J Arruda

Bio fuel is the way to go in the future. We at Turbine Marine run up to 75% pure soy bean oil in our engines mixed with thiners. 100% is not realy working well.
When we fill the Geico race team boat up with bio, they run about 50% or so. Not 5-10 % as most people would think.

The only thing stopping bio fuels to become main stream is the State and federal covernment.
They manage to take a fuel that cost less then a dollar a galon to be produced (in the U.S), and make it a $3.50 per gal fuel.
They tax all the Bio fuel so hi, it is less expensive to run diesel.
That is the botom line.
They do not want you to use it, Period.
Typical Gov B.S.

Quicksilver

Yeh thats what I was thinking, not 100%, but like 50-75%. And as far as I know cooking oil when converted/processed is what the guys I know are using with no problems, not running straight from the McD's fryer

Just seems diesels are getting more popular b/c of their torque, mileage, and reliability....except diesel prices have gone from being cheaper then regular to about a dollar more then premium . And then Ethanol almost doesn't make sense in autos, you lose noticeable power and big mpg difference, friend tried Ethanol in his Tahoe and went from 15 to 10 mpg. The slightly cheaper cost wouldn't overcome the mileage difference, end up costing more.

J Arruda

I see your point with Ethenol.
However I personally would not mind spending a little extra cash on ethenol if it made a diference on the enviroment due to milage.
I do however have a problem with giving the Gov close to 300% in taxes on a fuel that we are trying to use to make a diffence.
Dont get me started !!!!

HabanaJoe

j arruda,

What taxes exactly are you referring to and what are they in your state? In NY they give home owners a $0.20 credit to burn bio in the home heating oil.

I don't where you buy Biodiesel, but again in NY/NJ we pay under #2 for Biodiesel in small bulk (2,000 gals at a time).

I might be wrong here but your refernces to what Biodiesel costs to make are really off? A gallon of diesel is not very expensive to make either, add the price of crude, shipping, storage, distriubution, retail profit, wholesale profit, etc, etc and you have a high price.

You can't base Biodiesel costs on using used cooking oil. There is not enough used cooking oil to do it on grand scale, you need to factor in the cost of the cooking oil to begin with and then add all the other same costs that go with the distribution of diesel fuel as well.

29Firefox

Properly set for power generation its do able. But the funny thought of the day is someone cutting a hole in the engine hatch of their top gun so they can stand up that 60 gallon water heater in the engine compartment.

29Firefox

Joe,

Used cooking oil is available by the truck load from various food processing plants. They don't pay to have it taken away. They sell it because there is a demand. It can be used for manufacturing plastics, hydraulics, off road fuel and heating. Used cooking oil is a hot selling product.

Fountain38SC

Here's a link to several videos showing biodiesel production. Scroll down for the video page link.

http://utahbiodieselsupply.com/

HabanaJoe

Guys, we're not on the same page at all here, you all want to talk about Biodiesel for your own use and save a couple bucks which in the scope of the US or the world amounts to nothing and I say that with no insult intended at all. References to truckloads of used cooking oil are such a drop in the bucket that they make no real difference hence the widespread commerical applications are so limited for that kind of oil.

What I'm talking about is Biodiesel on a commerical scale and I'll give you real numbers. Tri-State Biodiesel based in NYC is building a new Biodiesel plant in Brooklyn that will be online in 2009. That plant will be able to produce 3 million gallons of 100% Biodiesel a year from NYC used cooking oil. The State of NY is helping them along with other Government Agencies, this is real and is being built today.

I have right know 2 - 1000 kw generators sets running 1 project and that project will last 1 year. Those 2 generators burn 120 gallons per hour combined. There is 8736 hours in 1 year, just that one job will consume 1,048,320 gals in 1 year or 1/3 of the entire production of their waste oil Biodiesel plant for just 1 job in NYC!!!!!

Or look at it as 1 - 7,600 gal tractor trailer of diesel every 63 hours - simply not enough used cooking oil in NYC to support my one job. Think about how many of those go on everyday plus the number of boats, trucks, trains, buses, power generating stations and cars that use diesel everyday.

That is why I say "there is not enough used cooking oil to make a difference" - all the McDonalds and all the KFC's added together for 1 year can't power the US for 1 day on Biodiesel fuel.

Used cooking oil is a "feel good" measure and makes great U-tube videos but doesn't hold the answer to America's growing diesel demands or solving how we stop buying so much oil from overseas.

I don't want to sound like you saving a few dollars isn't good, but as soon as more people start grabbing up used cooking oil, what will happen? You will have to start paying for the used oil and your whole argument on price and saving money goes out the window!!!

I don't know the answers but if I did I could run for office get elected and start taking so much kick-back money from the oil companies that I just wouldn't care anymore what the answer was!!!!

29Firefox

Don't forget you have to add a minimum of 0.1% of regular diesel oil to your bio mix or else the IRS will be getting knee deep in you.

29Firefox

Road Taxes are administered by the Various States and on the Federal level by IFTA. Making fuel is monitored by the IRS and is taxable under Sec 4081 of the Internal Revenue Code. Road or no road Uncle Sam wants his cut.