For those who are tired of reacting to Pugshite: Biodiesel.

[chaska]

I heard part of the Ed Shultz show on biodiesel today. I ain't a big fan generally, but this was great. I felt optimistic about something for the first time in a long time. It felt great to not be talking about a pug.

This is a great thing for the country and a great cause and issue for us. Latch on and hold tight, ya'll. Let's promote this.

http://biodieselamerica.org/biosite/index.php?id=141,0,0,1,0,0

[jean]

1. interesting call from the guy who makes his own, at home!

[Gold Metal Flake]

2. Lots on the web about it.

I am in the process of acquiring the parts to convert my truck to run on straight veg oil, bypassing the biodiesel conversion. If you are interested in straight veg, search Yahoo with "WVO"(waste veg oil) or "SVO" (straight veg oil).

[chaska]

3. Yeah, I am interested in straight veg, but....

two things: This site says the effects on the engine of years of use are not known (for straight waste oil only for those of you who don't know the difference between straight veg and biodiesel). what have you concluded about that? And two: I gotta get a diesel.

[Gold Metal Flake]

5. I look at use in miles...

...and I have seen folks writing of thousands of miles with no problems. Really, I only see a few areas of concern:

Wear due to dirty oil. It is important that particulate matter be removed from WVO. One must allow the WVO to settle (most foklks say about 2 weeks). The clear oil is them siphoned off and filtered. I woll use two filters, one 30 microns and one 10. A 10 micron filter is sufficient for my diesel, a VW 1.6 non-turbo. I will also use a screen on the pickup tube when I retrieve the WVO. Wear from dirty oil will damage the injection pump and injectors as well as the cylinder walls.

Wear due to water. This usually causes damage to the injection pump and injectors. Dewatering the oil is always a concern. Settleing helps, but I want to try taking the clear WVO after settling, filling a small air tank converted for the job, and draw a vacuum on it with my little AC service vacuum doodad. Should boil off any emulsified water remaining in the oil in a few seconds.

Deposits due to cold oil. The WVO needs to be about 160 degrees F before you switch to it. Cold oil not only is too viscous to flow well, it also sticks to the engine's internals where it turns to carbon. Gotta heat that earl.

More info is on the web, especially at the message forums like:

http://www.frybrid.com/forum/

http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/ubb.x

So, I will have a well-heated fuel path, and well-filtered oil.

[Coastie for Truth]

4. We are at an exciting time in the field of bio-fuels

Our exploding knowledge of "bio-engineering" (enzyme catalyzed chemical reactions, including bacteria, virus, and yeast catalyzed chemical reactions) is making possible a whole new source of "fuels".

Most bio-wastes (carbohydrates, fats, starches) are made up of carbon and hydrogen (like hydrocarbons), C-H bonds and C-C bonds (again, like hydrocarbons), with some C-O bonds (like alcohols, ethers, carboxyllic acids).

Ananda Chakrabarty, a General Electric researcher, started this some 30 years ago, finding "bugs" that converted heavy hydrocarbons to light hydrocarbons. What we learn from Chakrabarty's early work is that "If you look, you can find a "bug" (or a sequence of "bugs") that will take you from a "bio-waste" to a fuel or a monomer."

This is only the beginning.

And don't listen to the Nay Sayers - they are locked in the technology of the 1920's.

[chaska]

6. dupe