< Do-It-Yourself Windpower >

GO BIODIESEL

Singer Willie Nelson is an energy exec promoting his own brand of biodiesel. His "Biowillie" -- and other vegetable-based fuels -- can be used in any dieselmobile. Here's how.

1. Run straight biodiesel, or use it interchangeably with traditional diesel.

2. Mix traditional diesel and biodiesel with no modifications. Diesel-powered cars and light trucks typically use 20 percent biodiesel. Simply pour it into the tank along with diesel from the pump.

3. Install a DIY conversion kit. The kits, which cost from $750 to $4,000, let your diesel run on 100 percent veggie oil as a separate fuel source. The kits (www.greasecar.com, www.greasel.com, and www.frybrid.com) include a second tank for the oil and a separate fuel line to switch from diesel to vegetable oil.

< learn how to make your own biodiesel >

Currently, 6% of Europe's electricity generation is from renewable sources. If they wanted it to be 100% by 2025, they should expand renewable energy generation by about 15% per year, every year, compared to other power sources.

this chart was found at: http://www.biodieselcommunity.org/howitsmade

1. Pour Oil into Processor

2. Heat Oil to 120º F

3. Check Titration Level ( Titration=The process, operation, or method of determining the concentration of a substance in solution by adding to it a standard reagent of known concentration in carefully measured amounts until a reaction of definite and known proportion is completed, as shown by a color change or by electrical measurement, and then calculating the unknown concentration. )
To determine the correct amount of lye required, a titration must be performed on the oil being transesterified.
IMPORTANT: The lye must be dry -- keep it away from water, store it in an airtight container.

• Make up a solution of one gram of lye to one liter of distilled water. Make sure it dissolves completely. This sample is then used as a reference tester for the titration process. It's important not to let the sample get contaminated, it can be used for many titrations.
• Mix 10 milliliters of isopropyl alcohol in a small container with a 1 milliliter sample of WVO -- make sure it's exactly 1 milliliter. Take the WVO titration sample from the reaction vessel after it's been warmed up and stirred.
• Add to this solution 2 drops of phenolphthalein, an acid-base indicator that's colorless in acid and red in base.
  IMPORTANT: Phenolphthalein has a shelf life of about a year, it is very sensitive to degradation by light so after a while it will start giving erroneous readings.
• Using a graduated eye dropper (with increments marked in tenths of milliliters) or some other calibrated instrument (from medical supply outlets), while carefully keeping track of the amounts, drop measured amounts of the lye/water solution a couple of tenths of milliliters at a time into the WVO/isopropyl/phenolphthalein solution.
• Follow each drop with vigorous stirring of the solution. In cold weather the WVO might congeal and not work so you might need to do the titration in a heated room. If conditions are right eventually the solution turns pink (magenta), and stays pink for 10 seconds. This is the indicator color for a pH range of 8-9. It's important to find the exact amount, to just reach this pH without dropping in too much!
  It's a good idea to do this entire process more than once to ensure that your number is correct. Depending on the type of WVO, how hot it got in the fryer, what was cooked in it and how long it was used, the amount of lye/water solution needed to titrate it is usually 1.5 to 3 milliliters. You can also use litmus paper or a digital pH tester instead of the phenolphthalein.
• The next step is to determine the amount of lye needed for the reaction. Take the number of milliliters derived from the titration and multiply by the number of liters of WVO to be transesterified.
  There is one more thing to be included in the calculation. Every liter of neat vegetable oil (fresh -- never been cooked) needs 3.5 grams of lye for the reaction. So for every liter of WVO to be transesterified add an additional 3.5 grams of lye.
• The first few times you do this process or if you're planning on transesterifying a lot of WVO it is a good practice to first try out your lye amounts on a 1 liter batch in a kitchen blender. This works really well and you don't need to heat up the WVO too much, just enough so it will spin well in the blender. Blenders are very thorough at mixing the ingredients so heating is not as critical.
• Start by mixing up the lye and methanol in a blender (one that will never be used for food again). First make sure the blender and all utensils used are dry. Forming the exothermal sodium methoxide polar molecule will heat up the blender container a bit. Keep mixing until all the lye has been dissolved.
• Once the sodium methoxide is prepared, add to the blender 1 liter of WVO. Make certain all your weights and volumes are precise. If you're unsure of the titration result numbers then use 6-6.25 grams of lye per liter of used WVO, or 3.5 grams for fresh vegetable oil. Blender batches need only be run for about 15-20 minutes for separation to be completed before switching off. The settling takes some time to complete. The solution can be poured from the blender into another container right after switching off the blender.
  It is good to do a few batches with varying amounts of lye recorded so later when checking results one can choose the lye quantity that did the best job. (When too much lye is used the result can be a troublesome gel that is tough to do anything with. When not enough lye is used the reaction does not go far enough so some unreacted WVO will be mixed with the biodiesel and glycerine. This will form three levels with biodiesel on top above unreacted WVO with glycerine on the bottom. If there is too much water in the WVO it will form soaps and settle right above the glycerine forming a fourth level in the container. This layer is not too easy to separate from the unreacted WVO and glycerine layers.)

