I buy bio from Healy BioDiesel in Sedwick, KS. Ben Healy collects used cooking oil from just about every restraunt around including all Wendies stores in Eastern Kansas. He does a great job and keeps his price about $.30-.50 cheaper then the cheapest pump in town. Back several months ago when diesel was over $4 a gal. he kept is price over a dollar a gal cheaper. Great guy to do buisness with.

 

Greetings to all !!!!
My friend and I use an os 20 dieselcraft unit. WE run straight wvo with a two tank system. We are set up to run about 300 gallons a week, but we dont need that much. Our only mods so far is a flat plate heat exchanger under the hood. Next step is to heat the tank.
We have 3 mid eighties ford diesels. They are all high mileage trucks with many problems so you will hear me crying alot.

thymekiller

 

I did not vote yet I'm new to the diesel world and very interested in bio I do not have the time to make my own but I'm going to check out a bio retailer tomorrow.
then I will poll.

 

I weould love to convert my 99 350 7.3L to accept Biodiesel.
Does anyone have the list of what is needed or a link to a kit?

 

You need nothing to run biodiesel. All hoses, o-rings, gaskets, etc., are biodiesel resistant. Just put it in and go. You might have an issue with filter clogging as biodiesel is an amazing solvent which will dissolve any deposits in your fuel tank and system, and it will end up on your filter. This didn't happen to me however, so it depends on the condition of your tank to begin with.

No big deal though, just carry a spare filter in case it does happen.

BTW, none of the above apply if what you mean by biodiesel is SVO (straight vegetable oil). This isn't biodiesel and sometimes the two are spoken of as being the same thing. SVO would require alterations to your vehicle.

 

Ah. So SVO would require new injectors etc right?

 

Changing injectors is not necessary. You must use heated SVO in your diesel truck. That means heating One of two tanks, heating the fuel lines, heating the filter etc.

Our forum sponsor sells kits for SVO,WVO. you can find more info here: http://www.vegistroke.com/

Biodiesel use requires no mods to the truck. You can buy or build a processor. More info on bio can be found here: http://www.biodieselcommunity.org

 

You will need a separate fuel tank, heater, plumbing, etc., to run SVO. I don't believe you will need to change injectors. (But you might have to if you you installed a sub-par system and ran improperly prepped veg oil)

I can't speak further of running SVO since I know little about it.

I make biodiesel, and am a believer in 'modify the fuel' as opposed to 'modify the vehicle'

If you are interested in going the SVO route, google 'biodiesel and svo forums' and you'll find years worth of information on all related subjects, including vehicle specific discussions. There appear to be quite a few 'experts' in the field of SVO there.

 

Just wanted to provide an FYI on "biodiesel." Of course, this term can apply to variety of different things -- I'm a big fan of burning "preowned" products like veggie oil. However, the "biodiesel" available at gas stations is not "bio" or "green" at all. So if you are buying it thinking you are doing the world a favour, run, RUN AWAY.

A huge part of the biodiesel production process is palm oil. One of our primary sources of palm oil are plantations in South America, where rainforest is clearcut in massive swaths to plant palm monocultures. Not only do you lose the important services of the native forest (wildlife habitat, carbon absorption, flood abatement, temperature moderation, etc), but you have replaced it with a plant monoculture -- very susceptible to disease or other problems as well as almost completely devoid of habitat and relatively speaking, almost useless at sequestering carbon.

 

Um, most everything you posted is completely false with regards to biodiesel at the pumps. South America produces very little "palm" oil. They produce soybeans down there in Brazil and Argentina. It's soy oil they produce. Palm oil would be produced in India. Second, the U.S. does not import soybeans or soy oil from South America as we produce more than enough soybeans right here in the good old USA. The biodiesel bought here in the U.S. at the pumps is made from U.S. soybeans and the soyoil is U.S. soyoil. Last time I checked, there were no native forests being destroyed here in the U.S. for cropland.

Second, the rain forests you speak of in South America being destroyed actually emit more carbon dioxide than they use. All of the dead decaying trees in the rain forest emit carbon dioxide. They emit more CO2 than the living trees can actually consume. A field of corn or soybeans will actually use several times over more CO2 on an annual basis than the same size field of trees or rain forests. It's quite simple. Corn for example goes from a seed to over 8' tall in 100+ days. It grows rather fast and produces significant "fruit". CO2 is used by plants to make food. The field of corn makes significantly more food for plants than a field of trees does, thus more CO2 is consumed by a field of corn on an annual basis.

 

Another point on commercial biodiesel not all of it is being produced by vegetable oil. One of the local business owners I have helped getting into bio a few years ago then researched and built a plant next to a couple of slaughter houses and uses animal fat from them to commercially produce bio.
He is also studying and watching the algae process and we have discussed setting up a facility for producing algae based bio too.

 

I was mistaken in that it is Columbia who is one of the world producers of palm oil, which yes, IS exported as biofuel. So Central America, not South America. And they ARE expanding their plantations in a project funded by the US.

My proportions were also off, most of our palm oil comes from Malaysia and Indonesia, destroying forests there, some of the richest in the world.

Biodiesel can be made from a variety of oils and one of those IS palm oil, so by purchasing it, we contribute to this harmful process.

Soybean plantations in South America are owned and funded by US companies (like Cargill) who then bring the soybeans back here when they are grown (with cheaper labour, land and resources there due to lack of environmental enforcement), so while you may see a label that says "US soybeans" that only means we funded the cultivation NOT that the plants were grown on US soil.

Corn is also a poor example of an "environmentally friendly" crop -- it is a water hog and when used to produce other biofuels, like ethanol, actually uses more energy (fuel) in the production process than it can produce as a fuel. It also heavily depletes the soil it is grown in, which is why generally you won't see corn grown in the same field year after year. You must rotate it with a crop which is better at nitrogen fixation and other enrichment processes, such as soybeans. And yes, forests are being actively destroyed for cropland to this day -- as a wildlife biologist, I watch it happening often.

As far as rainforests as carbon sinks or sources, this is a very complex system. As we increase carbon levels in the atmosphere, tropical tree growth slows which does reduce the ability of the forests to absorb carbon (at least half of atmospheric carbon is absorbed and stored by the ocean) and causes trees to die and begin to release their carbon by decomposition. So the more we act to reduce the increase in carbon emissions and reduce the stress/death/destruction of live trees, the more these systems will be a sink.

I'd be happy to post links to this information if you like, I don't intend to be hostile at all, just provide more complete information than is distributed by biofuel marketers.

 

That is a good idea -- to use the slaughter byproducts, haven't heard that one yet. Read an interesting article the other day about feeding algae to fish so that the fish can process the oils (thus removing the energy-hungry centrifuges and pumps that are usually required to process the algae), then mashing up the fish (sucks to be fish) to produce a fish oil that could then be transformed into a combustible fuel.

 

Finally, a use for Carp!

 

They are quite tasty fried as well! But they don't eat algae, sadly.