Making Biodiesel from Cooking Oil

[@lotecque]

Yes, I would like to see you taking this to scale! Preferably using commonly available chemicals, for obvious reasons. Not that I could take advantage of it, as local restaurants sell their used cooking oil for good money these days.

[@ASCENDANTGAMERSAGE]

We had to pay to have our peanut oil picked up every week

[@armandbourque2468]

It's just a matter of costing out supplies and processing premises. Biodiesel co-ops have been doing this since the 1990's. The glycerine byproduct is compostable, or can be used in soapmaking.

[@DruggiePlays]

Just put diesel additive on the oil in the winter You can literally put cooking oil straight on the diesel tank the smell is great 😃👍

[@armandbourque2468]

@@DruggiePlays CLEAN,unused, filtered cooking oil. Or you're tearing down the jets every few weeks. Which is either a timeconsuming pain, or expensive, or both.

[@boostaddict_]

​@@armandbourque2468 You also have to heat it so it doesn't gel in the injectors when it isn't summer.

[@reubenmckay]

Would absolutely love to see this on a larger scale with restaurant waste cooking all.

[@GA-br8wj]

I would like to see the logistics needed to do that and the final amount of product rendered from such endeavor.

[@armandbourque2468]

Biodiesel co-ops have been doing this at scale for years.

[@MattbyNature]

YES!!!

[@NN1Ckl.]

Works the same, just filter well before processing

[@apeaape]

​​@@armandbourque2468My old high school professor did it with his VW bus in the 80s and had been to that day

[@mtreis86]

I helped build a small scale bio fuel plant, couple tips for you. Let the oil sit around for a while in a container after collecting, up to a month, gravity will do a lot of the work of removing water and sediment. Pure biodiesel isn't good for engines, not enough lubricants, add some or mix it with regular diesel, 20% bio won't void the injection pump warranty. Vacuum is nice for transferring large quantities of raw material, and it doesn't like to be pumped cold. You can judge a restaurant by their oil, we had something like 150 we'd pick up from and only a few were really on top of changing the oil out regularly and on time. Avoid using oil (or for extra challenge purposefully get oil) from places that deep fry beef, that oil gets nasty and has a lot more transfats. Best oil hasn't touched any type of meat or fish at all, pure french fry oil. Watch out for dead animals if collecting from an open dumpster or barrel out behind the building. We never did figure out how to get the fry oil smell fully out of clothes, but Lestoil works best if you make a mess.

[@Zortorond]

We actually use marine oil centrifuges to separate water and crap from used cooking oil. Works like a charm!

[@BiggestBigBoy]

*calls restaurant* "Mind if I come over, and make a mess?"

[@landroveraddict2457]

You can add 2% smokeless two stroke oil for lubrication. An off brand marine oil is perfect.

[@Orofino6]

B100 is completely fine for engines, if made to ANSI specifications. It has superior lubricity compared to petroleum diesel. The only issue with biodiesel is it's susceptible to freezing at warmer temperatures.

[@alphaadhito]

Putting your smelly clothes in a vacuum for a day actually will remove most of it

[@grey1185]

Its fun to see this method being used as my uncle has done the same for 20 years, hasn't used normal diesel since. He made a refinery out of two shipping containers and has the process semi automated, with a lot of custom made equipment. It all goes in as used fry oil from a stack of 150L drums, into a main mixing tank. A large electric outboard motor is on a frame above the mixing tank, with multiple addition valves for the methanol and lye mix, all pneumatic. The tank is insulated and has a heating element so the fats and solids that collect at the bottom can be drained, plus the fuel being heated makes it easier to transfer apparently. It then gets pumped into a second tank for washing, then it finally gets tested for PH, balanced if necessary, then it is pumped in a 500L holding tank. (These are rough estimates based on memory and the size of it all.) The holding tank is on a tower and is gravity fed, so he can fuel his 1990 Nissan Patrol or his 1980 Isuzu truck. (He runs a small farm in the boonies so effectively free fuel is great) It has a very distinct smell the fuel, and over the 20 years of him making it, a 20 meter radius of his setup on the ground is soaked through with the fat and lye mix from slight leaks his setup has. Its a bit feral bit he tells me he scoops that muck up and uses it as soap, because "The sand makes for good grit remover and exfoliate" The only problem he ever faced was a PH issue, it was slightly basic which wore out his fuel lines over time so it was 5 years ago when he parked at my house, the fuel line finally gave in. When he turned the ignition, the fuel pump pissed out biodiesel all over the exhaust manifold which instantly caused a massive engine fire. It was quite exciting to watch lol. He then spent the afternoon swapping the old fuel lines out, replacing some burnt wiring and made a note to check the fuel lines after a couple of years. He still drives the car just fine, couldn't of guessed there was that calamity haha.

