Attention: TDR Forum Junkies 
After seeing the new advertising here on the TDR website, I started looking into biodiesel. It didn't take long to find a local business called Houston Biodiesel. http://www.houstonbiodiesel.com Their place is not far off my beaten track, so I dropped by on the way home yesterday. Learned a lot of interesting things.
As I walked up to the place, I ran into a man who had come to buy fuel. He was driving a Chevy/Duramax. I learned that he has been running a 50/50 mix of biodiesel / petrodiesel for about a year. He says he loves it, his truck runs great, is quieter, and doesn't emit the usual diesel exhaust smell. He lives some distance away, and drives in once in a while to pick up 4-6 containers of B95 (biodiesel 95%, petrodiesel 5%)
Houston Biodiesel ships in large containers of the fuel from a producer up in the midwest. It's made from vegetable oil (not recycled cooking oil) They were selling B95 yesterday for $2. 60 / gallon. Until now, their product was more expensive than petrodiesel, so people mostly bought it because 1) It reduces pollution or 2) They don't like sending large amounts of money to the arab oil cartel. I saw a price of $2. 75 for diesel on the way to work this morning, so now there is another reason to buy.
I had a long conversation with Chris Powers, the owner, and it turns out they also "home brew" their own biodiesel, for personal use, using waste cooking oil. They use an electric water heater for a "reactor" vessel, and the process is quite simple. I found a web site http://www.biodieselcommunity.org/ that lays out the entire process. If you want to know how the whole process works, it's all there. Chris says if you can find a source of suitable quality cooking oil, you can make your own fuel for about $1. 25 per gallon.
I just got interested in this whole thing, and ended up finding a whole new world out there that I knew almost nothing about. Thought the group here might be interested. If things continue to go the way they are now, I just might end up brewing my own fuel. During the '70s oil embargo I drove an electric car, and loved waving at people in the long gas lines. Brew-your-own biodiesel could turn out to be the 21st century version of that.
As I walked up to the place, I ran into a man who had come to buy fuel. He was driving a Chevy/Duramax. I learned that he has been running a 50/50 mix of biodiesel / petrodiesel for about a year. He says he loves it, his truck runs great, is quieter, and doesn't emit the usual diesel exhaust smell. He lives some distance away, and drives in once in a while to pick up 4-6 containers of B95 (biodiesel 95%, petrodiesel 5%)
Houston Biodiesel ships in large containers of the fuel from a producer up in the midwest. It's made from vegetable oil (not recycled cooking oil) They were selling B95 yesterday for $2. 60 / gallon. Until now, their product was more expensive than petrodiesel, so people mostly bought it because 1) It reduces pollution or 2) They don't like sending large amounts of money to the arab oil cartel. I saw a price of $2. 75 for diesel on the way to work this morning, so now there is another reason to buy.
I had a long conversation with Chris Powers, the owner, and it turns out they also "home brew" their own biodiesel, for personal use, using waste cooking oil. They use an electric water heater for a "reactor" vessel, and the process is quite simple. I found a web site http://www.biodieselcommunity.org/ that lays out the entire process. If you want to know how the whole process works, it's all there. Chris says if you can find a source of suitable quality cooking oil, you can make your own fuel for about $1. 25 per gallon.
I just got interested in this whole thing, and ended up finding a whole new world out there that I knew almost nothing about. Thought the group here might be interested. If things continue to go the way they are now, I just might end up brewing my own fuel. During the '70s oil embargo I drove an electric car, and loved waving at people in the long gas lines. Brew-your-own biodiesel could turn out to be the 21st century version of that.
