My first Blog. I’d thought I’d give it a try.

Recently my Mom brought to my attention that people were asking about my design project. In one of my classes this semester, senior design, we try to fully design a project of our choosing. Usually, in other schools they get to actually build their projects as well as designing them but sadly we don’t. My group is building a Biodiesel reactor. It is not a motor, you can actually use biodiesel fuel in any diesel engine. The only thing you have to worry about is the fuel lines being eaten away because of the solvent characteristics of biodiesel. All you have to do then is simple replace them before changing to biodiesel from regular diesel. In any case, our device will turn used cooking oil into biodiesel fuel. This is actually a fairly simple process, but does involve some chemistry, so we are trying to eliminate the chemistry aspect and make the process one can do without any training of chemistry or how to make biodiesel.

The biodiesel industry is very new and I suggest anyone with a car/truck with a diesel engine to look into using biodiesel. It is environmentally friendly, and very economical. The cost per gallon usually averages out to about 70-80 cents/gal and you can usually get more miles per gallon than normal. Also, because of the consistency of biodiesel fuel it also partially acts as lubricant so it is said to be good for your engine as well.

The setup is fairly simple, a pump, a few hoses, a hot water heater, and a few large plastic containers. The chemicals you would need are methanol and lye.

If anyone wants to know more, I’d be happy to talk about it!