[@integral_chemistry]

Oh damn he sounds like a fascinating character honestly. I did actually consider what the consequences of the somewhat alkaline final product could be, guess it's good to know what can happen. Aside from using the muck as soap this all definitely sounds like something I'd do if I had the space lol. Thanks for sharing!

[@WhileTrueCode]

fascinating read, thanks for sharing 🧡

[@abnormaalz]

Where does he get the used oil from? Does he get it for free?

[@tissuepaper9962]

​@@abnormaalz restaurants have to pay to dispose of their oil. if you offer to take it for free they will often say yes. also, many restaurants use an open dumpster for their oil which can simply be pumped out without asking. nobody will bother you as long as you don't make a mess.

[@firstmkb]

Your uncle is the kind of farmer that John Deere doesn’t like!

[@eatenkate]

It makes me so happy for you to see the amount of patrons now needs two columns (:

[@integral_chemistry]

Right?! It's so nice to have a solid and growing group of people who like my little projects enough to support them like this

[@BlakeWade-w6e]

Loved making this with my advanced and AP students at a different school. It was interesting to see them work on the O Chem work! You are right that dissolving the KOH in MeOH is much much more efficient. Took me a little bit of experimentation to figure that one out. Love your content, keep up the great work! Cheers.

[@lesliespeaker668]

Showing entire processes of turning "waste" material/chemicals into useful products sounds like an interesting idea to me.

[@integral_chemistry]

Yeah I really want to get more into that as those videos always feel the most satisfying to actually do as well. Kinda hurts when something fails when I started with pure reagents, but if I start with trash and it fails it doesn't feel quite so bad lol

[@Enjoymentboy]

This is not unlike what I do for previous metal retaining. When I do silver I convert the silver Miata to chloride with KCl. I then recover the KNO3 and use it to make more HNO3 which is used to dissolve more silver. The CuCl is reacted with NaOH. The solids are recovered and smelted and the (mostly) copper slug goes into my stockpot to drop any PGMs or gold in solution. I rarely have ANY waste that needs to go to the waste disposal center.

[@ericlotze7724]

I am a MAJOR bio-petrochemistry nerd, so here are some ideas I’d love to see: (Granted scaled up Biodiesel, especially of done “nice” would be neat to see, but it would be really exciting to see some more novel stuff done) 1.) Going from “raw” Plant oil to “Refined, Bleached and Deodorized” oil 2.) “Torrefaction” of Biomass 3.) Hydrothermal Liquefaction (would require some sort of pressure cookery type setup, but would be especially neat and give the process some good PR) 4.) Any sort of Syngas Stuff 5.) Pyrolysis Oil stuff (especially biomass, most content is on Plastic/RDD) Those kind of got more and more demanding, but yeah, either way keep up the great work!

[@kovoc1]

I am very interesting in most of these processes, especially the pyrolysis of biomass, which I have been doing experiments with myself. However, I think hydrothermal might be a bit difficult to do with a relative level of efficiency/safety. Most pressure cookers only get to ~2 atm, whereas hydrothermal liquefaction seems to require at least 20 atm to proceed at a reasonable rate. I'm not going to say high-pressure chemistry is inaccessible to this guy, but it would require some specially built equipment. Although, one could go the pipe-bomb route; seal everything in a steel pipe, let the steam build up pressure, and pray you survive.

[@armandbourque2468]

​@@kovoc1TWO steel pipes, nested. Outer one with a pressure safety valve. Somewhere there's nothing to damage. Tundra, possibly. Or desert, get some solar heat energy going with a parabolic mirror. And a big rock to hide behind.

