[SGVLUG] Especially for Tom & his Prius....

[Dustin Laurence]

On Tue, Jul 11, 2006 at 09:21:13AM -0400, James Neff wrote:
> 
> What if we used biodiesel made from soybeans?

I forgot to add that if we're going to use biofuel as a corporate
strategy then it's probably a waste of effort to actually convert
vegetable oil to biodiesel--the diesel cycle inherently works well on a
variety of fuels and it isn't hard to make an engine that does it.  In
fact, even highly tuned ones like the TDI engines can be converted to
run either in any mixture--one reason I'm interested in buying one is
precisely because Elsbett makes a conversion kit for 900 euros or so.

That's on an engine that was never intended for viscous oils and it
still works fine--you can literally refuel at the supermarket.

So if we were really using biofuels for a significant proportion of the
economy I'd say we might as well just design the engines properly (the
Elsbett kit shows this is not hard) and avoid the extra chemical
processing into biodiesel.  We'd still probably have to process the oil
some for highly efficient engines like the TDI's (they don't take that
kindly to used fryer oil as old Mercedes do), but still I think it would
take less energy and money.

I intend to install an Elsbett kit if I can find a source of clean oil
that's cheaper than biodiesel in quantities I can handle.  I can buy by
the drum, and possibly could handle more with planning if the price
makes it attractive.  But not 5000 gallons....

Dustin

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