2nd Gen Non-Engine/Transmission Making biodiesel

[DImberi]

Anyone brewing their own biodiesel? How difficult is the process & how do you like it?

 

[Houser]

Don't Do it

From what i have read it takes more energy to make bio fuel the you get back out of it.

I am trying to get some one to try Hydrogen boost. So I can see how it worx before I put it on my truck. I have been checking out hydrogen boost sites, most testimonials claim a 25% or more MPG gain. The hydrogen generators can be purchased for around $600. It runs on 12vdc and distilled water. There are also build it yourself kits for under $100. You can buy all the stuff to build one @ home Depot.

They look stupid simple to make, 12 volts runs through distilled water and boils off the hydrogen. I just lack the nerve to try one. Looks a lot simpler than making BioDiesel. and much cheeper too.



Houser

 

[CanadianCarGuy]

Houser,



It costs me 35 cents a litre to make biodiesel, how does that cost more?? As for the hydrogen boost, if you want good results you need quality parts, home depot special will not get you over 10% gain in mileage. Also you need baking soda or lye mixed in the water to make it work. You should do your homework before you post.

 

[JGK]

I've been making and using my own biodiesel for 2 years now and it is true, it's hard to justify the effort vs. what you save in fuel costs. Plus you have your initial investment in equipment. If you could find a second job that paid a little over minimum wage (no taxes taken out) and allowed you to work your own hours, you might actually be better off to do that and use that money to pay for diesel at the pump. But that kind of job can be pretty hard to find.



I brew mine in a friends shop and I brew enough for both his truck and mine. It takes me about 3 to 4 hours to make a batch (2 stage) so I can pull the truck in to the shop and work on it - maintenance and upgrades - while I brew.



I saved enough money the first year to pay off all my equipment. This past year has all been "profit". But it's still a "second job". On the other hand this past summer while everyone was paying $2. 80, and recently up to $3. 60 per gallon of pump diesel, we were burning 80% bio that cost us less than $1. 00 per gallon. There's a lot of satisfaction in that.



But with pump diesel at roughly $3. 25 these days - remember we don't run 100% bio, and in the winter we run about 60% - and the price of methanol being sky high these days, the margin is shrinking.



-Jay

 

[Houser]

Canadian car guy
baking soda and lye are perty cheep and distilled water falls from the sky.
Sounds like you have done your homework. Where do you get quality parts, how much do they cost, and what kind of MPG gains can I expect?
Thanks for the response, Houser

 

[JoeBioDiesel]

Low pressure hydrogen introduction has absolutely no mileage benefit, despite all the clowns claiming it. For a real 3rd party analysis of it visit National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Home Page and search "low pressure hydrogen". Read the studies.

To put it in plain english here is the way I see it.

You split water into H2 and O2. This results in about a 30% energy loss due to ohmic losses of the reaction itself.

You get the energy for the electrolysis from the alternator, which burns diesel fuel to make the energy. The alternator is around 75% efficient. More losses.

You burn the hydrogen and oxygen to extract the power you put into it, but internal combustion engines are only about 35% efficient.

Now, when NREL did their testing they used on-board storage for the hydrogen source and realized no mileage benefit. You've got to be losing mileage if you're loading the alternator to split the water on board.

Joe

 

[CanadianCarGuy]

Houser,



CHEC HFI Hydrogen Fuel Injection system reduces emissions and improves engine efficiency, reducing fuel consumption while producing more power. It works with your truck, right now.



Guaranteed 10% improvement or your money back. You are looking a $3,000 minimum for a computerized stainless steel self-monitering system. This is the only one I have heard of working. There are a couple guys at the cummins forum who have taken their home depo specials off because they did not see any gains whatsoever. Also most of the people who experience mileage gains right away achieved it from unconciously changing their driving habits, then after time the mileage gain dissappeared after the old driving habits started taking over again. I tried this a couple weeks ago going on a 200 mile trip using only the cruise control at 1600 RPM and got an instant 12% improvement over my usual 80MPH driving.

 

[Houser]

Thanks for the feed back

Thanks Canadian Car Guy

Its good to get feed back from someone who isn't trying to sell something.

Sounds like the home depot water filter kits don't work very well. must not pump out enough gas. The kits you indicated guarantee a 10% mpg gain but @ $3k. per unit. you can get that from edge EZ for few hundred and you don't need to add water. I checked out the CHEC site for technical data but couldn't find how much gas their guaranteed units produced per minute but did notice that they only draw 13 amps of current. They must use a DC pulse driver that knockes the volts down and drives up the output current. I noticed on the Hydrogen Garage site that there 30amp 2liter per minute units only drew 10-12 amps. because they used a dc-dc down converter stepper motor driver thing to drive it. They say the lower output voltage of the DC pulse driver creates less heat and more gas. their stainless steel diesel truck units run about $600 and also guarantee at least 10% or better gas mileage. Do you know of anyone who is currently trying one the Hydrogen Garage units.



Houser

 

[CanadianCarGuy]

Houser,



To be honest I don't know of too many trying hydrogen injection with good news, but I do know that a DC driver with the proper amount of lye is key to get the thing to work efficiently. It is not how much power the thing gets but the proper DC voltage and current. Also these will get pretty hot and too much lye will cook the cheaper generators. 30 amps is about what I've seen across the board for these things. I have heard of Mag-Drive hydrogen units being tested with terrible results. Mizzu from cummins forum will tell you all about it. I have been trying to get a hold of nice stainless unit, but it is like retards are running all these companies not returning emails or having automated phone systems that put you in an endless loop.