[@ericlotze7724]

@@kovoc1 pressure release valves/burst discs could help but again it *is* on a whole other level! Could dig for some papers of sub 20 Liter batch reactors and stuff / see what all they did That and/or low(er) pressure HTL, granted as you said all the other stuff is easier and still neat+useful!

[@doublemerlin21111]

Paper mills burn black liquor for their boiler and electricity, and sell the surplus electricity. That black liquor is all lignin degradation products, phenols and derivatives, and can be deoxygenated to be just like gasoline/petrol, not diesel. Trees make a lot of lignin, and paper mills don't wanna stop making money off electricity, but if this could be diverted it'd be great to keep small engines running carbon negative. But if we want hemp paper, there'd be 1/5th the lignin per unit cellulose, and would not have this source.

[@armandbourque2468]

@@doublemerlin21111 but, since hemp is an ANNUAL crop, the gains from fibre production should outweigh that loss, shouldn't it? And theres a lot more direct ways of getting fuels out of even scrap/unmarketable wood sources. Woodgas, for one. And the byproduct of that is biochar, which is another useful product. Idk. What i hear is, it's the hemp processing equipment that's the bottleneck. Since we all but stopped growing it so long ago. And the seed is also an oilseed, isnt it? From my experience, quite a prolific one, and edible, as well as combustible.

[@l0lLorenzol0l]

I would love to see this done on a very large scale. Would be interesting to see it done with actual cooking oil too, such as old frying oil like people use to make soap from scraps.

[@TonyJabony]

This is why a liter of sunflower oil in the supermarket is as expensive as a liter of diesel at the gas station in the Netherlands. If your exhaust fumes smell like used cooking oil here you'll get into trouble! Cool video! Large scale used frying pan oil would be awesome to see :D

[@memelord_699]

Definitely want to see you try this with waste frying oil. I'm interested in seeing the considerations to clean up the oil before use.

[@atrumluminarium]

If you are gonna do the large scale procedure using waste oil, I saw a very cool technique to clean it on Robert Murray Smith's channel. Rather than filtering it and having to force oil through a vacuum filter, he activated some gelatin powder in water and mixed it with the oil. As it coagulates, the jelly captures the bits of food and drags it to the bottom. Might be an easy way of carrying out the cleaning.

[@armandbourque2468]

And the gelatin and particulates are compostable. As is the glycerine by-product, which has other uses.

[@PixlRainbow]

ah, flocculation

[@atrumluminarium]

@@armandbourque2468 glycerol is flammable (hypergolic with potassium permanganate even if I recall correctly). Given the amount of waste glycerol there is and how dirt cheap it's become it always intrigued me to find applications for it as a fuel.

[@armandbourque2468]

@@atrumluminarium think it's the energy content, and maybe the fluidity that may be an issue, but could be suitable for low requirement use. Maintenance heating, dehydrating, like that.

[@atrumluminarium]

@@armandbourque2468 that's definitely an issue true. However if it's a waste product that's dirt cheap it's a question of just burning more if it. I think in terms of kWh/$ it might be the highest fuels there is without being a fossil fuel. The viscosity then like you said is a bit trickier to deal with when applying it to anything beyond low requirement use.

[@Maciej_von_Usedom]

Got reccomended the TNT-making video, stayed for the biodiesel

[@infantryrecon101st]

Exactly what I was going to comment to see this on a larger scale for actual use in a vehicle and the easiest to do that for most people that don’t have a lab, thank you and cheers!

[@ejkozan]

Nice video! Yes, classically you dissolve hydroxide in alcohol first. Don't worry about precipitation, later on you wash it with water, and right amount of hydroxide is not problem (it is easy to find known home protocols for that, there is conversion factor of hydroxide to oil) if you try used cooking oil, remember about Robert Murray-Smith video of purification of oil with gelatine, would be more than needed if you do not want to end in filtration hell XD

[@redin575]

One of the best biodiesel making videos I have seen. Very nice work! Makes me really miss undergrad chem lab, too.

