Backyard Biodiesel Production

Biodiesel is made from a very common ingredient, cooking oil and production of biodiesel can be done in your backyard. No modifications are required and the use of biodiesel is user friendly in any diesel vehicle.

With the use of biodiesel, environmental pollution is decreased and with the ever increasing fossil fuel prices, it is a cheaper means to fuel our sources of transportation. Using available ingredients, straightforward tools and effortless techniques, anybody can produce biodiesel at home.

When following these next steps, you can learn to make biodiesel in your own backyard…

* You will need an oil vessel for making the fuel, a setting tank, filtering system, 95% pure sulfuric acid and pure methanol, prepared mixture of methoxide and measuring beakers and pipettes.

* The oil will need to be filtered first, especially if it has been using in frying foods

* To get rid of water, heat the oil for 15 minutes. Place the heated oil in a setting tank and let stand for 24 hours. Then drain the water out.

* Dissolve all the solids after heating the precise measured oil. This has to be done in order to get the correct proportions of the other ingredients.

* With a ratio of 8% to the total measured oil, add 99% pure methanol.

* Continue mixing the oil with methanol for five minutes until the mixture starts looking cloudy.

* For every 1 liter of oil, add 1ml of 95% pure sulfuric acid. Sulfuric acid can be very dangerous. Use with extreme caution.

* Heat the mixture, stirring continuously at 35C. Remove from the heat and continue to stir for an additional two hours. Afterwards, leave the mixture for eight hours.

* At times the mixture may solidify. Reheat it slightly and add 12% methoxide mixture into it, stirring for an additional five minutes.

Producing biodiesel at home can be challenging but it is very rewarding. Once you have all the tools, you will be relying on a very inexpensive source of fuel, costing about $0.35 a gallon to make. With gas prices climbing to higher rates, the money save by producing biodiesel fuel can be spent on other budgeted household items.