Biodiesel from Waste Vegetable Oil

Another form of farm energy production is "ginning" biodiesel from waste vegetable oil (WVO). Like wind WVOs are found in abundance, yet remain a vastly under-used resource. The following three sections give overviews of this type of biodiesel production.

One
Waste Cooking Oil to Biodiesel Automated Fuel Pump Project, Deep Blue at the University of Michigan

INTRODUCTION p. 5 of 80

A potential customer for our product is the University of Michigan grounds crew, which could use the system to fuel some or possibly all of their diesel vehicles. The university residence hall cafeterias would be the primary source of waste grease. Using waste grease from the residence hall would eliminate the cost the university faces for the removal of the cooking oil; in addition to the savings associated with producing fuel in‐house makes our product desirable for both the U of M grounds crew and the residence hall cafeterias.

Another possible use for biodiesel produced from waste grease is heating University buildings.

Two
A Biodiesel Primer: Market & Public Policy Developments, Quality, Standards & Handling,
Prepared by Methanol Institute and International Fuel Quality Center, April 2006, 31 pages.

Three
Make your own biodiesel was Retrieved from the URL on 11 Dec 07.

Anybody can make biodiesel. It's easy [with practice, patience, attention to detail], you can make it in your kitchen -- Your diesel motor will run better and last longer on your home-made fuel, and it's much cleaner -- better for the environment and better for health.

If you make it from used cooking oil it's not only cheap but you'll be recycling a troublesome waste product. This is more appealing than using new oil, but it's also more complicated.

The production rate was less than with new oil, ending with 8-9 litres of biodiesel instead of 10. With care and experience the production rate improves to almost 1 litre of used cooking oil yielding 1 litre of biodiesel.

It's essential to titrate the oil to find out how much FFA it contains so you can calculate exactly how much extra lye will be required to neutralise it. This means determining the pH using

• an electronic pH meter
• pH test strips (or litmus paper) or
• phenolphthalein solution.

Don't be put off or frightened away by titration; it's not difficult. Thousands of non-chemist biodiesel makers have learned how to do it and use it every time they make biodiesel. Just follow the directions, step by step.

Search terms
Biodiesel processors
transesterification catalyst