Methanol up again....

The cost of making biodiesel has once again gone up...methanol is now $5.00/gallon and will be close to $5.50 soon. That's twice what I paid two years ago.
Veggie oil is costing the restaurants more than $20.00/cubie now, which is up from $13.00 also two years ago. As a result, the restaurant here (my WVO source), uses the oil longer.

I have noticed an increase in the number of people "selling" used WVO in my area. Three years back they were giving it away like it had hives, a couple places in town are selling WVO for $3/gallon. !!! No kidding. BTW - that's pre-processed junk WVO. Almost worth it to continue burning diesel.

Newbie question, can you burn other than diesel in the CUCV engines? If so what? Thanks again for a dumb newbie question, I have looked all over this site and not found the subject directly addressed.

Re: RE: Methanol up again....

Melvinitis said:

Newbie question, can you burn other than diesel in the CUCV engines? If so what? Thanks again for a dumb newbie question, I have looked all over this site and not found the subject directly addressed.

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Yes.

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&t=4754&highlight=6+2+bio

RE: Re: RE: Methanol up again....

maddawg308 wrote:

I have noticed an increase in the number of people "selling" used WVO in my area. Three years back they were giving it away like it had hives, a couple places in town are selling WVO for $3/gallon. !!! No kidding. BTW - that's pre-processed junk WVO. Almost worth it to continue burning diesel.

Click to expand...

Don't know if you saw it or not but I made a post not long ago concening the market price of yellow grease. Yellow grease is what renders call WVO that has been filtered, cooked (sanitized) and centrifuged. The current market for yellow grease is $1.95 a gallon

http://www.steelsoldiers.com/index.php?name=PNphpBB2&file=viewtopic&p=191642&highlight=#191642

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Bjorn, I have heard that Ethanol can be used to produce bio, is that correct? solve your methanol supply problem- build a still!

I'm going to use the pecan trees on my property for oil- one acre of trees will produce about 200gal of oil. I'm going to be planting my fuel in a year if everything works out right. And when the warranty is up in my wifes jeep, I'm yanking the gasser and popping in a diesel. Everything else I own (well, except my 'new' M37...) is already diesel.

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you guys are awesome. This wevsite and the members are some of the fast friends I have ever made. I have not been scolded yet for a dumb question, or somthing talked about a million times!!

gringeltaube.... thanks...

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Ferroequinologist said:

Bjorn, I have heard that Ethanol can be used to produce bio, is that correct? solve your methanol supply problem- build a still! .. .

Click to expand...

Believe it or not, I do have a still, a "pot still", however I would have to run the ethanol thru ten times to get the purity required for biodiesel.
Anyhow, I rather use methanol, using agri products for fuel has already increased the price of so many things in the grocery store.

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most of the price increases have been due to people not being educated in the alternatives. Soy bean oil is honestly one of the worst alternatives there is, off the top of my head, i think that even the oil palm is somewhere in 13 times more productive in gallons of oil per acre than soy. if i remeber correctly you can get somewhere in the 650 gallons of oil per acre and it requires very little maintenance. only caveat to it is that it needs semi tropical to tropical growing conditions but there have been advances lately in making it hardier. just think, pretty soon central america may be more about oil than cocaine!!

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rapeseed is one of the most effecient plants for obtaining oil from, and its rather hardy as well.

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Yes, the oil palm is about 650gals an acre. Bjorn, that's why I want to grow all my own fuel, instead of buying foodstuffs to convert. Didn't know about how pure you need the Ethanol, just a thought.

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Right on, I even asked Kenny in Florida to put away some palm "fruit" when they come in season next. Between him and Mike (D-man) there should be a truck load to haul North. Of course, it would be better to press it on site...

Maybe it's time to start looking for a tanker trailer, M107?

The oil presses are a bit pricy, but gotto be the way to go and I don't see making biodiesel anymore unless the oil is so bad that it can't be used straight.

Funny thing is that the Elsbett installation on my Mercedes voids the warranty if waste cooking oil (WVO) is used. Must have something to do with acidity.

The 8x8 engine will only be fed fresh veggie oil and diesel/kero.

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I was looking at kero the other day and I was shocked at how expensive it is.

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Hopefully Methanol will go down in price once racing seasons starts. It's always higher this time of year.

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Methanol price is tied to the price of natural gas since it is produced from natural gas. Natural gas prices are historically highest in Jan-Mar. The price should go back down in the spring.