2006 GMC Duramax converted to veg oil

[Steve Spence]

Neat.

Just out of curiosity, does he have a plan for the inevitable forgetting to
switch back to diesel prior to shutdown in the winter?

Steve.

Electric primer pumps on both the diesel and veggie sides allow clearing
of the system.

 

[Steve Spence]

http://www.greasecar.com/product_detail.cfm?prodID=21
This outfit sells a buzzer that goes off if you shut off the
vehicle without switching back to diesel. They also use a
flush system to purge the lines in under a minute.

Anthony

In our system, the veggie fuel gauge lights up when the veggie system is
active, so it's quite visible which system is running. I asked him if he
wanted a buzzer, but he said it wasn't necessary. He's a pilot, and is
used to a myriad of switches and gauges. Purging is about 2 minutes or
so. We have very short lines up front, and the Duramax pumps a lot of fuel.

 

[Richard W.]

Actually, castor oil has been used in many not-so-weird engines as
lubricant. Rolls-Royce Merlins (in Spitfires) are reputed to have
benefited greatly from the stuff in the Battle of Britain
(significantly reduced failures on cams for one.) For years it was
_the_ oil of choice for Formula 1 engines.

J

I know a guy that uses it in his 4 wheeler. Claims it the best thing he's
ever found for it.

 

[Steve Spence]

http://www.b100supply.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_id=88&af
f=61585

Will this filling station, especially the 1 micron filter, work OK with regular
diesel in 55 gallon drums as well?

Thanks for the great work Steve.

Yes it will. Works with biodiesel, diesel, kerosene, even water. Will
work with liquid vegetable oil as well, but I'd put in a 10 micron
filter, or heat the 5 micron or smaller.

 

[Steve Spence]

By the way, how much glycerol is left over after making the biodiesel and what
do you do with it?

22% methoxide, 78% oil makes 22% glycerin, 78% biodiesel, approximately.
There is some variation depending on quality of oil. You can use NaOH or
KOH, but KOH makes environmentally friendly compost and irrigation
water. It also mixes better, and prevents gloppy conversions. I compost
the glycerin, and irrigate with the wash water.

 

[Steve Spence]

Steve - any news on the net fuel?

Thanks!
Phil

With Canola (based on rapeseed), we have observed 42 bushels per acre
(organic). At 55 lbs / bushel, that's 2310 lbs of seed. With 42%
available as oil, that's 970 lbs. of oil. At 8lbs / gallon, that's 121
gallons of oil / acre.

Production usage appears to be around 6 gallons per acre. This includes
plowing, discing, cultivating/harrowing, seeding, combining, and expelling.

 

[Steve Spence]

Steve Spence:
With Canola (based on rapeseed), we have observed 42 bushels per acre
(organic). At 55 lbs / bushel, that's 2310 lbs of seed. With 42%
available as oil, that's 970 lbs. of oil. At 8lbs / gallon, that's 121
gallons of oil / acre.

Production usage appears to be around 6 gallons per acre. This includes

plowing, discing, cultivating/harrowing, seeding, combining, and
expelling.
=============================================
What a great bunch of facts in a small space. Looks like it takes 6
gallons of biodiesel to produce 120 gallons... 5%. Thats a reasonable
overhead! Steve: does each of those 6 operations involve a pass with
the tractor? To clarify, is it 6 gallons/acre per pass of the tractor?
And it takes 6 passes per growing season? (I'm a better computer
programmer than farmer... need to get clear on the vocabulary...)

Correct.

 

[Steve Spence]

Thanks Steve!
Since it is organic, I'm assuming no other energy inputs from things
like commercial fertilizer.
correct.


I wonder what the yields would be if we could teach the canola to
capture its own nitrogen like the legumes do...

well, in the off season, legumes are planted refixing nitrogen.

 

[Steve Spence]

Alan Conner:
Try calculating the number of acres of oilseeds that would
have to be grown each year to fuel just the cars of America.
There isn't that much unused arable land left in the world.
===================================================
Dept of Energy show 24 quadrillion BTUs going to transportation in the
US. Backing that into oil seed showed a need for 15 20% of the land in
the US. Someone looked up that only 19% of the land is arable, and 15%
of it is in food production, so I have to conceed that not growing food
in order to grow biodiesel feedstock is a problem, but if some
significant fraction of petrodiesel could be offset by biodiesel, like
the imported part, we could drive around all fat and happy for another
couple of years and let the rest of the world figure out how to solve
their own problems.

http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel_food.html