In the face of rising oil prices and increasing environmental awareness, alternate fuels are "in" today, even if only as a stopgap until even better "alternative energy" sources come about. High on the list of uses of corn today is conversion into ethanol for use in gasoline engines, while "biodiesel" is marketed to another segment of the driving world. The latter will be the topic today, as we discuss how you can make biodiesel in your own kitchen.
What is Biodiesel?
Biodiesel is an analog of diesel fuel, made from vegetable oil rather than petroleum. It can be used in place of diesel fuel in any diesel engine, and while diesel fuel itself is an extremely "dirty" fuel, biodiesel burns in a much cleaner way. Being recognized by the United States government and its Environmental Protection Agency as a fuel, biodiesel is fully legal in the USA. Further, most vehicle manufacturer's warranties will cover biodiesel.
What About Unrefined Vegetable Oils?
Diesel engines can, in fact, run on straight vegetable oil (SVO), but not without having a few alterations made to "convert" your diesel engine into an SVO engine. Biodiesel, on the other hand, can be fed directly into a diesel engine with no modifications made to it; additionally, you can switch between pure diesel, pure biodiesel, or any mixture of the two, as you need to.
Why Biodiesel Rather Than Straight Vegetable Oil?
While ordinary vegetable oil, straight from your supermarket shelf, can be burned as a fuel, it is not optimized to burn cleanly and efficiently due to the presence of other complex chemicals (chiefly glycerol) in addition to the hydrocarbons you are chiefly interested in burning. Biodiesel is essentially vegetable oil rid of this "fat," and turned into a cleaner, less viscous and leaner "pure" fuel.
How Can Biodiesel be Made at Home?
Because no major chemical changes are needed to convert vegetable oil into biodiesel, the conversion process is chemically simple: it is essentially just a "cleansing" of vegetable oil, as noted above. The only chemicals needed, in addition to the vegetable oil itself, are lye (or "caustic soda," found in the drain cleaner aisle) and methanol, available in any auto supply store. Though care should be taken in handling these chemicals, they are not restricted chemicals under United States law.
Is it Safe to Make Biodiesel at Home?
Done correctly, biodiesel can be made safely at home, as long as certain safety rules are followed strictly:
- always work in a well-ventilated area and take great care to avoid breathing any fumes
- always keep the working bottle sealed securely so that no liquid or fumes can escape
- make sure the working area is clean and dry before making biodiesel
- always wear safety equipment including apron, plastic gloves, and face shield and/or goggles
Is it Safe to Store Biodiesel at Home?
Once biodiesel has been made, and the dangerous chemicals involved in its creation disposed of, biodiesel itself is no more dangerous to store than any other liquid fuel such as gasoline, kerosene, or diesel. Naturally, biodiesel is flammable, since it is a fuel, so the same precautions should be taken when storing biodiesel as when storing any other liquid fuel.
Conclusions
If you are responsible and capable of following safety guidelines when doing chemistry at home, then the "cooking" of biodiesel becomes an easy and productive endeavor. You will end up with a clean, renewable, and cheap fuel, and a fuel that has many applications outside of cars to boot.
Cecilia Montrose has a long commute and spends a lot of money on gas. She's found fifty ways for 50waystosavegas.com saving gas and is always searching for new ideas for 50waystosavegas.com/howtosavegas.html how to save gas.
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