I recently got a huge quantity of extra refined Cottonseed Oil (a few metric tons). Didn't actually know what to do with it, but since I got it at a throwaway price - I decided to have some fun with it! I could have easily made a profit by selling it in the open market (as a low grate edible cooking oil). But I instead turned it all into Bio-Diesel! Below are pictures of how I experimented with it, and thus produced my first batch! I think my car will now be running for free (for at least the next whole year)!!! Cotton and cotton seeds. ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) Cottonseed Oil ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) First sample of Bio-Diesel being made. ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) Glycerin, the byproduct of Bio-Diesel. ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) Air-drying the Bio-Diesel (after washing it with water). ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) First sample of my test batch! ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) Setting fire to it. ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) Watching it burn! ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden ) What remains of the tissue paper (after being soaked in Bio-Diesel & set fire). ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden )
S-H...That is wild. How long did it take you to make this and what did you do to do it? How much did you get and where do you store this?
A year's worth of fuel from cotton seed oil. Great experiment. Will you burn it all or sell some to regain the cost? Jerry
Actually, the process to convert any type of vegetable oil into Bio-Diesel is very straightforward. It is called "transesterification of lipids". Basically, you just take some Methanol and add a little bit of Potassium Hydroxide to it (there are many formulas available on the web today). So you first heat the oil (to about 55ºC) and add the Meth-Oxide mixture to it. maintain the temperature for a while so that the reaction can take place (do not go above 60ºC, or the Methanol my catch fire and/or explode)... What this does is chemically cracks the oil. All the fat and other unwanted stuff in it drops out at the bottom as Glycerin. While pure Bio-Diesel fuel remains on top. So you just separate the 2, and wash the Bio-Diesel with clean water (to get all the acidity out of it). than air-dry it for a few hours - And wallah! Bio-Diesel is ready to be used! the whole process takes about a day (be it a batch of any size). No, not exactly... You see, there are many governmental restrictions/taxations regarding this issue. So if I try to sell it (without having a proper license), I would actually be committing a very serious crime [they really will lock me up and throw away the key]. However, producing it and using it for my own self - Is a legal gray area at this point in time. Which is why I've done this without telling anyone (and so am using for myself only). I actually also don't have a license to buy Methanol. So I had to take all the oil to a guy who had permission to store Methanol on his property. Again, paying him for the Methanol would have also been a crime (as I do not have a license to legalize my use of Methanol) - So I converted all the oil into Bio-Diesel on his property, and let him have 20% of it as payment (still leaving a few tons of fuel for me)! So no money was exchanged, hence no crime was committed, and thus no paper trail either... I actually got the oil for free (in the premises of a foreclosed property). It was just sitting there in large steel barrels. So after acquiring the property from the bank, all that was in it automatically become a windfall!
Way interesting process. I had no idea how long it took to process the oil into fuel. I, in my ignorance, would have thought it was a much longer process. Sounds like a lot of people could do this very easily. Your car runs on this...it won't affect its engine? are all diesel engines capable of using this type of fuel? I can't use ethanol (which I realize is not what you made) in my car as it says it would ruin the engine. So I don't use the fractionally cheaper fuel.
No, Bio-Diesel is very safe to use on Diesel engine cars/trucks. The engine actually runs better on Bio-Diesel than on Petrochemical Diesel which comes from the oil refineries and is sold on gasoline stations (we here call them petrol pumps). Conventional Diesel often has got traces of sulfur in it, which eventually wears out the injector pump inside the engine (over a period of time). But there is no such problem with Bio-Diesel! In fact the first Diesel engine (developed 1893) by Rudolf Diesel - Ran on peanut oil. The whole idea was to create an engine that could run on any type of vegetable oil. Of course, it later turned out that Petrochemical Diesel from the oil refineries was a lot cheaper - Which is why people went in that direction for the next 100 years. But now the tide is changing! Only problem that you may encounter, is that all the gunk stuck to the walls in the fuel lines (a result of the impurities in Petrochemical Diesel) - May get partially dissolved and/or dislodge, and get stuck in the fuel filter (clogging it up). But this is not exactly the fault of Bio-Diesel (for having some cleaning powers). Only real problem with making your own Bio-Diesel is A - Getting all the governmental licenses (which you'll NEVER be able to), and B - Finding a source of cheap oil. In my case, I was lucky to get a huge quantity of extra refined Cottonseed Oil for free. But if I go and get it from the market, I'd have ended up paying a lot more then the price of ordinary Petrochemical Diesel... Anyway, I have now converted nearly all of the oil into Bio-Diesel. A lot of it I can use up in about a year, while the other half I will simply hide by storing it under the ground somewhere (for a time when the world will become like the Mad Max movies)... Now to store it, one must be careful to keep everything clean. Because this is Bio-Fuel after all - So bacteria and fungus will attack it. A good idea is to have it all sterilized by UV lamps (as they do it in water purifying plants). Or simply add a little bit of pesticide into the fuel. But one doesn't need to do any of this if you produce it little by little and use it up as you make it. Anyway have a look at this video too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LR1M7ThM-tE Anyway, point of me posting all this over here - Is to show how everything in agriculture can be turned into an advantage. Even a low grade edible cocking oil from the humble Cotton seed, can give a lot!
Well done S-H,..a very interesting and informative post,..and i hope your car runs well on it for a long time.
Yes, the car is running fine. Actually it is running slightly better on Bio-Diesel! But most of all, I now feel like the Fountainhead, (because now I know how to beat the system)! Bio-Diesel, is a burning thing And it makes, a fiery ring Bound, by wild desire I fell into a ring of fire I fell into a burning ring of fire I went down down down, and the flames went higher And it burns burns burns The ring of fire, the ring of fire I fell into a burning ring of fire I went down down down, and the flames went higher And it burns burns burns The ring of fire, the ring of fire The taste of Bio-Diesel is sweet When parts, of my engine meet The crank & piston fell for it like a child Oh and the RPM went wild I fell into a burning ring of fire I went down down down, and the flames went higher And it burns burns burns The ring of fire, the ring of fire I fell into a burning ring of fire I went down down down, and the flames went higher And it burns burns burns The ring of fire, the ring of fire And it burns burns burns The ring of fire, the ring of fire... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=It7107ELQvY Bio-Diesel on Fire! ( photo / image / picture from S-H's Garden )
