Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Where to begin?
My ultimate goal is to use waste vegetable oil (wvo) to make my fuel. But from what I've read, the quality of the input greatly affects the quality of the output, and with wvo the input quality can vary greatly. So before I get into that kind of hairiness, I think I'd better get a good feel for making a consistently high-quality brew. (It seems that over the years I have actually learned from my many attempts at insanely ambitious projects. Now I chunk things into smaller projects instead of thinking that I'm gonna totally strip down and rebuild my bike in a couple of hours -- sorry about those leftover parts in the garage, mom.)
My plan is to get a 5 gallon container of vegetable oil from a store, and start brewing 1 quart or smaller batches. Hopefully that will allow me to have enough tests from the same batch of oil to be fairly confident that any significant variance in the outcome is the consequence of my technique, and not my input.
Here's a list of sites I'm using for guidance:
http://www.journeytoforever.org/
http://www.biodiesel.org/
http://www.biodieselnow.com/
http://www.localb100.com/
http://biodieselcommunity.org/
My plan is to get a 5 gallon container of vegetable oil from a store, and start brewing 1 quart or smaller batches. Hopefully that will allow me to have enough tests from the same batch of oil to be fairly confident that any significant variance in the outcome is the consequence of my technique, and not my input.
Here's a list of sites I'm using for guidance:
http://www.journeytoforever.org/
http://www.biodiesel.org/
http://www.biodieselnow.com/
http://www.localb100.com/
http://biodieselcommunity.org/
Hello. And welcome.
A little over a year ago, I bought a new-to-me car, a 2003 Jetta TDI wagon. I specifically wanted a TDI because I'd been reading about biodiesel and was intrigued by the eco-friendly, do-it-yourself, old-school hackerishness of it all. Plus I kinda like the smell of diesel exhaust. Anyway, I decided that once I got out of the warranty period, I would start brewing and running B100. When I got the car, it had about 13,000 miles on it.
Boy, do I drive a lot. In another 3 or 4 months I will have passed the 40,000-mile limit and be warranty free! So I'm donning my mad scientist glasses and prepping to get my diesel on. And you, dear reader (hi Mom!), will have a bunsen burner-side seat. I will share with you the joy, the tears, the successes, the blunders, the chemistry, the fakery, and of course, the explosions. (Yay! Explosions!) So please stick around.
Boy, do I drive a lot. In another 3 or 4 months I will have passed the 40,000-mile limit and be warranty free! So I'm donning my mad scientist glasses and prepping to get my diesel on. And you, dear reader (hi Mom!), will have a bunsen burner-side seat. I will share with you the joy, the tears, the successes, the blunders, the chemistry, the fakery, and of course, the explosions. (Yay! Explosions!) So please stick around.
