make biodiesel at home

It’s easy to make your own fuel at home. You need a few simple supplies, all of which are available at your hardware stores. Gather 1 quart of vegetable oil, antifreeze, and lye. The equipment you need to make this clean-burning fuel is a blender, scales, some plastic containers, funnels and empty water bottles, tape, and a thermometer.

Make sure all the equipment you plan to use is clean and well dried.

All equipment must be clean and dry and you must ensure that you are careful when handling the ingredients. Start by measuring 200ml of antifreeze and placing it into a 1/2 liter plastic container through a funnel. Quickly mix in the lye. Bleach absorbs water quickly, so when you mix it with antifreeze, work fast. If you work too slowly, you will absorb water from the air and this can interfere with the reaction of the biodiesel. You can mix the two ingredients by covering the container and quickly shaking the contents until it starts to react by heating up. The bleach will quickly dissolve in the antifreeze and foam like sodium methoxide. As soon as the sodium methoxide is clear and there are no particles floating in it, you are ready for the next step.

Using a blender (one you don’t plan to use for food preparation) mix the vegetable oil that has been heated to 130 degrees Fahrenheit with the sodium methoxide. Make sure the lid is closed tightly and mix the mixture on low speed for twenty minutes.

As soon as you finish processing the mixture, remove it from the blender. Using a funnel, pour into an empty 2-liter water or soda bottle and cap tightly. Let the contents settle for at least 8 hours.

As the product settles, a dark colored layer will form at the bottom of the bottle with a clear line separating the pale liquid at the top of the bottle. The dark layer is glycerin and the top layer is biodiesel. Carefully pour the biodiesel into a glass jar or clean water bottle.

Prepare two wash bottles by punching a small hole in the corner of two clean water bottles and covering the holes with masking tape. Pour the biodiesel into one of the wash bottles and add half a liter of fresh water. Screw the cap on tight. Turn the bottle on its side and rotate it with your hands until the oil and water are well mixed and smooth. Drain the water from the biodiesel by removing the tape and allowing it to drain. Make sure that when the water has drained, you plug the hole so that the biodiesel remains.

Once the biodiesel is clear, the process is complete and it is ready to use. Biodiesel can take up to a week to clean up and be ready to use.