.

Bubble Wash - A method of final washing of biodiesel through air agitiation. Biodiesel floats above a quantity of water. Bubbles from an aquarium air pump and air stone are injected into the water causing the bubbles to rise. At the water/biodiesel interface, the air bubbles carry water up through the biodiesel by surface tension. Simple diffusion causes water soluable impurities in the biodiesel to be extracted into the water. As the bubble reaches the surface and breaks, the water is freed and percolates back down through the biodiesel again.

Canola - a trademarked hybrid of rape initially bred in Canada. Rape Seed Oil was produced in the 19th century as a source of a lubricant for steam engines, and the oil has a bitter taste due to high levels of acids. Canola has been bred to reduce the amount of acid, yielding a palatable oil. Canola = CANadian Oil Low Acid. (unverified)

Emulsification - to emulsify - to form an emulsion...as in mixing oil and vinegar in a blender. voila: salad dressing.

Emulsion - a usually unstable dispersion of two liquids which do not normally mix (they are immiscible). Emulsions can be formed either by mechanical aggitation, or by chemical processes. Unstable emulstions will separate over time or temperature, stable emulsions will not separate.

Esters - a product of the reaction of acids (usually organic) and alcohols. ch3cooch3 - methyl acetate is the simplest ester. one of the oxygens has a double bond. you can replace the 'ch3' part on the right with more ch2 chunks, and you get other methyl esters, including biodiesel's methyl stearate. many of the esters smell good.

Ethanol - ethyl alcohol - c2h5oh - ch3-ch2-oh = the intoxicating stuff in beer, and a good solvent. "beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy" :: ben franklin.

Glycerine - A byproduct of biodiesel production: ch2-oh--ch-oh--ch2-oh each of the "oh" sites is one of the three places where an ester is broken off of the triglyeride molecule (veg. oil).

Kerosene - A thin oil distilled from petroleum or shale oil, used as a fuel for heating and cooking, in lamps, and as a denaturant for alcohol, diesel or WVO.

POH- Potassium Hydroxide. used to make biodiesel from ethanol. a metallic base.

Lye a quaint american term for NaOH - Sodium Hydroxide

Methanol - methyl alcohol - ch3oh - the stuff they burn in top fuel eliminator dragsters and toy airplane engines. a good solvent and a component of gasahol. lethal if consumed. In biodiesel production, methanol is used to make methoxide. Methanol absorbs water from the air, so keep the container closed tightly, and purchase methanol which is known to be dry (anhydrous) or is 99.9% pure. solvent or paint grade methanol may not be anhydrous, and you will run the risk of making soap.

Methoxide - a.k.a. sodium methoxide a.k.a. sodium methylate - (Ch3-O+ Na-) - an organic salt, in pure form a white powder - In biodiesel production, "methoxide" is a product of mixing methanol and sodium hydroxide, yielding a solution of sodium methoxide in methanol, and a significant amount of heat. sodium methoxide in methanol is a liquid that kills nerve cells before you can feel the pain. rinse with water, seek medical attention immediately. also highly explosive. making sodium methoxide is the most dangerous step you deal with when making biodiesel. for this reason, you should carefully consider the safety of the design of your equipment and workspace before using, and you should wear protective clothing and a respirator when handling. you should also make only what you intend to use immediately.

NaOH - Lye, Sodium Hydroxide, Caustic Soda, a.k.a. Red Devil Drain Cleaner... a metallic base. strongly alkaline and extremely corrosive. mixing with fluids usually causes heat, and can create enough heat to ignite flammables (such as methanol), so add slowly. For biodiesel, this is one of the main reactants. Make sure you are purchasing "anhydrous sodium hydroxide." Anhydrous means it's dry, and water turns biodiesel into soap. Store this product in an airtight container to prevent NaOH from absorbing water and CO2 from the air. Store separately.

Optimal PH for Biodiesel - 7 (seven)...neutral, same as distilled water (and most tap water).

pH - (mirriam - webster) a measure of acidity and alkalinity of a solution that is a number on a scale on which a value of 7 represents neutrality and lower numbers indicate increasing acidity and higher numbers increasing alkalinity and on which each unit of change represents a tenfold change in acidity or alkalinity and that is the negative logarithm of the effective hydrogen-ion concentration or hydrogen-ion activity in gram equivalents per liter of the solution; also : the condition represented by a pH number.

Rape - Rape Seed - Rape Seed Oil - a.k.a. Cole seed. A member of the Mustard family. Any of a number of crops grown for oil from the seeds. Canola is a member of this family. Another early term for this oil is Colza. Makes good biodiesel.

Saponification - the reaction of an ester with a metallic base and water ...the making of soap.

Soy - Soy Oil, a vegetable oil pressed from soy beans.

Soy Diesel - a media term for biodiesel which accentuates the renewable nature of biodiesel. Popular in soy producing regions.

SVO - Straight Vegetable Oil - burns well in many diesels, but does not start engine, and will coke in the injectors as a hot engine cools. a separate tank of petro diesel or biodiesel is often used during starting and stopping engine, and an electric valve allows transfer to the SVO tank.

Titration - as applied to biodiesel, titration is the act of determining the acidity of a sample of WVO by the dropwise addition of a known base to the sample while testing with pH paper for the desired neutral pH=7 reading. by knowing how much base neutralizes an amount of WVO, we discern how much base to add to the entire batch.

Transesterfication - Process of creating esters from vegetable oil (a triglyceride), and sodium methoxide. Products are Glycerine, Methyl Stearate, Methyl Oleate, Methyl Linoleate. (assuming soy veg oil)

Viscosity - the "thickness" or "thinness" of a fluid. methanol is "thin", having a low viscosity, while vegetatable oil is "thick" having a high viscosity. (mirriam - webster) the ratio of the tangential frictional force per unit area to the velocity gradient perpendicular to the direction of flow of a liquid.

WVO - Waste Vegetable Oil - WVO is the usual starting product for the making of biodiesel.