Question for the WVO users out there

[Sciulli]

Is there a particular reason as to why you folks chose the WVO system opposed to using a reactor for Bio-diesel. I'm sure i could think of a handful, money trumping most of them, but I wanted to hear others first.

[dercody]

bump, as i am interested in this answer as well, also never heard of a "reactor" type

[Clay Henry]

Simple, Biodiesel is messy, dangerous a time consumming to make and it still cost money to buy the Methanol and Sodium Hydroxide.
WVO straight is fast to filter and completely free. I can have 50 gallons of vegi filtered and dewatered and ready to go in my truck in 24 hours and it takes about 15 minutes of my actual time to do that.
This reguires a heated fuel system like this one that I got on the vehicle that is costly but it pays for itself fast. I paid 3 grand to have mine installed and that was last june and I have already used about 800 gallons of free vegi fuel which equates to about 2,500 dollars in fuel savings so far.

[Sciulli]

When I said reactor i simply mean like a one tank(or there abouts) system. Liek the Fuel Mister II from that biodiesel solutions place. Your responses don't need to be based 100% from that style of design, so i guess i should have said... Why would you use a SVO system opposed to a biodiesel system.

[Clay Henry]

Also when you make biodiesel, a 30 gallon batch will produce 20 or so gallons of usable fuel and 10 gallons of glycerin that has to be disposed of.

[Sciulli]

Ok Well I appreciate your answers but allow me to throw a new spin on the initial question:

Lets say that you were going to get a new truck (diesel of course), and you were prompted with two identical trucks, one with a WVO system and another with a Bio-diesel system, Now let’s say that the prices are identical as well, but they come with two ways of making fuel. We will assume that the WVO system is one like you currently own(veggistroke or what have you), while the bio-diesel system is of light commercial quality. When I say light commercial quality we assume that the entire system is roughly the size of a refrigerator (or there abouts), completely automated and enclosed. You simply press a button and two to three days later you have fuel. The only actual work that needs to be done is hooking up the waste vegi container and making sure the internal chemical containers are filled. Let’s further say that the unit is also equipped with a methanol recovery system so that amount of methoxide that one gets with the initial purchase of the truck is enough to last them until whenever. In addition to this there is a glycol removal system that simply dumps the waste into your yard and takes care of it (since all glycol really is, is simply animal fat…aka soap). Furthermore all of the chemicals come in a fire retardant container and we will say that the price of NaOH is not really a factor (because it is not all that expensive in the whole scheme of things).

Now after reading what I just said you assume that I’m pushing for bio-diesel but this is not the case. I’m just trying to become educated on the matter at hand here and since you have obviously chosen one of the two mainstream options, I assume you might have had some the same questions I do.

With that aside, which of the two setups would you chose?

If anyone else has any comments please feel free to post.

[Clay Henry]

Dude, you totally lost me with that whole hypathetical story...
1st of all, no mater which you choose you still have to collect oil and that is the first pain about it. After I collect it, i don't want to touch it again and I don't. I spend a total of 15 minutes of my time to pump it into my heating vessel to heat, then cool and settle for 24 hours then i drain a bit off and then turn on a pump to cycle it through a 5 micron filter unit and into my truck. 50 gallons in 24 hours time and 15 minutes of my time. I don't have to go to the store and by meth or lye because i ran out last time i made a batch.
I'm not dumping glycerin on my yard cause my dog would eag it and my 9 year old would run through it just before entering the house at 20 mph before i could stop him
That all being said, Biodiesel is just a huge PITA in my opinion. i converted my truck and I 'm about to get a Jeep CRD to convert for the wife, i got a potential to collect 200 gallons of WVO a week soon and I'm gonna run as much as i need and sell the rest filtered and ready to use for a small fee. So if you need some filtered dewatered wvo, give me a holler!

[Sciulli]

Well really the bottom line is that I can't see how heating up waste oil that been filtered and de-watered and then pumping it though your fuel system, finally into your injectors can be anything but good for a diesel engine.

[Clay Henry]

Of course it's good, the engine loves it!
And biodiesel that has been mixed incorrectly will have a very very negative effect on injectors!

[Sciulli]

So then what happens to the oil? I mean I understand how and why bio-diesel works(from a chemical standpoint). How does simply heating up the WVO cause all of the animal proteins to just "go away". IE the whole methanl/NaOH cycle of bio-diesel.