I'm in Melbourne and am wondering what the deal is if you have access to w.c.o but lack the means at this point to process the stuff. My idea is to exchange it for the finished bd product but have no idea how much I'd need, to swap, for say a tank of bd,or is it just too easy for producers to access there own w.c.o? By the way ,Im aware it depends on how cruddy the wco is, but ,what about a ballpark,'exchange rate' figure?

about a 10:1 ratio id reakon.

Heard elsewhere on the forum that some in Melbourne area are paying 20c/litre for WVO.
Also elsewhere on the forum Bio production costs 30 - 50c/Litre, (excluding WVO cost) lets say 50.
So if your Bio maker is prepared to give you his/her labour then he/she will charge you 50c/litre to convert your WVO. If the WVO is worth 20c/litre then the 'exchange rate' would then be 2.5:1
If the WVO is free, as it is in most areas so far, then there is no exchange rate. However I give 140 litres of my 'sludge' to a Bio maker and am very happy to get 40 litres of bio as a gift when he makes a batch. That's 3:1 I think.
Alternatively I am always happy to buy the methanol and give it to a bio maker. That may be your best option.

Yeah and pigs might fly. So what you're saying is the WVO collector gets 20c/L for his/her time and trouble but the bio maker gets none.

From a bio makers perspective I'd say that the exchange rate would be around 5:1 for pristine pourable oil and rising to 10:1 for wet, gloopy sludge or high titrating oils/fats.

No what I said was:
"if your Bio maker is prepared to give you his/her labour"

I was not suggesting that a bio maker should give anything, thats up to him/her. Everyone should determine what they want to charge (if anything) for their time time and effort. Be that in dollars or in litres of oil.
I am simply saying that if oil costs 20c/litre and Bio materials cost 50c/litre then the exchange rate is 2.5
I did say:
"If the WVO is free then there is no exchange rate."
This is because everyone values their time and effort differently.
The Bio maker has an actual $ cost for materials and that makes an exchange rate impossible.
The right thing IMO to do is for the WVO collector to pay that $ cost and then come to an amicable exchange rate for the exchange of time and effort. If both parties value their time and effort similarly, lets say just time to keep it simple, then how much time does it take to collect and how much time does it take to make Bio. That will give a 'fair' exchange rate.
A bio maker who also collects would be able to work that out.
Wayne has said between 5 and 10 depending on oil quality but that includes allowance for Bio making materials cost.
Wayne,
If a wvo collector also supplied the Bio making materials what would be your range of exchange rates (according to quality) then?
That is how do you rate the time spent making Bio compared to the time spent collecting WVO?
Any other Bio makers who also collect, same question?

Thanks for the advice,now I just need a vehicle ,some wvo suppliers,and some Melbourne contacts to process the stuff,nearly there, ha ha.(Lucky I have plenty of time on my hands)

If you start to take into account the time and effort required to source, collect, clean and process the oil you might find that the "cheap" fuel is not as cheap as you think :-)

If you then take into account the known costs of methanol and the plant construction it moves up even more.

To the OP, it will depend on many things, probably best to try and be fair?

Lucky you have the time, hope you find the rest :-)

Geoff

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Telegraph Point NSW
Landcruiser GXL '96 - 80:20 blends
Pug HDi 1.6 307 - not game :-)
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Telepoint - Heat Exchange & Filter Bags

Yeah Geoff it beats sitting around waiting to die.

1. Consider the yield rate, The more FFA in your oil the worse the yield, At best the yield of oil to BD is 80%
2. The price of Meth. I haven't bought any (Had stock piled a bit) since the Howard Gov. Costello Fuel Excise Bill which doubled the excise we pay on biofuels, and aid to manufacture biofuels, but I have heard the price of meth has doubled. It would be good if on this forum we could figure a average price.? AND OH YEAH meth is a fossil fuel aid to manufacture biofuels so its price is relavent to the oil wars.
3. The price of KoH, and the consumption of KoH, considering you need to use more with FFA saturated crud.
4. The energy consumed heating the oil to 55c.
The time spent filtering the oil, removing the water.
5. Titration consumables. I use the cheap & cheerful Tumeric saturated in meth as an indicator and meth as a vehicle method, but if I used Phenolphaline and hospital grade Isopropenol I could add on this.
6. Time spent in passive settling , water/bubble washing etc etc etc.
If people who want to do a trade deal knew what was involved in making QUALITY BD, they wouldn't be so precious about what they put in their car, and would probably just start running a blend of WVO and Kerosine.

Then there's the real killer in the value question, QUALITY. If you equate making BD to making home brew beer, I have to say I have tasted some homebrew beer that I wouldn't feed to pigs, and gives you a head that feels like a train wreck, and other homebrew that i would rate as up there with that made by Trappist Monks. Usually one is made by someone who's trying to save money, and the other is made by someone treating the whole gammit as an Art form. Best if those trying to do a trade deal hung around and watched and helped the whole process, and maybe even learned something.

Thanks Darren ,very informative,always willing to learn more about most things,regards Lez