AltFuel Biodiesel

[zander]

Just saw this post... The diesel filler tube is another bit of rubber that Diesel Toyota owner should plan on swapping to a better plastic if using BioDiesel. I had this same problem with my 97 Cummins powered Dodge. I plan on upgrading my filler tube soon. Greg, (or anyone else who has one out of a vehicle) do you know wat length, ID and OD the hose is? Any pics avail? Is it a formed hose or just a chunk of tube? It woould be great to have that info so I dont have to take mine apart to order the Viton tubing...

I will also post a report of the swap for others to see like the Viton fuel line swap report on my BioDiesel page.

A few months back I saw the filler tube from a BJ42 that is running bio-diesel. It was pooched. Don't know what other lines the mechanic changed at that time.

gb

 

[Jim_Chow]

When I was in the Army (Aviation) one of my pilots was a petrolium engineer. He used to work for Exxon before he went into the Army. He spent 20 years over in Saudi. He explained it to me that the process of regeneration, or the process that creates the oil is a coninuing one. He said to consider the size of the earth, and its capacity. He told me that we wont and cant take oil from the ground fast enough to get ahead of the game. That there would always be oil because of the process of creation. He also mentioned that our technological advancement will mean a moving away from oil long before we would break that barrier anyway.

I certainly cant explain it as well as he did. But I knew this man and how intelligent he was. I believe him.

TB

While is may be true, the problem is extracting the oil is getting more difficult due to no new technological breakthroughs since the 90's. In the 90's I knew guys (fellow grad students working on their doctorates consulting for petroleum countries) who were applying multi-sensor DSP to find oil. Basically, you set a grid of sensors out, set off a shockwave in the ground (explosion, thump, etc.), measure the returns (time delays, return amplitude/phase). This data allows one to recontruct they layers of material underneath the ground without having to drill. Think of it as a geological radar or ultrasound. This technique aided in the discovery of easy-to-extract oil reserves. The "known" oil reserves (known and known to be extractable using today's technology) can't meet increasing global demands. That doesn't mean there won't be a breakthrough in technology that unlocks more reserves. You can extract the difficult-to-reach oil...it'll just cost a lot more money. $50/barrel is probably more of the floor now, and that assumes no terrorist activities that either damage oil infrastructure or set oil traders into a panic (think $80-100/barrel or $4+/gallon for gas). Hydrogen fuel cells sounds great in theory, but it takes a lot of energy to generate the hydrogen, and that energy's gotta come from somewhere, whether oil or nuke.

 

[Satamax]

Hi everybody!

Jim Phillips, biodiesel either homemade or sold at petrol stations (if that does exist!) is subject to the TIPP (internal tax on petroleum products) in France. That tax is 35.55% of our final diesel fuels prices! Plus VAT of 19.6% in case of a sale! Thought, if you're using wvo that you got for free, it would be hard to take 35% of nothing! Added taxes go up 80 % of final super petroleum price! I should admit that i'm intrested in homebrewing!

Best regards.

Max.

 

[Diescipel]

Just saw this post... The diesel filler tube is another bit of rubber that Diesel Toyota owner should plan on swapping to a better plastic if using BioDiesel. I had this same problem with my 97 Cummins powered Dodge. I plan on upgrading my filler tube soon. Greg, (or anyone else who has one out of a vehicle) do you know wat length, ID and OD the hose is? Any pics avail? Is it a formed hose or just a chunk of tube? It woould be great to have that info so I dont have to take mine apart to order the Viton tubing...

I will also post a report of the swap for others to see like the Viton fuel line swap report on my BioDiesel page.

I'll second this. I know it would only take a few minutes to get the filler neck out and measure it, but if somebody has one already out it would let me drink another instead.

B

 

[NMuzj100]

I have been running about 50% BioD in my 6.2L TD Suburban. I am purchasing the it locally at about a $.20/ gallon premium over petro but figure that I would need some lubricity additive anyway. After around 3000 miles I finally got around to changing the fuel filter, cut it open and found nothing but the normal small amounts of rust and sand typical of all my other fuel filter changes. At 50% the power drop is not noticeable. The improved exhaust smell is.

