Biodiesel Piggie #2 Buildup (was Sad Sad day...)

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate
links, including eBay, Amazon, Skimlinks, and others.

and finally, here are some photos of our biodiesel processor. Ours is an "appleseed" style processor which means build out of an electric hot water heater. this is the second one we have built this way, and they work great (the ports are all in the right places, insulation, wiring all work great) but because everything is 3/4" it is slow. So we added three ports, one for the thermometer halfway through the tank, and two 1 1/4" ports top and bottom with a big-ass hottub pump. It literally fills the processor in maybe 20-30 seconds? Very very fast. Also has a built in screen which is nice.. So pretty sweet setup, all on wheels with its own fuse panel and everything. Our wash tank is a 275 gallon "tote" that we put on a frame that has wheels. So we can wash large batches of upto 150-200 gallongs at a time. I believe there is 125 gallons in there right now.. I am pretty proud of this setup, it is very badass and heavy duty and seems to yield pretty good biodiesel. The concept behind these piggies is that they are not just cruisers but semi environmentally friendly.. I researched global warming for a few years in college (and once even held the position "Climate Change Coordinator" for the University of Vermont.. And biodiesel is a solution to that problem, as well as less dependancy on foreign oil, supporting farmers, all around better emissions, all that jazz.. So this sort of fits into the picture I think as well :)
Picture 001.webp
Picture 002.webp
Picture 014.webp
 
here is our grease storage tank. In winter this is pretty much 100% necessary, during summer you don't need this. We pour the grease into this and preheat with a heating element that we also welded a port in for that is wired to a 110 household plug. Plug it in for 45 minutes and everything becomes liquid in winter... Then fill the processor with this (about 55-60 gallons) then add the 12-13 gallons of methanol (20-22% ratio) and it tops out our 80 gallon hot water heater. Works pretty well. We use the pumps for everything, mixing, and transferring the fluids. We have two pumps, the big one for mixing and fluids in/out, then the small as a backup and for removing glycerin only.
Picture 009.webp
Picture 010.webp
 
this unit here is our barrell mover. It is a tree stump hand truck that we widened for use with barrels that works very well. The only way we have figured out to brew biodiesel and not have it be a total PITA is to deal with grease at the barrel/ 55 gallon level. We then use air pressure with lids to pump the grease out. This actually works well even in winter. Even then it is still a PITA but much easier than some of the other stuff we were doing earlier.. Grease stinks, but it adds up in fuel costs. I ran all of my own fuel in Moab this year, $200-250 savings?

The bottom pic is our methoxide-in container, a plastic 15 gallon barrell we add the mixture of lye/methanol in, via air pressure. You have to add it in very slowely. We use that small regulator at 2psi with the ball valve very minimally cocked otherwise you do not get a complete reaction.. If anyone has questions on how to brew check out the primer at www.biodieselcommunity.org which runs through it. It is very easy to do..
Picture 013.webp
Picture 005.webp
 
dieselcruiserhead said:
HEre you can see the spot welds in the roof. The plan is to do the roof this once and never have to come to it again.. I think the powder coating will help that alot.. :)
Click to expand...


Good work and great idea pulling the roof, the time it takes is well worth it.

How about gutting the truck and sending it out for media blasting, save ya a pile of time and shows everthing??

Rob
 
Coming along NICE! And way quicker than I thought.
Regarding the name, it will be a land cruiser, so shouldn't it be called a TBJ-55?
 
Radd Cruisers said:
Good work and great idea pulling the roof, the time it takes is well worth it.

How about gutting the truck and sending it out for media blasting, save ya a pile of time and shows everthing??

Rob
Click to expand...


that is what I am thinking, some sort of media or sand blast. No one around here does media blasting but they do lots of cars so I am not worried.. But I am considering doing it myself as well :)
 
I've done some sandblasting and I would say leave it to the professionals, but that is just my opinion.

If I rember right from the previous threads you can get a pretty good deal on sandblasting, but if you don't, let me know, I take mine to a place that does a great job, great price, and are real concerned about making sure they don't damage any of the steel, plus they have done many vehicles.

Later
Scott
 
So what is the cost of your biodiesel setup? I have space in the backyard for such a setup. I've been thinking I could build a steel shed to house something like that. I've been looking at doing a diesel Cruiser for quite some time. If I could make my own fuel reasonabley in the backyard I'd get spousal support for the conversion. Also, What do you think it costs you per gallon?
 
Portal_tek said:
I've done some sandblasting and I would say leave it to the professionals, but that is just my opinion.

If I rember right from the previous threads you can get a pretty good deal on sandblasting, but if you don't, let me know, I take mine to a place that does a great job, great price, and are real concerned about making sure they don't damage any of the steel, plus they have done many vehicles.

Later
Scott
Click to expand...


Cool and good to know. Best price I got was about $350 for the whole thing. It is pretty clean already so not that bad. I would have to tow it down and back but I don't mind doing that I think.. So maybe you are right..
 
ginericfj80 said:
So what is the cost of your biodiesel setup? I have space in the backyard for such a setup. I've been thinking I could build a steel shed to house something like that. I've been looking at doing a diesel Cruiser for quite some time. If I could make my own fuel reasonabley in the backyard I'd get spousal support for the conversion. Also, What do you think it costs you per gallon?
Click to expand...

Our setup was pretty expensive but is was because we did not cut corners. About $2500-$3000 for everything. But you can build one a lot cheaper, but we wanted a high quality easy to brew fast setup such as we have. You can build a decent appleseed for $500 or so or even less. Collecting grease is the worse part of it though but there are solutions for that as well... But it is labor intensive.. And you need a diesel, and it takes a little while to get everything dialed so you understand everything. And there are a lot of variables, 'weird' things that happen here and there. But the good news is none of it will F-up your vehicle. But again you need a diesel... Cost per gallon, not including electricity, cost of processor, and labor, $.50-$.70 a gallon. But that other stuff adds up. I don't think we have broken even yet IMO..
 
Nice thread Andre.
Always a good read, kind of a feel good spirit to it as well, despite some of the bummers.

Looking again at the rolled 80, have you considered taking the rolling chassis to an alignment or chassis shop for a quick verification that it is square and true?

It might be money well spent before you get into it.

Just a thought.

L8R
john
 
That isn't too bad for setup. Especially if you divide it over long term. My 80 will eventually be diesel. I'm just not sure when or which engine yet.
 
Aside from the fact that brewing biodiesel is cheaper, it's just too cool. It is it's own hobby and all hobbies cost money, so the fact that it actually pays for itself is a bonus. If one got into producing massive quantities of biodiesel, then one could sell it and turn a profit!

The only problem with running biodiesel is that it does not have the dye in it like regular diesel does. I've heard that this dye signifies the road tax that is charged on the fuel, and it differentiates between "construction diesel" and "road diesel." Has anyone ever heard of being caught for this, or of this even being a problem?
 
redcorn said:
Nice thread Andre.
Always a good read, kind of a feel good spirit to it as well, despite some of the bummers.

Looking again at the rolled 80, have you considered taking the rolling chassis to an alignment or chassis shop for a quick verification that it is square and true?

It might be money well spent before you get into it.

Just a thought.

L8R
john
Click to expand...

Well honestly this was the plan all along but somehow I talked myself out of it because it really does appear perfectly straight as far as I can tell. But perhaps there was some minor tweaking, I dunno... Anyway, cost is about $100 to get it checked out so maybe I will do it. htere is a pretty good shop that can do it for me less than a mile away.. But now that I have a tow rig I sold the trailer stupidly.. But I have one I can borrow so I think that will be the plan :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

Back
Top Bottom