Re: Diesel economics

[Russell Groves <rgroves@MIDUSA.NET>]

Somewhat off topic, but I've been exploring biodiesel a bit more the
past few days. For those of you who wonder, it's vegetable oil treated
with methanol and lye to remove the glycerin. Burns MUCH cleaner than
petrodiesel, without modifications to diesel engines, and of course it's
a renewable fuel. Although it's available in a few locations (for about
$3.50/gal) you can make it yourself with simple kitchen chemistry.

SO I called a company that picks up used grease - you know, from those
icky black dumpsters behind restaurants?  They in turn filter it. remove
water etc from it, and resell it to the livestock industry.  I can buy a
55 gal drum of it for about 80 bucks.  My shirttail estimate is I could
make diesel fuel out that for well under 2 bucks per gallon. Not as
cheap as the gas station, but think about the advantages as a fuel for a
range extender. I'm thinking hard about that, and will post my thoughts
here a bit later.

Russell Groves
Re: Diesel economics