Green Happens Now

Makebiodieselathome asked:


There are many political reasons why biodiesel making has captured

the attention of both major fuel manufacturers and those who prefer

to make their own homemade biodiesel. Many car manufacturers are

seeing the wisdom of creating vehicles that can accommodate a

biodiesel product by creating a diesel car that is friendly to the

use of vegetable oil blended with diesel fuel. Perhaps one of the biggest benefits to biodiesel making is that it helps to reduce the United States dependence on foreign supplies of

oil. Making your own biodiesel is also a way of keeping your costs down in the case of a national emergency such as the devastating hurricanes that recently hit the Gulf coast. Biodiesel making also keeps farmers employed. Biodiesel production is self-sustaining because it is a completely renewable resource. Biodiesel product is made from soya and canola, which is a self-sustaining fuel. Best of all it provides a market for excess soya bean oil production. Unlike the burning of fossil fuels biodiesel making gives back more energy to the environment that it takes. Lifecycle studies show that for every unit of fossil energy it takes to manufacture fossil fuel, 3.2 units of energy are gained during the biodiesel making life cycle. This kind of lifecycle study would take into account the planting and harvesting of the soy or canola as well as its transportation, production and distribution to the end user. In addition to displacing North America’s reliance imported petroleum, the use of biodiesel product has been shown to reduce air pollution and greenhouse gases. According to the national biodiesel board a 1998 biodiesel lifecycle study, jointly sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, concluded biodiesel reduces carbon dioxide emissions

by 78 percent (compared to petroleum diesel.) The total fossil energy efficiency ratio of the production, manufacture, transportation, and distribution) for diesel fuel and biodiesel shows that biodiesel (diesel gas blended with vegetable oil) is four times as efficient as diesel fuel.

Burning just a 2% biodiesel blend in on-road diesel fuel will curtail all kinds of harmful emissions. Annually it has the potential to reduce poisonous carbon monoxide emissions by more than 35 million pounds, reduce ozone forming hydrocarbon emissions by almost 4 million pounds, reduce hazardous diesel particulate emissions by almost 3 million pounds and reduce acid rain-causing sulfur dioxide emissions by more than 3 million pounds. Given these

statistics about biofuel product it is quite baffling why more politicians don’t endorse biodiesel making as part of their political platform. Biodiesel product is available commercially but it is not available readily to everyone. This is possibly because the major gas companies are all too well aware that biodiesel making cuts into their profits. Until the day arrives when biodiesel fuel is made more readily available for everyone it seems that homemade biodiesel making might be a solution for those who are suffering economic problems due to disasters and unfriendly political decisions about the distribution of gas in general. The distribution of biodiesel is still sporadic but it is less so than it was before the turn of the century. The national biodiesel board contains a comprehensive list of locations where biodiesel

product is readily sold from pumps including an interactive point and click map that lets you find a biodiesel fuel station near you. Read more on how to Make Your Own Biodiesel

Muna wa Wanjiru asked:


A biodiesel processor is a combination reaction vessel. It is used for producing biodiesel from vegetable oil.

An industrial processor is very much considered convenient for production volumes, which can’t produce more than10,000 t/year. The reaction and distillation process of the alcohol is a batch processing. The decantation use to happen continuously.

In the industry, a static mixer is being used with the esterification catalyst called sulphuric acid and then methanol and vegetable oil are mixed. The reactor is used for esterfication of free fatty acids. Where as in another static mixer, an alkaline catalyst generally potassium hydroxide is getting used, this is added to the methanol-oil mix for the transesterfication.

Now in the Second reactor, the process is called transesterfication occurs. While in the third mixer, various outcomes from a reaction are biodiesel, glycerol and methanol solvent. It is being nullified by introducing a simple mineral acid. The alcohol being separated in flash vaporizer called as distillation unit. The condensed Vapors of methanol are sent to the reception unit for introducing again in the cycle.

Now the remaining products in the flash vaporizer namely, biodiesel, glycerol, salts and water, are sent to continuous decanter, which separate biodiesel from rest of the by-products. The light phase which is getting created in the decanter is en tot the storage tank and remaining heavy phase is sent to another storage tank for latter purification. After this phase, it contains 80 to 90% pure glycerol, water and salts.

Biodiesel and glycerin purification ca be done in high vacuum evaporators. There is typical design called as wiped film evaporator, where products used to be clearly differentiated from various salts by thermal as well as mechanical methods.

The quantity of raw material which is required to produce 1000kg of biodiesel and 112 kg of glycerol.

It requires 1030kg of refined vegetable oil. It requires 103kg of Methanol. Catalyst of quantity 6.2kg used in process of biodiesel is sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide. Mineral acid required quantity is 6kg

There are some other services which should be make available like,

Cooling water service 20m

Steam 350kg

Electricity required 50KWh

Nitrogen required 3.2m

If you are making biodiesel at home, you should use any triglyceride fat or animal tallow or vegetable oil. You should have a strong base namely, sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, also pure alcohol. You should have longer chain alcohol; it must be longer than isopropyl alcohol. You can use oil for processing which is often obtained in restaurants.

There are different methods for producing biodiesel. It is generally produced in small batch processors in the garage. But now some used to adapted processors to fit at the back of vans. It is transportable. One of the major difficulty being Dealt by various biodiesel homebrewers is just to make a mid scale biodiesel processors sufficiently very simple to cheap, safe and easy to make appropriate.

Marlon Dirk asked:


For home consumption, biodiesel kits are an extremely good way to begin producing your very own biodiesel immediately. Here are the present times you have two different options:

1. Create your biodiesel processor from scratch.

2. Purchase biodiesel kits.

Purchasing biodiesel kits is a wonderful idea, in the event that you are interested in producing your very own biodiesel this is certainly the way to go. Nowadays, there are several really good biodiesel kits that are available. In the event that you are going to be spending money, you can expect that you are going to pay anywhere from one hundred and fifty to ten thousand dollars.

The cost that is associated with the biodiesel kits is going to depend on all of your basic needs, the volume that you would like to produce, as well as your budget. Even though they do make them cheaper, you don’t want to take that road. In the event that you can’t really afford to invest a hundred and fifty dollars, you should most likely try to create your own.

One very good reason for purchasing a biodiesel kits is that actual real engineers designed them, and they have thought of all of the different things that you wouldn’t have, such as safety features. Among the biggest safety features you are going to want to search for the closed system processor. What this means is that when the chemical reaction takes place, there aren’t any fumes able to escape. This is very important because when the fumes are inhaled, they can be very harmful.

One of the other reasons that you should purchase biodiesel kits is the time factor. Purchase a biodiesel kits and it will be delivered right to your door. You assemble it, purchase all of the ingredients, and then you are ready to go. In the event that you were to build on, there is going to be the first education phase, and then you are going to have to worry about collecting all of the parts, and creating the processor itself, going through the trail and error processor in order to get it precisely the way that you want it. All of these things take time, and lots of it. Yes, it may cost a little less, but you are trading all of your time for money.

In the event that you are searching for more information pertaining to biodiesel kits, you should take a look at each of the aspects that are associated with biodiesel kits, looking at all of the different models, comparing all of the different models, and all of the different price ranges. In the end, you will find that there are truly amazing biodiesel kits available.