BINGO

 

A new show called "Coolfuel" started airing a few days ago. Pretty interesting stuff they had about traveling the nation without stopping at the pump. I noticed that they had problems with their BioD crystalizing and jelling at cold temps, so they added some ethanol to keep it from doing so. But not too much otherwise it would hike the octane and blow the engine. Now, is it true that BioD starts to crystalize faster at lower temps then normal diesel? Also, would ordinary diesel fuel treatment work with BioD to prevent this? or have to resort to the ethanol as they did?

 

They must have been running B-100 if they were having problems. pure BD does cloud (crystalize) at a higher temp than #2. You dont need fuel treatment like Stanadyne or Diesel Kleen to stop the problem all you have to do is add some #2 Diesel. In cold weather buy B-80 and you should be ok.

 

Hi all: I hate to ask, but using a one tank system and mixing my own percentage of SVO (filtered to 2 micron and a water seperator) what is the maximum persentage of SVO you would consider safe? I live in So. CAl so the temp is not usually a problem. Truck is an 01 7.3 with 130.000 and big tube exhaust, banks trans comand and K&N filter. I do use stanodyne blue on ocasion just for insurance.

Also what engins should not use SVO or Bio?
Lastly the only dumb question is the one that is not asked.
PWRPROD

 

You cannot mix VO with diesel in a single tank under any circumstances. They will seperate into layers and you'll end up starting on straight cold VO. The results are hard starts culminating in expensive repairs.

 

Sorry, but 0 percent. SVO and dino-diesel will not stay mixed. Running unheated WVO or SVO will KILL your engine. Any diesel can use Bio or heated WVO or SVO without any problem.
FABMANDELUX.

 

greets to all, became member and have been in the 7.3 forum trying figure out how to fix my truck, decided to venture over here. I've been researching, making test batches and accumulating parts for and appleseed reactor to make bio. another good site is www.journeytoforever.com that talks about both bio and ethanol production. pretty good info, i think forums as well, but i haven't been on there. as far as the caustic lye and methanol needed for bio production is there any hints and tips on where to source it?? I live in a metro area of about 120K in an agriculture and fuel production economy of texas if that helps. so far FTE has been a great site. thanks guys
Chad

 

I get mine from a local repair shop. The owner races circle track on the weekends. He buys methanol in bulk (several hundred gallons at a time) to fuel his car and his buddies' cars, and he also buys it by the sealed 55 gallon drum. A drum is $125 + deposit ($30). I'm picking up my first drum this Friday. Since one gallon of methanol makes 5 gallons of bioD, I'm good for 275 gallons - about 2 month's worth of fuel.

The appleseed processor is a pretty simple rig to build. Mine's finished, and I'm now building my washer and dryer. Hope to have everything finished this coming weekend. My only concern is the size of the production batches. 25 to 30 gallons at a time means at least 4 runs for me every month. Logistically, this is gonna be a problem. I do NOT want to spend two (or three!) weekends every month brewing fuel. One answer might be a 'dual fuel' setup. Run bioD in my two main tanks, and use a 120 gallon heated bed-mounted tank for grease. Start & stop on bioD and run on grease. Such a system could easily pay for itself in about 8 months. With this setup, 25 gallons of bioD a month would be more than enuff.

 

i just found a scaled 30gallon heater, so small batches. pulled element and got a 120V 1500W element for heater, also have 1 good poly drum and some scrap 2x4s for stands. found an ag supply store with camlocks. it's all good. will have to process a lot. just started a job where once trained I will be driving my vehicle a lot, so really need to process so BD for that. If they pay for fuel by mile, i could make money selling mileage that cost me .70-.80 per gallon. we have some local race tracks here that i thought i'd hit up. also heard that some propane companys might be able to help, since methanol is used to dry propane i think. just trying to get an idea of the logistics involed in making BD. reactor and chemistry to me is simple. I know where I can get the lye. no name drain cleaner or 50lbs bag of it from janitorial supply. methanol is the what I'm trying to figure out.
Chad

 

Yeah, I first considered using a used water heater. In fact, that's even recommended in the appleseed plans. Problem was, all the used ones I found were pretty nasty inside, and I didn't want that contamination interfering with the bio reaction. The new 50gal WH ($204) was the biggest bite to the budget. Right now, I'm searching for waste cooking oil reclaimers in the Tyler area that would consider selling me filtered used oil by the barrel. That's done in other places and the going price seems to be a buck a gallon. I could easily pick up six barrels at a time and never have to mess with separating, filtering, 'leftovers', etc. Simply pump the oil from the barrel straight into the converter. Later on, I might consider the 'harvesting' thing, but right now, this would be the most expedient, cost-effective route for me.

 

i was originally looking in the scrap yar for a water heater, but they said i couldn't reclaim any, they were in a big "dangerous" pile. so one day i found this one at a house I use to live at. i had sinced moved out but was in the neighborhood. saw it in trash pile, knocked on door, asked, guy helped load it into truck. had a lot of scale since it was on a water coop that used water wells. nothing a lot of water flushed through with elements and drain valve removed wont cure. worse comes to worse. buy gallon vinegar and dilute with water in heater with drain holes sealed up. vinegar will eat the calcium carbonate scale. cheaper that buying new heater for someone who is broke. i might buy a 50 at some point, but want to make process work first. idea about buying filtered is not bad, but wish those prices were lower. only way to make this affordable is buy bulk chemicals which hurts when you purchase large quantities up front. large expenditure that will last a while though.
Chad