Bio-diesel And Methanol Suppliers

[smartiemarty]

Hi all,

I am interested in having a go at producing my own biodiesel, but am having great difficulty sourcing a supply of methanol. Anyone know where i could get a drum, preferably in the suratthani area.

I did find a supplier in BKK but they won't ship to me, and won't sell a drum to me directly in bkk unless i have a permit to transport hazardous chemicals. Current price is approx 2700 baht for a standard 200 liter drum.

Cheers

Marty

[sbk]

I have heard that the Raja Ferry uses biodiesel (buys used cooking oil from businesses) -- if no one can come up with a source you could try contacting them and asking them for their supplier.

[malcolmswaine]

I'd be interested at looking into ethanol/methanol production here. I looked into this before, and dont quote me on this, but I would suspect with not a lot more than changing the fuel pipes to stop them corroding away it would be possible to get a small scooter running on a blend. Could always sell the by-products off as local hooch as a contingency plan

[Khun Jean]

If it is for your own use then why not use coconut oil, you are on Samui! Coconuts abundant.

No chemical processing needed just dry the white 'meat' and press out the oil.

Put it in your tank and mix it with a few procent diesel when the nights are colder (lower than 25 celcius).

Runs great and smooth.

Do check your rubbers and tubing. They have to resist the oil (same when using other biodiesels and vegetable oils)

Do a search on the web and you will find articles about it, especially in the Philippines they are using it.

I did use it in an old toyota diesel and it worked like a charm.

[stonybonytony]

Where can I get a press to press the oil out of the coconuts? There's coconuts everywhere here, someone must be selling presses!

I've made biodiesel from cooking oil in a small scale as an experiment here on Phangan, and would also be interested in buying methanol (and sodium hyrdroxide) in bulk.

[angiud]

Worthy idea, but remember that the main reason rice, grain, corn price is rising worldwide is because of massive biofuel production.

[smartiemarty]

Hi All,

Thanxs for the replies so far, however still no info on where to get menthanol locally..

Khun Jean, - Did think about using straight veggie oil (SVO) but to be honest i would like to try making the bio-diesel first as i fancy the challenge of making it.

SBK, - I have heard that Raja used Ethanol, not methanol, supposedly it is much harder to use ethanol. But i might investigate further when i'm next in surat.

Anglud. - I agree, but the problem as i see it, and i am no expert on this, is that the bio-fuels industry worldwide are not using the right oils with regard to crops. Why are they using corn - grain - ie foodstuffs when crops like jatropha - a weed that grows prolifically without using huge amounts of water and give a massive return of usable oil per hectare- much more than corn etc. Seems to me the use of food for fuel has more to do with economics than environmental sustainability - ie driving up the price of said foodstuff thus making more "profits" for everyone concerned. Remember the capitalist motto - "Profits above ALL else!" Anyhow, i would like to avoid debating this on this post, i am really more concerned with personal production than mass production. I am planning on using coconut oil produced locally.

And on that note anyone know of anyone supplying coconut oil in bulk say in a 200 liter drums, in samui - phangan for a reasonable price?

StonybonyTony - i have found the sodium hydroxide abundant every hardware store in samui / phangan... i belive the thai name is Soda Fai and it is very cheap by the kilo.

Well thats all for now, again thanks for the posts so far and i hope that this post stays on topic and stays in a positive mood.

Cheers

Marty

[angiud]

check this, could be useful:

http://www.engadget.com/2008/05/09/e-fuels...n-your-backyar/

[Shokdee]

Good topic, thanks for starting this!

I've been researching fuel alternatives, including bio-diesal, for over a year now in anticipation of raising fuel prices (due to "Peak oil" - not necessarily that stocks of oil are depleting but certainly that supply is outstripping demand. Crude will go to 150, then 200, then 300, then 500 dollars / barrel soon).

Coconut oil seemed viable but I also can't find it cheaply enough. Also it's not that easy to get oil as the coconut needs to be dried, grated, etc first. Anyone watching the Thais sitting in front of those grinding machines all day can see this for themselves. Also, coconut oil solidifies at low temperature. However, I did buy a coconut oil press at Macro (there was a company - called Champ - selling them outside) for possible future use.

Palm oil is the other alternative but it's labour intensive harvesting the seeds. Drive around Surat, Khanom area and you see trucks loaded with seeds and huge plantations along the road. I have some oil palm plants growing anyway, just to try them out, but it'll be a long while before they seed.

There are other options like wood gas, ethanol from sugar cane, bio diesal from algae, etc etc.

The solution I like best is jatropha, psychic nut (sabudam). It has a good yield (4 kgs of seed produces 1 litre of oil), easy to grow (drought tolerant), and easy to harvest. But the best of all is YOU CAN USE IT STRAIGHT. No more processing needed as it can go direct into a diesal engine (some newer types of diesal motors might need a bit of modification). The coconut press I bought might not work on jatropha seeds so I plan to construct one. The cheapest way seems to involve creating a small frame and then using a standard 3-ton car jack to press the seed. Seed cake has many uses too. I'm also looking for a small diesal powered oil press, as the jatropha oil can be used to run the oil press motor. You can press more then you use to run the motor, so the only input is the actual growing and harvesting of the jatropha plant.

Also want to mention one other fuel alternative that I've been looking into and that is hydrogen. This won't work for a diesal engine but is viable for a petrol based car, motorbike or generator. To get hydrogen from water appears to be comparatively easy. In essence by suspending stainless steel in water and then sending a DC current to the plates, you can make hydrogen. There is lots of info on the web, usually under the heading "water car" "water fuel" etc. Also look into "Stan Meyers", "Joe fuel cell", "hydrogen booster" as a starting point. Another hydrogen alternative is "bingofuel" or "aquafuel". This is produced by sending a DC current through carbon rods suspended in water, rather then stainless steel. I've done very basic experiments to test this and it is possible. (used carbon rods from a normal D-cell battery). Aquafuel is safer then hydrogen and both can also be used for cooking.

I have many gigabytes worth of info downloaded and I'd be keen to share ideas with other people looking into these issues.

[ClaudeFeller]

Here some basics about Jatropha:

Jathropha program - LIRE