Home-Brew Biodiesel

A solution to many of our fuel problems just might be cleverly hidden in plain view. While drivers of gas-guzzlers worry about the volatile price of petroleum and Middle East politics, diesel owners have a practical alternative: biodiesel. Derived from just about any type of vegetable oil, it can be made in less than an hour by mixing together a couple of common chemicals. The result is a much cheaper and cleaner-burning fuel that requires no engine modifications, nor a separate fueling system, and disposes of a common waste product: fryer oil. (Note that biodiesel is not the same as using straight vegetable oil in a secondary fuel system, which we featured in our previous issue.)

The concept of making biodiesel in your garage is so simple, and so powerful, it could mean a radical shift in the popularity of diesel engines. Not only that, it might have far-reaching consequences for our political and economic landscape. Imagine the impact of a significant reduction in the need for imported crude oil (or even large oil refineries) and the corresponding increase in the use of a domestic agricultural product. Currently, only around three percent of U.S. vehicles run on diesel (while in Europe, it's 50 percent or more). Can you imagine if home-brewed diesel fuel was being produced throughout the country for less than a $1 a gallon? Consumers would be clamoring for the stuff, if not the machinery to make it. Indications are that a groundswell is forming, with a number of biodiesel systems and suppliers cropping up all over the country. One company, Fuel Meister, is already selling about 450 biodiesel processors per month.

This scenario of home-brewed fuel is neither wishful thinking nor the scheme of some crackpot inventor. It's based on the simple economics of a proven process that's been around for decades. Waste vegetable oil is available free from restaurants, although that may eventually change if biodiesel catches on. The chemicals required to convert vegetable oil to diesel (a process called transesterification-basically the removal of glycerin) are methanol and lye are inexpensive and readily available. According to Todd Smith of Socal Alternative Fuel, the cost per gallon to produce your own biodiesel is roughly 40 to 70 cents a gallon.

What About Emissions?
Biodiesel researchers state that the exhaust contains no sulfur emissions. Carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon emissions are cut by 20 to 60 percent, and soot particulates are reduced by 40 to 60 percent. In addition, a '98 biodiesel lifecycle study, jointly sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, concluded that biodiesel reduces net CO2 emissions by 78 percent compared to petroleum diesel. This happens because of biodiesel's closed carbon cycle. The CO2 released into the atmosphere when biodiesel is burned is recycled by growing plants, which are later processed into fuel. In other words, biodiesel releases no more carbon dioxide than the trees originally consumed.

Biodiesel Use Restrictions
Since vegetable diesel readily mixes with petroleum-based diesel, fuels containing 5 percent or more biodiesel are already available at some truck stops (notably, one is owned by Willie Nelson, referred to as Biowillie). So biodiesel can be used to stretch your existing source of diesel fuel. What about higher concentrations of biodiesel? B10 and B20 are already in use in some areas, and the National Biodiesel Board (www.biodiesel.org) says the 20 percent level appears to be an ideal ratio from the standpoint of emissions and performance. But, what about higher concentrations of biodiesel? In August, 2004, the California Division of Measurement Standards prohibited the sale of fuel containing more than 20 percent biodiesel to the public.