Making Bio Diesel?

[ringo110879]

Does anybody know how easy it is to make bio diesel? I drive a vw golf tdi. A guy at a vw specialist said you could mix ordinary sunflower oil with white spirit or thinners at a ratio of 90% oil to 10%. He said it would run exactly the same, seems hard to believe it would be that easy

[rsd2525]

I think he's right but if you get pulled by the ministry,------

[ringo110879]

I think it is quite legal so long as you get a form and declare how much you are using. I believe i would have to pay Mr Brown about 37 pence per litre in duty, but how he would know how many litres i use is beyond me

[kempie]

Biodiesel can be produced from Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO) but the resulting fuel must meet biofuel specifications. In simple terms this excludes the use of ingredients such as white spirit or other hydrocarbons such as kerosene in the production process.

Biofuels are usually a blend of conventional heavy oil diesel and biodiesel. The British and EU standard for diesel, BS EN 590, permits a biofuel content of up to 5% by volume without affecting the vehicle manufacturer�s warranty. In concentrations of greater than 20%, problems could occur in cold weather due to the poor flow characteristics. The use of unprocessed vegetable oil is also likely to give rise to problems, particularly with the build up of deposits in pumps, filters and injectors.

Producers of biodiesel in the UK must register with HM Revenue & Customs and complete form EX103. Records must be kept, and returns submitted monthly using form HO930.

If Revenue & Customs suspect, either through lack of supporting evidence, or due to other information, that the product does not meet the specification for Biodiesel, they may take representative samples for testing (see regulations 10 and 11 of Biofuels and Other Fuel Substitutes (Payment of Excise Duties etc) Regulations 2004).

Under the powers given by Regulation 6 of the Revenue and Traders (Accounts and Records) Regulations 1992 Revenue & Customs require that details of recipes used
to produce biodiesel are kept and preserved for six years. This requirement also applies to supporting documents showing that the recipe is followed for each batch produced and to the preservation of any test results linked to particular batches.

[gastwo]

Basically you mix oil (cooking is popular) with methanol. google for sites - there are dozens of them, and the process is not that complicated. You have to 'wash' the oil first with caustic soda, then gradually add methanol, keeping everything hot to drop any water out. But like I say, Google for the sites. Best of luck with it!

[kempie]

http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/biodiesel.htm

[bubblebubble]

i did a lot of looking into this, as said, look on google, also try www. dieselveg. a lot about vw tdi. is a very good engine to run directly on veg oil but has to be pre-heated first. my mate runs his pug 205 on filtered oil from the local chippie!