He heats it in a metal 50 gallon drum first, then pumps it into the tanks. He tries to use clean oil or at least mixes the greasier stuff with some cleaner oil before he processes it.

 

The biodiesel industry is on it's last leg because it's not subsidized as much or if at all anymore. Many plants have been forced to shutdown and the remainder are struggling to break even.

Another reason why ethanol and diesel may be more expensive in your area is the increased transportation costs to get it there. In the Midwest we used to have a significant benefit to lower prices because the consumption was relatively local. Now that biofuels have spread to the coasts the prices have increased.

The inputs required to make soy diesel are considerably less than ethanol. The chemical process to make ethanol is complicated and takes a huge amount of water. I used to have the blue-prints of the refining process but it got lost in one of my moves.

Biodiesel has higher cetane and better lubrication characteristics than your regular dino. You'll see increased mileage and less smoke. We've been running B20 on the farm for years without any problems. I'm not sure if this is true for the home-made kits as the liability is consiberably higher than what you'd get from the pump.

 

Dont' forget, we dont need oil dependancies, you can make fuel from coal cheaper. And we have LOTS of coal.