How to Make Bio Diesel Fuel

Biodiesel fuel is made from used vegetable oil that has been filtered to remove all the bits of debris from it, methanol (must be pure methanol such as HEET in the yellow bottle used for getting water out of your gas) and potassium hydroxide (KOH) as a catalyst. Once this method of making biodiesel has been mastered, you can make your own fuel! Make small batches until you become proficient enough to make large quantities. Used vegetable oil in large quantities is available for the taking at fast-food outlets.

Difficulty:

Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Old blender you don't want anymore
• Enamel, heavy duty plastic glass or stainless steel Vessels
• Accurate scale
• 1 L vegetable oil
• Long pants
• Long-sleeved shirt
• Rubber gloves
• Eye protection
• 200 ml pure methanol
• 1 L unused vegetable oil
• Measuring cups
• 2 2-L empty pop bottles

1. Put on your safety gear, long pants, long-sleeved shirt, rubber gloves and safety glasses. Always have safety in mind when you are making biodiesel.

2. Place a funnel in one of the ½ L HDPE containers and after careful measuring pour methanol into it. Change your funnel, weigh accurately and pour the KOH into the same container as the methanol. Swirl this mixture around until the KOH dissolves completely and there are no granules remaining. Do not shake up and down; rather swirl the mixture until incorporated. The mixture will heat up, so be careful and mindful of this reaction. Place cap on tightly. You've just made potassium methoxide.

3. Preheat the vegetable oil to 130 degrees F or 55 degrees C. Pour the heated oil into the clean, dry blender. Add the potassium methoxide slowly from the HDPE container to the oil. Place the lid on the blender and blend for 30 minutes.

4. Pour the mixture from the blender into the 2-L pop bottle and allow it to sit undisturbed for up to 24 hours. After that period of time you will notice two distinct layers in your pop bottle. The bottom layer is glycerin and the top layer is biodiesel. You must siphon off the biodiesel without any of the glycerin.

5. Wash your biodiesel. This is the final step to determine whether you have made a quality product. Pour a quarter of your biodiesel into a 2-L pop bottle and add water to this in the same amount. Cap and shake the mixture violently for at least 10 seconds. Now allow the jar to stand for a few minutes. If there is a distinct line between the biodiesel and the water separated by a thin milky line, then, congratulations, you do indeed have a quality product. Wash the rest of the biodiesel, siphon off the biodiesel from the water and you're ready to roll.

Resources

• BioDiesel Book
• Make Biodiesel at Home
• Save the Planet