Q&A for How to Make Bio Diesel

Yes, soybean oil is used to make commercial biodiesel and can be used at home for the same purpose.

A tree named Jatropha, which bears fruits, and the seeds of the fruits are used for making bio diesel.

All naturals oils, fats, greases from vegetable/animal/algae can be used, they just need to be purified, filtered, then dehydrated in order to be use in bio diesel production. The quantity of lye will be estimated with an acid titration test.

Yes, you can use any alkyl alcohol. However, the larger the alcohol, the lower the yield in the trans-esterfication reaction.

You should not use the glycerin as-is because it will contain a significant amount of methanol, and that is poisonous. Also, there will be impurities like lye (poisonous in high concentrations) and free fatty acids, which take more effort to remove than just the distillation. Only distill glycerin with specialized equipment, because the released methanol vapors are both harmful to breathe and explosive if they reach a source of ignition.

Unless you made the oil yourself from a local palm tree, don't use palm oil. It comes from rainforests and we don't want the rainforests to be chopped down.

The production of glycerine can be done with a variety of different feedstocks and minor variations in the process, but the end result, glycerine is chemically identical. Up until the advent of biodiesel, it would either have been purposely made or the by-product or co-product of some other production. With biodiesel, the volume of glycerine has increased dramatically.

Depending where you are coming from, you can find Lye in in a grocery store, a drug store, or the internet.

If it's close, it should be fine. If it has significant amounts of water, it will likely appear as a third layer when the biodiesel/glycerine separate, which will just make things a bit trickier and more annoying.

Denatured alcohol is fine, the impurities are relatively small. The cost may be higher. Methylated spirits probably won't work. Methanol is relatively easy to get. It is also known as "wood alcohol" or "methyl alcohol." Paint stores and general automotive supply stores should have it.

Just follow the steps in the article.

You can use ethanol. It will give a lower yield than methanol, however; the longer the chain, the lower the yield.

Depending amount of free fatty acids in your oil, you can obtain about 1 liter biodiesel from 1 liter oil + 200 ml methanol (or 300 ml of ethanol).

Yes, but only if your car is a diesel car. Bio diesel has to be clean and dry before being used in a blend with petroleum diesel. You can use about 20% of bio diesel blended with 80% diesel without a problem.

That would need a whole new set of instructions. You can (and should) talk to a trusted mechanic. You can buy a complete set to assemble from a manufacturer, or cheaper from eBay (at the risk of getting it with missing parts). Two important points are to make sure the engine fits in the chassis of your car body, if you already chose the car body, and to make sure you get the right transmission set to fit your engine.

It will react to the plastic, thus ruining the experiment and wasting products. Therefore, use glass.

Yes, you should be able to use neem oil instead.

It depends on the original oil (WVO, clean vegetable oil, animal fat, etc.), but the color can range from light yellow to dark amber.

You can, yes, but when using heat, be careful so that the plastic doesn’t melt.

Yes, but it could be more expensive. Used cooking oil can be obtained from restaurants etc. cheaper than new/unused cooking oil. Some restaurant owners give it away for free. Used cooking oil does have the disadvantage of you having to clean (strain) it before using it, which takes time and may require special equipment.

Dehydrate it either through a dehydrator or leaving exposed to open air for 12 - 24 hours, patting with a paper towel. Once sufficiently dry, press the oils out of it. I recommend using a seed oil press.