Hi there,

Keen to make some biodiesel for myself

Looking through this forum and google has been of great help.

My question is: would something like this be a good purchase:
Mega Ester 40 Gallon Biodiesel Processor Kits - Biodiesel Fuel Production Proccessors

I'm looking to make about 1000ltrs a month if possible.

Any help or advice will be appreciated. Thanks in advance

Welcome to the forum.
If you are planning on making biodiesel, you should start small and make only small mistakes. When you can reliably make 1 litres of biodiesel, then work on 20 or 60 litres at a time. Only when you are proficient at making biodiesel should you consider going to a large processor.

Do you have access to 1000 litres of used cooking oil every month? If not, you need to secure that supply beforecommitting to buy a processor.


"Is it a good buy?"
I suppose that would depend if you can afford the cost, the freight from Texas USA, the import duty and the GST on the lot.

You could use a 1000 litre container and make 800 litre batches, for a fraction of the cost.

Search this forum for more information on making oyur own processor.

Regards,
Tony

Thanks for the reply,

Will take your advice. But thinking further ahead and fairly pessimistically.

I'm in the courier industry and everyones talking about making BioDiesel. As it gets more popular, that'll just push the price of WVO(new black gold) up which should bring the price of Oil down (less demand), which would render my $5000 processor an expensive hobby, as the fuels will be similar in price.

Might make a litre see how I go and get the wife to cook everything in the fat fryer...

Marcfell,
Unfortunately, the amount of used cooking oil is small in relation to the demand for diesel.
The use of all used cooking oil in Australia, as diesel fuel, would not make an appreciable impact on the cost of diesel.

While the price of WVO will rise, the rise will be limited by the relative cost of diesel.
with diesel at $2.00 per litre, it is unlikely that used cooking oil could push much closer than $1.50 per litre (worst case) due to the additional labour and processing cost (for biodiesel) or conversion and filtering cost (for WVO users).
Not a cheap option in the longer term.

Still, it will be better for the environmet than using diesel, won't it?
regards,
Tony

Tony

Thanks for the friendly feedback.

I've been to 2 takeway shops in the area and have secured 60L's WVO a week off them. That was too easy.

I'm making my 1 litre test batch this weekend with new veg oil. (If I can find some methanol, any hints?)

When I asked my original question, I did realize there would be quite a few steps to take before making 1000ltrs a month. I just have no engineering exprience/skills/talents or qualifications and the home made setups I've viewed online are quite daunting. hence hoping to be able to buy one (locally preferably).

I've got a small courier business (2 light trucks and a van) which is fast going out of business due to diesel prices, that is my main determination, but closely second is the environment. It's hard to preach global warming issues to the sceptical inlaws whilst running 'dirty truck's'...

Thanks again, will post my results from first batch if anyones' interested.

I too am new here. I am thinking more and more about BD, especially since seeing the article in the West Australian regarding Moringa oleifera and Pongamia pinnata trees. I have a small amount of land in Mount Barker and i am going to plant a couple to see how they grow here. I learnt a fair while ago that using crops to make BD would always be marginal given inputs required. The idea of a tree that gives a product annually over a long time might be worthwhile considering, especially with a co-op approach to crushing the nuts.

Has anyone else had any experience with these trees?

Bazz, Welcome to the Biofuels Forum from another BYAP'er.

How are your fish going?

It is an interesting concept, tree crops for fuel. There are a number of species which may be suitable. What is the oil content of the seeds of these trees?

Is the Moringa also known as the Drumstick tree? If so it has many uses and with oil from the seeds would be a good all round producer.
Do you know of any restrictions on the cultivation of these trees which may make it difficult to obtain seedlings?

Regards,
Tony

Hi Tony,

Yes my aquaponics is doing really well, although still running on goldfish only at this stage, thought i would get through winter then get SP's, growth of plants has been phenominal specially, broccoli.

Back to Biodiesel. I dont know of any resrtrictions all I know at this stage that both these trees have been trialled by CSIRO (i think?) up near Carnarvon and down at Denmark. The Carnarvon once produced better than the Denmark ones. I am thinking along the lines of maybe putting a number of these trees in at my block in Barker, see how they go then maybe look at bigger crop. They handle saline and dont need a lot of rainfall ( i think around 250mm per annum as a min). I'll see if i can find the report that outlined their use. I think one of them produced ~2000l or more of BD/Hectare with planting of around 1000 trees per hectare.



Cheers

i have no idea about the trees,but i did watch something on discovery not too long ago that might be interesting. a power plant in the nevada or arizona desert was using alge to soak up the co2 from their exaust emmisions. the alge use the carbon to make their energy and give the oxygen back to the atmosphere. then when the alge get too be more than what the containers can hold, the power company drains off some of it and uses it to make bd. now having said that, i am thinking about putting some acrylic tubes in the bed of my dually and trying this out. i don't expect a huge return, but it would make my truck go from carbon neutral to carbon negative i think!!!