4. Mix Lye and Methanol in Separate Container

• You can get lye at hardware stores, or from soapmakers' suppliers (try online). KOH lye works better than NaOH. Don't use Drano or ZEP drain-cleaners or equivalents with blue or purple granules or any-coloured granules, it's only about half NaOH and it contains aluminium, it won't work for biodiesel. Shake the container to check it hasn't absorbed moisture and coagulated into a useless mass, and make sure to keep it airtight.
• For methanol, you can use "DriGas" fuel antifreeze from an automotive store. One type of DriGas is methanol, another is isopropanol, make sure to get the methanol one. Also try "stove fuel" from hardware stores or home centres (but check the contents to make sure it's pure methanol, it could also be "white gas", which is gasoline and doesn't work), or try a chemicals supply company. You need to be quick when measuring out the lye because it very rapidly absorbs water from the atmosphere and water interferes with the biodiesel reaction. Measure the lye out into a handy-sized lightweight plastic bag on the scales (or even do the whole thing entirely inside a big clear plastic bag), then close the lid of the container firmly and close the plastic bag, winding it up so there's not much air in it with the lye and no more air can get in. Have exactly the same kind of bag on the other side of the scale to balance the weight, or adjust the scale for the weight of the bag.)
• How much to use. NaOH must be at least 96% pure, use exactly 3.5 grams. If you're using KOH it depends on the strength. If it's 99% pure (rare) use exactly 4.9 grams (4.90875). If it's 92% pure (more common) use 5.3 grams (5.33). If it's 85% pure (also common) use 5.8 grams (5.775). Any strength of KOH from 85% or stronger will work
• Measure out 200 ml of methanol and pour it into the half-litre HDPE container via the funnel. Methanol also absorbs water from the atmosphere so do it quickly and replace the lid of the methanol container tightly. Be sure to work at ordinary room temperature and keep the methanol at arm's length, so you won't be exposed to dangerous fumes.
• Carefully add the lye to the HDPE container via the second funnel. Replace the bung and the screw on the cap tightly
• Shake the container a few times -- swirl it around rather than shaking it up and down. The mixture gets hot from the reaction. If you swirl it thoroughly for a minute or so five or six times over a period of time the lye will completely dissolve in the methanol, forming sodium methoxide or potassium methoxide. As soon as the liquid is clear with no undissolved particles you can begin the process.
• The more you swirl the container the faster the lye will dissolve. With NaOH it can take from overnight to a few hours to as little as half-an-hour with lots of swirling (but don't be impatient, wait for ALL the lye to dissolve). Mixing KOH is much faster, it dissolves in the methanol more easily than NaOH and can be ready for use in 10 minutes.

5. Pour Solution into Processor / 6. React Oil By Mixing


Using a blender:

• Pre-heat the oil to 130 deg F and pour it into the blender.
• With the blender still switched off, carefully pour the prepared methoxide from the HDPE container into the oil.
• Secure the blender lid tightly and switch on. Lower speeds should be enough. Blend for at least 20 minutes.

Using a mini-processor:

• Proceed with processing as above, maintain temperature at 130 deg F, process for one hour.