Douglas Farm

We all know bees pollinate our crops for 1/3 to 1/4 of the food we eat. But what is not said are the crops pollinated used for feeding live stock or other uses. Clover and Alfalfa are two of the biggest live stock greens that give our meats and dairy the Omega 3's we need.

However, what I want to write about today is vegetable oils and biodiesel. It was a sad day when the largest biodiesel chain - BioWillie close up. But, that doesn't mean you can't make your own.

Before I get started I'd like to acknowledge this blog is a response to Lauren's blog: What Oil is Best Used for What?

So here's my answer being a guy, oil is best used to make my truck grrr like a tiger. Ha Ha. (Sorry I'm trying to put more personality into my writting).

But, seriously. I'll respond with asking questions to her question, "What oils make the best biodiesel? And, what is their sustainability?" So are you ready for some crazy oil data?

Let's look at the sustainability first. Okay oil; let us consider the amount of oil given by various crops, because we can't have 100 acres giving only 2000 gal of oil a year. Obviously there are other factors like soil fertility, climate required, water required by the crop to name a few. But, for this lets focus on the crop yield. Here are some yields:

Side note: briefly think of all the pollination the bees do to make  these crops and oils.

So now that we have a few oils that might be able to meet the volume we need to be our car or truck's fuel, let's look at what oil makes better biodiesel.

Iodine number is important because it relates to the cloud point of biodiesel. Cloud point is when your fuel turns to a solid and no longer flows into the engine. Very Bad! So some fats like lard are solid at room tempurature and would need to be pre-heated to be used as a fuel in liquid state.

Cetane number is important because it is the diesel equivalent of regular gas octane rating. So the higher the cetane the more premium the fuel, and thus you'll get more power out of 1 gal.

Here are some oil characteristics:

So maybe this has sparked an interest in biodiesel. Perhaps you're thinking you'd like to cut loose from your reliance on our gas imports. Perhaps you like doing things your self or going the green way.

You can actually build your own reactor to make biodiesel for a few hundred bucks. Biodiesel can be made from waste vegi oils, methanol and lye. The waste oil is often availible for free from restaurants. You will need to filter the particles out of the oil (to less than 10 microns), mix it with the meth. and lye. Then separate out your by product, glycerine. (which can be used as a home fuel in a special furnace). Then you wash and dry the biodiesel and its ready for your car.

Obviously you'll need to read and learn more than just my short sales pitch. And each step has more to it that you might think. So where can you go to find out more:

Utah Biodiesel Supply

Try a YouTube or Google Search

I also recomend checking out a centrifuge to filter out your oil and diesel's waste particles instead of using lots of filters:

Simple Centrifuge

Where did my numbers come from:

Yellow

White