[@JACKATTACKSLAY]

These videos are awesome! I think chemistry is so cool and love and getting to see all the reactions and work that go into it. So glad I found this channel

[@integral_chemistry]

Thank you so much! I'm very happy to hear you enjoy my videos 😁 they're a pleasure to make

[@floor_board1238]

It would be awesome to see your recycling of used oils! Cant wait to see that.

[@zoompyro]

Guys remember he is a happy guy and would never have any suicidal thoughts!

[@integral_chemistry]

LMAO I was particularly tired when I recorded this. Borderline wish redid it but now I think it's kinda funny how dejected I sound

[@Mad3011]

@@integral_chemistry I think the original comment was joking that you might get "disappeared" by the fossil fuel lobby after this video.

original and hilarious. only the 6 trillionth time someone posts this

[@thathatandvinyardindustrie5013]

Recently in my school they did this in a workshop. And yes they did start by dissolving NaOH in methanol and added vegetable oil and heated it up for awhile. After that they put it in to a separation funnel and let the layers separate. To kinda prove this is bio diesel they soked a piece of paper in the top layer and placed it over a bunsen burner where it immediately lit up , while a piece of paper took some time to lit. It was kinda interesting to see this in my feed when I saw the experiment in person 😅

[@TristanMorrow]

Late 90's and early 00's ran fleet diesel trucks with one tank for reclaimed restaurant fry oil. It was indistinguishable from no.2 diesel ⛽ with only slightly less power. Only "refining" was to progressively decant in 55 gallon drums 🛢️🛢️🛢️ and strain to remove solids. Both the drum and truck's fuel tank had bung heaters to promote viscosity and drive out water. Whole thing was barbarically unscientific ... but it worked! ... and was "free" at a time when diesel fuel was doubling in price and driving truckers bankrupt.

[@carlsmith2826]

Yes please do a follow up video with restaurant fry oil.

[@dgbdegagerlvin2354]

Thanks!

[@AnneOmimus7531]

yes please! scale this up!

[@rvrrb]

Diesel can work with plain vegetable oil. The hot engine volatizes the oil. To make jet fuel with a lower flash point, simply add grignard reagent to the oil in molar proportion, and then acid to quench the reaction. Ph, filter, done.

[@integral_chemistry]

I honestly didn't know that until now but makes sense. I imagine all that glycerine would not be pleasant on any filters though lol

[@shadow._.8966]

More videos like this plz

[@RossRadford]

I think what you will find regarding used cooking oil at restaurants is the higher volume locations already have a pickup service and the lower volume locations wait months between pickups, during that time the oil starts going rancid and that's not something I would want to get anywhere near. If you can find a location that works though, by all means go for it!

[@markbeardmore4385]

When I taught AP chemistry, I used this project to replace the final exam for the students. They'd already taken the AP exam . I used corn oil, straight MeOH, a 1 m solution of NaOH for safety reasons. The result was much lighter in color that the olive oil version above but the product burned just fine. Georgia Tech fuels their buses with my version /formula of this bio fuel.

[@integral_chemistry]

Really? Thats awesome man! I'm actually surprised that method works without issue, as I'd expect the water content of the 1M sodium hydroxide solution to make something more resembling a soap. Then again, the quantity of hydroxide you need here compared to the quantity you need to make soap is very small so makes sense. Thanks for sharing!

[@cambridgemart2075]

Question, why does the USA use the incorrect terminology MeOH for methanol, sometimes calling it methyl hydroxide. CH3OH isn't any more difficult to write.

[@integral_chemistry]

@@cambridgemart2075 I've actually wondered the same thing myself lol. I think it just caught on at some point and now its common enough that many people use the shorthand.. Maybe it came from the shorthand for diethyl ether being Et2O

[@SV_Try_Magic]

I always wanted to know more about biodiesel. Id love to see you take on a bigger round of it. Very cool.

[@Ghost_of_X-561]

Liked, commented, and subscribed. I cannot wait to see a larger scale version.

[@anon4998]

I would 100% love to see you produce bio-diesel large scale!!!

[@RomanBekker2022]

Yes, I would like to see you taking this to a BIG scale!

[@user-ei3fx2vj2c]

Yes please do a larger scale video. I have subscribed for when you post it! Cheers.

[@vysakhak191]

Would love to see this on a larger scale!

