It was the end of 2004 and I was doing a job in a government building and I saw a promo that said "use biodiesel". After a little cranial scratching, I called my brother who uses a good bit of diesel to see what he knew. He had heard of it but that's about it.

I started doing research on the net to see what this was all about. It entailed collecting waste veggie oil from eat-m-up joint that had been used to cook fries and the like.

This sure sounded like a mess! Who would really do something like this?

As the price of fuel and diesel increased, I began to understand who would do mess with this waste oil.. folks like me that feel that the going rate for diesel is just too much.

With my work truck (2004 GMC 3500) and my car 91 Mercedes 350sd, I was paying about $1000 per month for diesel. This had to stop. With that I began to do more research and started by doing the "world famous Dr. Pepper Technique" and after several test batches, the first of which was unsalvageable, I started putting together a reactor.

The following assumes that you already have a basic understanding of biodiesel. There seems to be a wealth of information already on the net and for me to include that here would be redundant. What I will do is identify what I find works the best as I learn and improve.

For more information on making biodiesel, here are just a few of the sites that can help

1. Journey to Forever
2. http://www.biodiesel.org/
3. http://www.biodieselcommunity.org/
4. http://www.biodieselnow.com/
5. http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/groupee

Now I know that this looks like a cluster, but it's a work in progress.

To the left of the sight glass I've welded a 1" coupling that has a water heater element screwed into it.

To the right of the sight glass I've for a 3/4" nipple welded to the side to us as a product drain. This is about 1" off the bottom to avoid any residual mess that might still be lurking after the glycerol draining.

Up and further to the right I have a couple of pieces of 3/4"x3/4" angle welded to hold a water heater thermostat which is controlling the heating element. That's what I've started with and have a long list of modifications that I already see I have to make.

The wash tank is similar without the outlet for the pump leaving just one valve for draining water off of the bottom.

I've also welded another 3/4" nipple about 1" up from the bottom as a washed product drain. This is sent through a 10 micron filter and into a 5 Gallon carboy that I use to fill the tank in the car or truck. More on this later.

This tank is also elevated in the back to make the 3/4" outlet on the bottom a low point for draining wash water.

Lesson # 2, Pre filter oil before pouring into the reactor. I was all excited now. After a few weeks of gathering parts and putting mess together, tearing it apart and modifying, brainstorming and all, I was ready to roll with oil to do a full batch (22.7 Gallons).

As I was pouring the oil in I noticed that it looked pretty good and about that time bits of chicken breading and other chunks of mess went tumbling into the reactor.

Well, I drained it again and stuck my head in there and cleaned it out again!!! How do I strain this mess??? What do I have that will work??? Ah Ha!! I've got more landscaping fabric than I will ever use and with that, I cut a piece off the roll and using some big spring clamps, I made a make-shift pre-filter.

To make a short story long.. I filled the reactor to where I figured was 22.7 gallons and started the pump and heater. After it was good and mixed up, I did another titration and it came out to 1.5 for a total of 6.5 grams per liter.

I mixed up the methoxide in a carboy and introduced it through the suction side of the pump. The reason I did 22.7 gallons is this is the amount that required 5 gallons of methanol and was easier for mixing.

I mixed the brew for about an hour and a half and shut the pump off and started getting a good separation right away indicating a good reaction.

In constant cranial scratch mode, I wondered about the mess that was left in the pump. Was I going to be left with glycerol in the pump and would it cause a problem with the pump. so on and so forth.

With that, I elevated the pump and using the tubing from the methoxide injection, I drained the pump of most of the oil.

This is one of the mods that will me made before the next batch. Raise the pump a bit to accommodate draining. Also install a vent valve at the top of the intake hose just after the valve out of the tank. Will post mods as they are made.

Here is a shot looking down into the reactor tank. The clear hose is the discharge side of the pump and I have it held there by taping it to a piece of sheet metal that is bent over to hook onto the edge of the tank.

I've also got three tabs screwed onto the top to acclimate setting the top that was cut off, back on.

Not the best setup, but it will do the trick for now.

Within an hour of shutting the pump off I was able to start draining the glycerol and let it sit overnight and drained the rest off the next day.

With the glycerol drained off it was time to move the product to the wash tank.

Not being real tickled about the landscaping fabric, I searched for other options and ended up at McMaster and got some 50 micron and 25 micron filter bags. I ordered them over the net and the next day they were sitting on my porch. Can't beat that!!!

The plan is to run the next batch through the 50 micron bag into the reactor in lieu of the landscape fabric. Through the 25 micron bag into the wash tank and finally through the 10 micron filter into the car/truck fuel tank.

Well, using the old water bottle technique I read about on the forum, I picked up a 3 Gallon water bottle from Lowe's and dumped the water in a cooler.

Then I cut the bottom off and using a hose clamp, attached a 25 micron filter to the once bottle, now funnel.

This was then dropped through the hole previously cut in the removed top and it held it there perfectly.

I drained the product out of the reactor 5 gallons at a time and poured it through the filter bag which did a great job. It filtered it as fast as I could pour it which means I could use a pump next time.

The filter and funnel were removed and now came time to try the misting apparatus that I had ordered.

During the third wash, I started the bubbler to add a little extra scrub to the batch.

I stopped the bubbler and let it sit a bit and drained the water off down to a little of the fuel. I then started the bubbler again+ and turned the heat back on and within three hours on a day when it was pouring outside, it was so clear you could see the bottom of the tank.