If I was going to run the homebrew I might invest in a superior filtering stystem like a Racor or something just for peace of mind.

I have done a lot of reading on BioD and SVO and most operators who have run SVO said that in the end it is easier and better to go with the BioD. Some users of SVO have had trouble with combustion deposits. SVO has to be preheated, usually through heating device using engine coolant. So the engine is started on diesel (or BioD) run until it reaches temp then the VO is heated and fed to the engine, This system gets to be pretty complex as it requires two tanks with two fuels and a system to preheat the VO. BioD has to be processed but all the equipment is in the shop not in the vehicle.

Another good link www.biodiesel.org (has a list of US suppliers and retail stations))

Diesel Suburban for sale cheap to one of you needing an experimental test bed.

 

[neowulf]

maybe i should try some biodiesel too , does it have anny spesial sideffekts on turbocharged engines?

its a turbocharged 1hz engine.

 

[zander]

Have any of you messed with timing on your 2H? (or other diesel) I was looking into advancing the timing in the manual and it looks like a pretty big job where the front cover comes off etc.

I would like to try advanced timing for better biodiesel MPG in my HJ60.

I also came across an interesting recent study of direct vs. indirect injected diesels and Straight Veggie Oil (SVO). It states that indirect injected diesels (like the Toyota factory non diesels, 2H, 3B etc) are better for SVO as they have higher Cylinder Head Temps (CHT) and do more complete burning. The direct injected diesels (like the factory Toyota turbo diesels and VW TDI) have lower CHTs and this can leave deposits on the cylinder walls that can cause engine failure.

They had an interesting hack for this which was to make a stainless plate that bolted on the cylinder head to limit heat dissipation to get the CHTs to the desired level. This seemed to correct the problem. Of course the other way is to turbo charge an indirect injected diesel.

here is the link to the study:
http://www.univ-orleans.fr/ESEM/LME/Commun/Doc/pdf/21Resume1.pdf

 

[kkt]

H not 2H biodiesel

Does anyone have any knowledge of running H series 6cy diesel on biodiesel fuel?

 

[HZJ60 Guy]

When I first bought my HJ60 and brought it to Washington state I had to license and register it. That included an emissions inspection. I KNEW it wouldnt pass under normal conditions. So I filled her up with B100 and drove her around for a few hours. When I took the test she passed with flying colors!
She was down on power a little bit, but she sure smelled good.

AXT turbo charged 2H.

TB

 

[zander]

Does anyone have any knowledge of running H series 6cy diesel on biodiesel fuel?

Mine has been running on pure 100% Biodiesel for the last two months with a little loss in power and mileage but all is well otherwise. I swapped the fuel lines before switching fuels. You can see my report on that as well as other biodiesel info in my sig link below...

 

[iron_giant]

I ran bio100 on my h as well. Same observations- slight loss in power and mileage. I don't know if the PO swapped the lines out but i haven't had any problems.

 

[wesintl]

I just filled up with B20. About the best i'll do in my situation. It was a 25 mile hike so I won't be filling there all the time. I wish somone would put in a b20 station closer to me. It was 2.26 which is about the same as diesel in my area. Regular diesel runs 2.25-2.36 where I am. I think the same station was selling regular diesel for 2.25.


Here is the company in colorado: http://www.gobluesun.com/

 

[drexx]

22Aug2005 (UTC +8)

I'm thinking what will be the effects on the newer common-rail diesels on this one, particularly the D4-D engines (eg. 1KD-FTV) of Toyota?

I'm guessing it will be better, because they have electronic stuff that can automatically advance the timing? Might even be better too because the lubricity will be increased.

BTW, a search for "biodiesel" & "WVO" on http://www.toyotadiesel.com yields some nice tidbits on others experiences as well.

I'm currently hooking up with fellow techno-nerds here in the Philippines and will try to setup a home-made biodiesel production. Experiment platforms will be a 1991 HZJ-80 and a 2004 Hilux (with 3L engine, not the 1KD-FTV) and a Denyo 25kVA generator (with Isuzu engine). But since this'll be a hobbyist's experiment, that will aim for ASTM D6751 standards, I hope I can post something good in the next coupla months.

