Recycling Waste Vegetable Oil - Easy?
It’s almost too good to be true. Restaurants produce a large amount of waste vegetable oils. Currently they have to sell this grease to oil-recycling companies and are charged a pick-up fee for the service. These companies in turn recycle the grease and re-sell it on the commercial market for a profit. It is therefore relatively easy to find a free source for bio-waste from local restaurants. They would gladly have someone recycle their waste for free. This gives the small-scale biofuel user a great opportunity to decrease their fuel expenses while saving the environment - or does it?
YouTube: How to make Biofuel
One of the most popular myths about biofuel is that producing biodiesel at home is easy, and that anyone can do it. The dangers of making fuel at home should be obvious. The process involves working with large quanties of toxic and flammable fluids. Extensive technical experience and safety research are a must. Producing biofuel takes a great deal of dedication and labor. The truth is, producing home biofuel is not easy - it is complicated and extremely dangerous.
Not to mention that there are no universal production standards for small biofuel manufacturers. Home-brew operations produce biofuels with a wide variety of toxicity levels and waste by-products. These low standards are partially the result of shortcuts, irresponsibility and the use of mis-guided instruction from online sources. The online community has created many myths and misinformation about biofuel production techniques and procedures. Anyone who is considering saving money by making their own fuel should take a close look at the actual financial costs and careful dedication that are required in order to meet environmental safety regulations.
» Source: Biofuels
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June 10th, 2007
this is the first time that i have heard of adding the methanol and “ly” what is the reason for that and what if you dont add it and run off of only vegetable oil?
July 15th, 2007
Lye, sodium hydroxide, and methanol remove some of the components in natural oils that can cause problems with valves sticking, oils gelling or cystallisation products forming in cold temperatures. The byproduct is glycerine and can be a pain to get rid of. The biodiesel, which is now what you have left, behaves more like regular diesel for those that don’t want to go to the trouble of dual tanks and dual fuel in cold weather.
October 8th, 2007
Yes, this is too good to be true. I’ve been hearing this for years, however, “free” vegetable oil is much harder to find than everyone makes it sound. I’ve been to many restaurants. They all have companies the come by any pick up the oil for free. Some even get paid a little. Maybe Southern California is the wrong place to look. There are several bio-diesel plants around and I imagine they are sucking up all the WVO.
What might be helpful is to start listing the places that do the recycling so that you can buy it from them at a low cost.
October 21st, 2007
I own 4 quick serve restaurants. My problem is the small recyclers who have picked up the waste have not been dependable. When they get tired of it and quit I get charged a fee to go back to big recyclers. Around a 150 fee. So I am very leary. I am getting to point of doing something myself though. We are switching to 0 trans fat and I am told this is much easier to work with.
December 3rd, 2007
I own a restaurant in Pleasantville, NJ. I’m currently paying for oil pick up. Does anyone have info on how i could get this oil pick up for free?
December 4th, 2007
Hello Jose Gonzalez, I may be interested in your oil. email me albizu.isATgmail.com
December 5th, 2007
Jose Rodriguez these email does not work.
December 6th, 2007
The addition of lye and methanol is what’s needed to convert Waste Vegetable Oil (VO) into biodiesel.
Some people convert their diesel autos so that they can run on WVO, which is a wonderful way of recycling. It costs a grand or so to convert an existing diesel car to run on WVO, but then you can essentially get free fuel as long as restaurants are paying to throw the stuff out. They’ll happily give it to you instead of paying the pickup fee. The issue of getting charged to go back to the recyclers just means you’re getting gouged. A company that is going to take your junk and turn it into something that makes them money should be picking it up for free: charging an initiation fee for the service is bull.
Turning the WVO into biodiesel does make it more useful for normal diesel engines. It is - as Max said - better suited for diesel engines, largely because it’s less viscous and more volatile. But it comes with the disadvantages cited in the article. There’s a non-trivial processing that has to happen, and it involves doing chemistry that the average Joe shouldn’t take lightly. I have a Ph.D. in chemistry, and I absolutely agree with the idea that the hazards should be taken very seriously. Nevertheless, if done right, the biodiesel conversion CAN be done safely and effectively.
