Driven to stir up biodiesel recipe

Driven to stir up biodiesel recipe
St. Petersburg Times - St. Petersburg,FL,USA
Using vegetable oil as a base, a Palm Harbor man mixes up his own biodiesel fuel to power his SUV, lighten his wallet and reduce pollution. By NICOLE JOHNSON. ...

PALM HARBOR - "Powered by Vegetable Oil."
Vacationing in Georgia, Doug Scott spotted the words plastered on the back of a Mercedes Benz zooming down the highway.

all it grasping at straws, but Scott considered it a sign.

Three years earlier, the 47-year-old had purchased a Ford Excursion. The day he signed for the $40,000 uber-SUV, the price of diesel fuel shot from $1.20 to $1.80 a gallon, he said.

And by the time he saw the vegetable oil sign, Scott, a self-employed home repairman, was spending more than $180 every two weeks to fill up the Excursion's 44-gallon tank.

Something had to give.

A Google "powered by vegetable oil" search later and Scott purchased a $575 filtration system that turns vegetable oil into processed biodiesel fuel.

With the buy, Scott was on his way to joining the ranks of thousands of consumers who are turning to alternative fuel sources.

Biodiesel, a fuel made from vegetable oil or other animal fats, is the fastest-growing alternative fuel source in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Other alternative oil techniques including soybean, sugar and coal are also seeing a surge in use.

Missing from pure biodiesel fuels is petroleum, making them an avenue for some individual drivers to escape reliance on foreign-produced oil and its price fluctuations.

"I realized that I couldn't afford to put $40 every other day in the tank," Scott said. "Plus, the diesel pumps out the black smoke. It's a lot of pollution."

Snappers seafood restaurant in Palm Harbor supplies Scott with its leftover vegetable oil. About once a week, Scott picks up about 20 gallons from behind the store. He buys about 17 gallons of diesel fuel at the pump.

The process to create his biodiesel goes like this:

Scott pours about 40 gallons of vegetable oil in a 55-gallon barrel. He then adds 5 gallons of diesel fuel and stirs. He lets the mixture sit for about an hour. Rock salts at the bottom of the barrel pull out the water from the oil.

The mixture then flows into a 30-gallon tank that houses a filtering system. A sponge removes impurities from the oil, which flows by gravity through a tube passing through a resin layer and into a 55-gallon black barrel.

Scott gets about 15 miles to the gallon on the processed biodiesel and ends up spending $50 a week, he said.

It may sound like the answer to ever-rising oil prices, which locally are nearly 40 cents higher than last year at this time. But biodiesel or alternative fuel is still a complicated topic even to the most experienced in the automotive industry.

Car Talk guys Tom and Ray Magliozzi recently gave out incorrect information about biodiesel, telling National Public Radio listeners they'd need a new engine to use biodiesel.

You don't.

But not all biodiesel is created equally.

According to industry standards, biodiesel is typically produced after using an alcohol such as methanol to remove the glycerin from the vegetable oil or other animal fat.

While Scott does use a vegetable oil, he does not remove the glycerin from his oil before mixing it with pure diesel. Glycerin removal with methanol, which can be toxic, is potentially dangerous.

Glycerin removal can be pricey, but it's necessary to ensure the oil flows properly and does not damage the engine, said Jenna Higgins, spokeswoman for the National Biodiesel Board.

"There's a lot of confusion out there. People think straight vegetable oil is biodiesel," Higgins said. "But biodiesel has been through all the testings and overcome regulatory challenges to become the fastest-growing alternative fuel in the country."

The numbers of "backyard or bathtub" biodiesel makers like Scott is growing, Higgins said. And so are concerns about quality, safety and legality.

"We understand why people want to do this," Higgins said. "They're trying to take control over their own impact on the environment and reliance on foreign oil, and we agree with that sentiment, but biodiesel is here, it's legal, and it's proven to work."

Engine manufacturers in the United States have said that using straight vegetable oil will void the engine warranty, Higgins said.

Still, Scott knows of no studies showing that what he's doing is detrimental to car engines.

And until there are, Scott said, he'll continue making his processed fuel.

"There's nothing that says that glycerin is going to eat up anything in the system or cause damage," Scott said. "I went and looked for it. I did my research."

Still, there was some trial-and-error involved in Scott's process.

A month ago he used a mix of 95 percent vegetable oil and 5 percent diesel fuel. His truck stopped running. Since then he's opted for a 70:30 ratio and has gone through about 10 tankfuls without problems, he said. The ultimate test came last week when the family hauled a 10,000-pound camper to Orlando for the weekend.

But getting used to the smell of the mixture is another thing.

"The first time it smelled like puke," Scott said. "It's gotten better, but it's still pretty bad."