Making Biodiesel

If you’re traveling by car this Labor Day weekend and you want to be good to the earth, try to make your own fuel. It may sound like a huge undertaking, but it is actually much easier than it sounds and it is way more beneficial for the environment. Keep in mind that in order to use biodiesel you need to have a diesel engine in your car. Don’t try to use biodiesel in your unleaded fuel engine or you could be spending your entire vacation at a car repair shop.

The first step is to purchase lye, methanol and vegetable oil. You can go to a craft store to find lye. You want to use anywhere from 3 to 5 grams. Methanol can usually be purchased at a bulk fuel distributor. You’ll need about 200 milliliters of methanol. As far as the vegetable oil goes, you can use new or used vegetable oil. Many restaurants will give you their used oil from frying foods. You only need a liter, so you may want to purchase it from a grocery store.

Once you have these three primary ingredients, combine the lye and methanol, which creates sodium methoxide. Take this new solution and blend it with the vegetable oil on the low setting in a conventional countertop blender for 20 minutes.

After you’ve blended the sodium methoxide with the vegetable oil, let it sit for eight hours before pouring the solution into a glass container. During the eight-hour period, any glycerin that develops will form at the bottom of the blender. Remove the glycerin and use it to make hand or body soap and use the remaining solution as biodiesel.

This process may be repeated again and again to create homemade fuel. By producing your own fuel, you’re saving money, changing the U.S. dependency on foreign oil and improving the environment. For your next vacation, make the effort to sacrifice for the sake of the environment and your wallet all at the same time.