[@jmpeax3596]

I would very much like to see this done on a larger scale, thank you!

[@bratindustries]

Let’s see it at scale! Great breakdown thanks

[@ddoc1547]

I would love to see you make this on a larger scale. I made several large batches over a decade ago. I seem to remember 22% methanol by weight and KOH 6.8 g/l of oil. Titrate a small waste oil sample to neutral PH with lye and apply it to the whole batch. We did mix the potassium methoxide in advance. Small additions as it is the exothermic reaction you mentioned and hot methanol is quite volatile. We settled the glycerol in our heated reactor vessel so that we did not have a problem removing it.

[@asf130thecompany7]

Yes please do it if plausible :) I was kinda waiting for this :)

[@d1v1s1onby0]

I'd love to see these tested using one of the cheap Chinese diesel heaters. I'm considering setting one up in my workshop to provide heat through the winter

[@cantgitrite8576]

Good job. I found this video to be well done and entertaining. Please make more

[@joemulkerins5250]

How delicate cars are these days with injectors, turbos, egr valves, dpf filters, etc., they barely run reliably with diesel. For the sake of just a few litres or gallons of diesel made from cooking oil, I am literally afraid to try it. The idea is great and could be done with hundreds of gallons but best of luck to anyone who does. Great video thanks.

[@ClownyMB]

Would love to see this on a larger scale

[@TonyJackson-cf3er]

I've been making Methyl Ester for 15 years; I make a few 1000 lts a year to fuel 2 cars. My method is similar to yours in principle but I use a 2 stage process. I firstly heat my used veg oil (typically Soya) to 50*C and dry it from accumulated water by adding the previous batch 1st stage Glycerol and circulate that for 10 minutes. After which I let it settle 90 mins. During this settling time, I add a weighed amount of KOH flake to a measured volume of methanol to create what I call methoxide, an exothermic reaction occurs and the mixture needs to be shaken a bit to dissolve all the KOH. I then decant the old glycerol from the oil feedstock and dispose of it. I heat the dry oil to 62*C & add the methoxide and circulate it for 20 mins. Then it settles for 90 mins. The created glycerol being denser, sinks to the bottom and is decanted and kept for the next batch. Your glycerol was solid because it was created using NaOH; as soon as this cools down it solidifies - generally an unwelcome factor in biodiesel making as it can block pipes in processors etc. I always use KOH because it's glycerol always remains liquid. I then have most of my feedstock oil converted to biodiesel but not all of it. Experience has taught me that the trans-esterification process is actually inhibited by the greater and greater presence of the glycerol. So with the latter now removed, I can add a small amount of KOH to a smaller volume of Methanol & repeat a similar process to achieve 100% conversion from oil to biodiesel. I then follow a regime of washing the biodiesel with water until all the soap is removed and the fuel is clean. I then heat it up to 72*C and bubble air though it; the bubbles bursting at the top of the chamber release water vapour and after 4-5 hours my batch of 100lts biodiesel is complete. A very clean fuel to burn in a combustion engine; infinitely more environmentally friendly than the fossil fuels used the world over.

[@integral_chemistry]

This is fantastic information, and exactly the type of comment I pray for when I make a video! I don't have the willpower to sift through dry academic journals on any specific project, and so I go into everything I do basically blind and give it my best shot. Reading a detailed walkthrough on precisely what I'd like to do is exactly what I'm always looking for and so I thank you so very much! Actually, if you don't mind I'd like to cite your procedure when I inevitably do a larger-scale redo of this project. Seems you've perfected the diy procedure so I don't see a point wasting my time trying to re-invent the wheel lol

[@Danger_mouse]

Mechanic here, you made a diesel like product, that an old diesel engine would definitely run on. 👍 Unfortunately it is not safe to use in modern direct injection common rail diesel engines. It needs to be run through lubricity tests for the injectors. Also would be interested what micro value you filtered to after the addition of the last lot of chemical powder, any level of particulates in the fluid would also be death to injectors. You viewers need to know that.

