Biodiesel

This past lab, we learned how to make bioethanol.

We took Banana fibers, shredded them in a blender, heated it up and let it cool down before we added yeast. By attaching a pipe and a balloon to the sealed container, we could see the production of the gas by watching the balloon inflate though it took a few days. 

There was an effort to make paper out of all of the banana leaves that would just pollute the planet after a harvest. It wasnt practical to just make paper as it took a lot to make only a little bit of paper. However, if you also made ethanol biofuel out of it as well, it becomes more practical and reduces waste. 

It was an interesting lab, but instead of talking more about bioethanol, I am going to talk about making biodiesel because it is much easier to do on your own in your own backyard. 

What is biodiesel?

"Biodiesel is a biodegradable, nontoxic, and clean-burning fuel that can be made from any fat or vegetable oil, including recycled cooking oil."

Actually a by product of making Biodiesel is glycerin which is actually a high quality soap. Add a little fragrance to it and you can sell that at well so you make a little extra money on the side while saving money by making your own fuel

Here is a diagram of the process

This site was actually very helpful in helping understanding biodiesel, what it was and how to make it. 

Here is a link to a youtube video that very simply shows you how to make your own batch of Biodiesel using new vegetable oil though there are others who use used vegetable oil; you would just have to add the extra step of filtering the oil before hand. (Go to 6:30 for a summary and recap if you dont have time to watch the whole video) 

And lastly, here is a video of the Mythbusters testing to see if a diesel run car can go on nothing but used fryer oil (still just used vegetable oil) after filtering.