Re: If I could buy vegie oil cheaper than diesel...

John_H wrote:

> Should have worded (and spelled) that better.  Ethanol isn't suitable
> for making biodiesel (the esterified stuff -- not esterised as
> previously stated) no matter how pure (*dry*).
>
> Ethyl alcohol forms an azeotrope with water at around 96% and you need
> to break the azeotrope to produce fuel grade ethanol, or better.
> AFAIK the methods are limited to azeotropic distillation and molecular
> sieves.  Unless you tried either you wouldn't have succeeded.  :)
>
> Fuel grade ethanol is somewhere around 97% IIRC.
>
> Industrial methylated spirits (produced by conventional distillation)
> is 95% if you get it from a reputable source, and ought be fine for
> use with SVO (straight vegetable oil).  I wouldn't expect it to cost
> much more than diesel in bulk, and certainly a lot less than methanol.
> The optimum mixture is 9%, according to the sources cited.
>
> I'd also be surprised if new vegetable oil (eg rape) won't cost more
> to buy commercially than petroleum diesel or metho, based on current
> oilseed prices (which are escalating rapidly).  It's only likely to be
> a viable option in places where fuel is taxed much higher than here or
> agricultural products are heavily subsidised (parts of Europe have
> both).
>
> In Oz, even those farmers who grow the stuff (canola) buy diesel in
> spite it being a simple process to extract the rape oil.  The
> exceptions are those who like mess around with such things to amuse
> themselves.
>
> It's also a fair conclusion that commercial biodiesel production in
> the forseeable future will be limited to using waste products as the
> feedstock -- which is why there's no large scale commercial interest
> in producing biodiesel (unlike ethanol).

Just to keep you updated, even though I can get canola oil at $1.50/
litre (15c less than diesel at the pump around here), I'm not going to
pursue that.

I am going to have a go with some *waste* vegie oil just to give it a
go, but there's no way I can collect enough to cover my weekly travels.