[@integral_chemistry]

Hey! Always love hearing from people with more specialized expertise like this. Definitely heard from a few people so far that this definitely should never go in a modern engine, which I kinda suspected was the case. Do you think though that this could be cut with regular diesel and then used in a modern engine, or is it just best to avoid completely? And for the final filtering I used bleaching earth on top of a fritted funnel. Gave it two passes so it should definitely be particle free (at least down to 5 microns). You're right too about the disclaimer. I'll edit the video description to reflect your comment later today, and I'm thinking about making a longer video on all the mistakes like this I've made since I started the channel

[@Danger_mouse]

@@integral_chemistry Hey there, one of the other commenters who mentioned he was in the fuel industry mentioned about blending the fuel. Personally, in my own vehicles, I would only ever use recommended fuels. My 4wd ute here in Australia has a set of injectors that are $750ea to buy, and if it is a fuel issue that caused them to need replacing, often the high pressure pump will need replacing as well... On my vehicle, that's an engine out of the car job. These are my personal reasons not to use alternative fuels. Also, I know you said you already had an excess of olive oil, but if you added up the cost of the oil and chemicals, it would far dearer than diesel to make bio diesel 🙂 I understand that wasn't the purpose of your video, more to show how it could be done 👍 Take care.

[@TonyJackson-cf3er]

I have been running B100 fuel in Citroen & Peugeot DW10 Common Rail engines for over a decade; well made fuel causes no harm to these old engines. Yes 'modern' common rail engines can't use it in a pure form but that is because of the technologies of these engines designed specifically to create less environmental pollution; an ironic factor when considering B100 as a fuel as it is far superior for the environment than ordinary diesel.

[@Danger_mouse]

@@TonyJackson-cf3er Purchased B100 service station fuel is not what the maker of this video made. It has similar properties, but it is not made to the same standards and has not been tested and approved for lubricity of the injection system, micro cleanliness and other factors. This is why I commented. As for later model common rail engines using SCR and DPF technology, their tailpipe emissions will be cleaner than your older generation engine. The debate on the source of the carbon in the fuel is another separate topic. (Bio vs fossil) All the best.

[@ZoonCrypticon]

Yes, this video was very interesting and you should continue with the gallon-sized samples from the restaurants! Could you include a few safety advices on the methanol extraction as well, as it might be that not all the people watching this might be aware of the toxicity when breathed in or spilled on the skin etc.

[@splinterCrash]

Super interesting process, would love to see it scaled up

[@TESTA-CC]

I use 60 Litres of Diesel & 20 Litres of Used Cooking Oil Filtered Through Old Tights & Cooking Civ Full Tank. I've Been Doing This For Around 5 years on my Mercedes Vito Diesel 2.2 Turbo Engine and never had any issues and it definitely makes my fuel more efficient than running straight 80 Litres of diesel by around 50 miles on average so adding cooking oil definitely helps for better milage.

[@awesomecronk7183]

A larger scale version would be very cool to watch!

[@Lucas-uu5em]

Pls larger scale ❤ also very nice video

[@90AMason]

Would like to see you make more, and get a hold of an old diesel truck or some kind of equipment with a diesel engine and do some testing

[@integral_chemistry]

I've got my eye on an old diesel heater but I'm really holding out for an engine lol

[@Psychx_]

Before you think about putting this in a car, look up the material compatibility for your specific model! Biodiesel can dissolve certain diesel fuel filters and also polymerize and clog up fuel injectors. I guess the tendency for polymerization can be minimized by using more unsaturated fats, but that may negatively affect the melting point of the resulting fuel.

[@eljaibas16]

I bet you could get away using a tank of 1:1 ratio with normal diesel, then using a full tank of normal diesel, but I would not try it on a modern diesel, unless I trusted what I was doing. Also testing the lubricity of the mix and correcting for it with 2 stroke oil should help since both pumps use it as a lubricant

[@integral_chemistry]

Yeah that was my big concern about using this in an actual engine, I try my best to keep my science projects seperate from things that are actually valuable to me lol. Been trying to think of where I could possibly buy a secondhand sacrificial diesel engine for this and possibly future iterations

[@Psychx_]

Correction: more saturated fats

[@Moritz___]

​@@integral_chemistrymaybe you could get a lawnmower or possibly a sit-on lawnmower from sb who is looking to sell theirs for cheap(might get one with something else than the engine broken wich is irrelevant for your test). If you are patient you might get lucky

[@drdrums1]

@@integral_chemistry Amazon sells cheap single-cylinder diesel engines that would work as test beds, I believe.