 

[Etsha6]

A very informative post, thanks to those enlightening the rest of us.

No one has touched on (all) the safety aspects of making batches of BD in your backyard.
What are the safety hazards?
Is it safe to have an electrical element warming up a batch of fuel in a residential area?

Thanks
Ben

 

[crushers]

hummm, grease fire...

personally i have never heard of any problems but i would want to let my insurance company know that i was doing this. if anything did happen loss of coverage would be a very bad thing, esp if anyone got hurt...
cheers

 

[Deny]

The good thing about biodiesel, is that it is safer than regular diesel, so it is less likely to burn or explode. The only real safety you need to worry about is handling the methanol and lye, make sure you are using a respirator and all safty clothing to protect your self, and make sure you keep your kids away, just like using any other bad chemicals around the shop.
Cheers,
Deny

 

[Kalawang]

22Aug2005 (UTC +8)

I'm thinking what will be the effects on the newer common-rail diesels on this one, particularly the D4-D engines (eg. 1KD-FTV) of Toyota?

I'm guessing it will be better, because they have electronic stuff that can automatically advance the timing? Might even be better too because the lubricity will be increased.

BTW, a search for "biodiesel" & "WVO" on http://www.toyotadiesel.com yields some nice tidbits on others experiences as well.

I'm currently hooking up with fellow techno-nerds here in the Philippines and will try to setup a home-made biodiesel production. Experiment platforms will be a 1991 HZJ-80 and a 2004 Hilux (with 3L engine, not the 1KD-FTV) and a Denyo 25kVA generator (with Isuzu engine). But since this'll be a hobbyist's experiment, that will aim for ASTM D6751 standards, I hope I can post something good in the next coupla months.

Drexx,


Nice to know you're looking into it. Give me a call if you need any help or if you just need someone to bounce ideas off of.


Kalawang

 

[browndog]

Hey folks:

Glad to see this post is still going. The more interest the better.

As for the safety of homebrewing, I've been homebrewing since March and have the following impressions.

As stated above, biodiesel is even less combustible than regular petro diesel. You can hold an open flame to finished fuel and it will not light. Furthermore, the finished fuel is less toxic than table salt and degrades faster than sugar. Explosions with biodiesel are extremely unlikely, in fact far less likely than some of the other common chemicals found in the average garage.

Although storing a 55-gallon drum of racing grade methanol in the garage is a bit scary it is no more dangerous than a gas tank for lawn equipment. If it makes you nervous keep the methanol outside--it doesn't need to stay warm. Methanol fumes will mess you up pretty quickly, but it's not the best idea to sniff pure gasoline either. As long as you operate a closed processing system and vent fumes outside there is no danger. The same is true for methoxide (methanol + potassium hydroxide). Where a mask, mix outside, and use a closed system processor. No sweat.

Homebrewing is really quite simple, much cheaper than purchasing at a gas station (it costs me about .90/gallon), and very gratifying. No reliance on fueling stations, no reliance on foreign (or otherwise) oil, and total quality control. The only down side is getting used to dealing with waste cooking oil--pretty messy stuff.

I know there is a lot of information on this forum about how to get your own system started, but if any of you have questions about how it all works feel free to PM me.

 

[Vaardawg]

Biodiesel in B.C.??

I am totally fascinated with this biodiesel thread. I don't presently have time and resources to make biodiesel myself, but would like to find out how to get it, if possible. Any fellow British Columbians know about the availability of commercial biodiesel, particularly in the Okanagan?

 

[Deny]

There are home brew guys spread out accross the province, I have read of a few in the kootenys, the island, and the vancouver area, but nothing commercial yet. I think the UBC guys might be selling some, and I have heard of another company in the Vancouver area, but nothing too big. Also there should be a large plant openning up in Abbotsford soon too, but who knows when that will happen. You might try looking at some of the biodiesel boards on the internet, and you might get hooked up with a homebrewer in your area that is willing to sell you some,
Cheers,
Deny