It’s also true that the process does generate waste - particularly the glycerol that’s created in the process. However, glycerol has an awful lot of uses (it can be converted to fuels like ethanol and methanol, for example), and if biodiesel were to really take off, some smart person would recognize the potential of collecting the waste glycerol and using it for something useful. They might even be able to charge a few bucks for pickup, but that would still make the biodiesel a cheap fuel.
There are substantial hurdles, and I agree that websites that make it sound trivial to cook up a batch in your garage are walking the line on safety. But I still think that biodiesel has a role to play in the fuel future, and until Exxon decides to corner the market and buy all of the VWO ouso that they can corner the market on biodiesel, people CAN take advantage of almost free fuel that’s out there for the taking.
Of course, once Exxon starts making biodiesel, Detroit might actually start making cars with diesel engines. Until then, the biggest hurdle for the average person is finding a car or truck that actually has a diesel engine. They’re extremely common in Europe, but not here…
January 23rd, 2008
Please email me the contact info to learn more about that slick little conversion machine. I would like to get into making bio-diesel. My email is lee@acme-castings.com
Thanks
Lee
February 23rd, 2008
I found this website called www.biofuelbasics.com that created a system to make diesel fuel, in five minutes where there are no dangerous chemicals and no by-products to ge rid off.
April 25th, 2008
if you are in NJ and looking for free, reliable used cooking oil disposal please contact me jtlins@optonline.net very interested in your oil.
May 28th, 2008
I live in Edgewater, NJ. Personal use, need to dispose of about 2 gallons of cooking oil per month. Are there locations near me?
Thank you for this vital service!
PLF
June 5th, 2008
I am currently collecting and Re-using old Vegetable Oil..! But I’ve been told that there is a process that enables you to turn Solid/Semi-Solid Veg Oil into Liquid Veg Oil…!! is this Right and if so how is it done??
Regards, Andreas
June 17th, 2008
I’m thankful to have a good brewer as a partner, I’m the oil hunter.
Brewing your own bio is not that hazardous except for the methohydroxide, which is volatile. Careful titration is key, and even more important is sourcing GOOD oil. Smaller restaurants/pubs w/o grease traps will often throw the cleaning solutions they use on the fryers in the WVO, and its awful to try and get that soap out of the bio.
Its a very simple process, and you can get started for less than $1000 if you’re resourceful.
My E300 MBz runs BETTER on B100 than any other mix, and surprisingly(?) gets better fuel mileage.
We formed the Western NY BioDiesel Coop to be able to pay restaurateur’s for their good oil. Yes, we ask they don’t throw cleaners in the grease barrel, but for that inconvenience, they get a check and a clean WVO pickup area. And if they have a suitable diesel vehicle, they can become a member of the coop and buy fuel at cost.
Its preferred to keep the brewing ” at home”, I believe, due to road fuel tax issues, etc. Last year NYS passed a tax free exemption for all alternatives, so at least the tax state is with the program.
Unfortunately, at the national level, WE THE PEOPLE don’t have as much of a voice as THEY THE CORPORATIONS, but with a strong grass roots following, biofuels CAN become on eof the alternative in our energy mix.
Restaurateur/ biodiesel coop partnerships, or individual partnerships with biodieslers are what makes the whole thing possible. Treat your restaurant owners well, and they’ll provide you with all the WVO you need.
Up here in WNY, we have to be careful of year round restaurants, as they still produce WVO and it needs to be serviced, so don’t bite off more than you can chew. In NJ, you ‘ll be able to run B100 ten months out of the year I presume. Its good until around 28 or so, roughly.
Point is, if biodieselers treat their sources of WVO properly, we’ll be getting the lion’s share of good WVO, not the WMX’s of the world.
July 12th, 2008
I have a pizza shop in western Wayne County Michigan. I have about 60 gallons of oil I need removed from the store. Contact me if interested
July 22nd, 2008
I am a Deli owner and have some 20 Gallons of Used Vegetable oil in Bayonne.
If you are interested please send email at job-762412634@craigslist.org
Pickup or drop off.
July 29th, 2008
I pick up your oil for free. If you are interested
please contact me at - bennyloans@optonline.net
July 31st, 2008
For the record, the large recyclers here in WNY are paying some $/lb which seems to be around 8c-11c/gal. The WNY Bio Partnernship pays 25c/gal for good oil.