[@DruggiePlays]

>Set a deal with restaurants for the used oil >Put on truck >Enjoy french fries gas fumes during trip

[@mzimmerman1988]

very cool! Would be nice to see if you can make a similar product from hemp seed oil.

[@hopejohn]

Me encantaría ver el procedimiento en mayor escala, excelente video btw.

[@kyleallred984]

With the cost of fuel going up I'm sure many if not all are interested in seeing the scaled up version. I can also see a handful of viewers trying this for themselves as well.

[@integral_chemistry]

Yeah I'm not sure why I didn't mention this in my voiceover, but this was one of the easier, safer, and more satisfying projects I've done in a while. Definitely accessible to the average person (with proper precautions and common sense, of course)

[@imikla]

I've thought about converting the used cooking oil I use in my foundry to get more heat. I can use used motor oil to get the heat I need, but it bugs me to burn used petroleum products that can be recycled. I'd definitely be interested in seeing it scaled up. Thanks for another excellent video I didn't know I needed! 😂

[@sahilmangarolia4930]

Please do this on a larger scale. I want to see how you salvage used frying oil

[@dhawthorne1634]

Yep. I'd love to see a scaled up version.

[@endangeredmarmot4518]

It would be super cool to see you do a multi-gallon process

[@jay0kew]

when washing the biodiesel layer with water it is best to use a spray of water instead of shaking the funnel. Shaking vigorously may produce some soapy emulsion. Use a plant spraying bottle to deliver a fine mist of water that will percolate through the biodiesel removing the remains of the soda lye. Then drain off the water.

[@ToxicMrSmith]

Definitely want to see this scaled up.

[@RaymondSackenheim]

If you make a video on biodiesel using fry oil I suggest trying to procure your oil from a sushi restaurant. I heard from people who make their own to power their trucks that the oil from sushi restaurants is cleaner and easier to work with.

[@senorstrong]

would love to see it using WVO and testing the differences between methanol, isopropanol and cereal ethanol

[@yellowice0]

Restaurants typically have grease traps located somewhere (for ones that use oil) I would highly suggest asking a local Chinese food place if they would save it for you, since they typically do on-call oil removal and you’d be saving them a couple bucks since it’s a separate waste product they have to deal with. YES, I would love to see bulk refinement of biodiesel to see how one would rig up an amateur setup for the average-joe with plenty of space to experiment with

[@Intelligenthumour]

I imagine that smoke was largely due to the cotton you used to soak the oil in. From what I remember olive oil was used in places like ancient Egypt to have smokeless light sources.

[@PeteTum]

Plastic conical fermenter can be used in a slightly bigger scale. Or just use an empty 5 gallon water dispenser bottle turned upside down. You can drill a small hole on the bottom part of the bottle and add a tiny valve that can be opened to allow air to enter the bottle while draining from the cap side. Obviously another valve added to the middle of the cap will allow you to easily drain settlement. This biodiesel is perfect for oil heaters. You can buy used cooking oil from restaurants really cheap. Almost free

[@PeteTum]

Muxing in the fermenter can be done without shaking. Just add weight to a aquarium air hose drop it in the liquid it sinks to the bottom and turn on the aquarium air pump.

[@-RON-DOMINATION-]

Great video so educational and a usable thing also

[@DragonsAndDragons777]

I love this channel

[@integral_chemistry]

Thank you so much 😁 always love to hear it

[@julianschiederer4314]

Maybe a video about DIY engine oil? And maybe also sustainable... Love your channel btw! ❤

[@Community_Guideline_Violator]

I would like to see this scaled up. Please contact your local restaurant(s) and inquire about procuring their used oil.

[@Toleich]

Definitely interested a large scale reaction. I have a few hundred litres of canola to convert.

[@Mr.Engineer.]

That is something I would like to see

[@therocketman321]

Let's see it on the large scale sir!

[@s9k328]

I would like to see much larger scale using spent/dirty cooking oil.

[@andystyine1215]

I would love to see the scaled up version!!!!!

[@justinc.8191]

Would like to see a bigger scale production

[@theCodyReeder]

I've never managed to make it work with used cooking oil; it seems some chemical changes occur due to prolonged heating and food contamination, often resulting in me getting a gelatinous mess. Any suggestions?

[@John-p6c5g]

Cool video, I have that brake bleeding kit too 👍

[@dxpawn]

Yes! Use dirty oil and take this to a larger scale please

[@laagalol]

Seeing if this is possible on a bigger scale would be nice. Also I'm not a chemistry expert, so I'm not aware how much does every ingredient cost. Could you do like a cost summary of them and compare them to let us know is it economically viable method of recycling old cooking oil?

[@hillppari]

old diesel will run on straight cooking oil. only needs filtering. no further processing required

[@AlbaxArcade]

Videos to save for the end of the world. Cool video!

[@zachelkins1229]

I'd love to see this taken to scale as well.

[@Meleeman011]

please do the fry oil think omfg, i would love to see you optimize the process for large batches

[@rafaelgcpp]

I would love to see whether you can recover some of the excess methanol!

[@notconnected3815]

Yes, because methanol is not cheap ... By the way, does it also work with common ethanol?

[@rafaelgcpp]

@@notconnected3815 in the video he claims it does, as long it is fairly anhydrous.

[@notconnected3815]

@@rafaelgcpp Cool, maybe he can try it again with ethanol, just to see if it works. Or i make a little experiment by myself 🤔

[@alejandrogutierrez-xp2gc]

Amazing bro

[@Hippo_Heli]

If you're going to use a water wash, it might be easier to wash out the glycerin, MeOH and NaOH with water instead of filtering, try to separate it then wash it.

[@AlSayre]

Yes, please scale it up!

[@petere.9138]

Funny you mention restaurants. One of my clients had a couple restaurants in their place and I was sick of seeing insane bills for FOG (Fats/oils/grease) I told them call someone who was into biodiesel and they immediately gained an extra 1K/month in revenue. Im sure I’ll get my cut. Someday.

[@wombatkins]

I can't believe it's that easy. I wonder how cost effective it is and/or how a country could make self sustainable diesel

[@tmarcus988]

Want to see on a bigger scale

[@y33t23]

Multi gallon scale would be awesome

[@dimaminiailo3723]

Butter/tallow biodiesel? Also try performing it with sodium methylate and under anhydrous conditions to see whether it prevents saponification. Another interesting thing to play around with could be a careful fractional distillation of methyl esters to get pure fatty acids, but it's very laborious. Thank you for the video, I have always been interested in biodiesel as a fuel with an interesting method of production

[@hackdurbrain]

Presumably the methyl ester of a solid fatty acid would probably be solid

[@dimaminiailo3723]

@@hackdurbrain yeah, methyl stearate (as an example compound) is indeed solid. nonetheless, it would be a unique topic for a video

[@BrokenLifeCycle]

The main issue I see with this process is that it's a batch process. Granted, it's not a huge problem to overcome if you just scale up That settling and washing process is just a huge killer in your production rate. Is there a way to bind something to polar molecules to make it separate out faster? I think there's something called a De-emulsifier. You might find it in the fuel additive section. Depending on how effective it is, you could cut down the fuel washing down to one step. It might even eliminate the drying step. Of course, you could use a SAP filter like they do in aviation if you absolutely must be sure it's dry but a cheaper solution might just be a water separator filter used in diesel engines and drain the bottom bulb frequently.

[@timothybarrett7626]

Scale it up dude lets see it!!

[@chemicode]

Wow so cool, can I do this on my channel? I'll give you credit for making the procedure too.

[@julianparsons3027]

Yes, I want to see.

[@mikehawk-yt5rv]

The multi gallo scale video would be great

[@bartroberts1514]

I'd be keen to see what you can do with py-oil (black liquor from pyrolysis of wood). I understand drop-in replacement for avgas (kerosene) or gasoline is possible.

[@integral_chemistry]

py-oil is definitely on my to-do list, I just need to do a bit more reading to see whether any specific wood is preferable. Also looking to try making methanol from the py-oil

[@dalmatianlife]

Yes. Would like to see multi gallon.