makezine.com: How to Make Biodiesel & Our Weekly Photo Roundup

MAKE Newsletter for August 18, 2008

Greetings Makers!

This week we bring you a great video: How to Make Your Own Biodiesel! The best way to learn how to make your own backyard biodiesel is to start with a one-liter batch. It's easy to make a small batch that will work in any diesel engine. You won't need any special equipment; an old juice bottle will serve as the "reactor" vessel, and on such a small scale, you can quickly refine your technique and perform further experiments.

Where it did come from?
"On August 31, 1937, G. Chavanne of the University of Brussels (Belgium) was granted a patent for a 'Procedure for the transformation of vegetable oils for their uses as fuels' (fr. 'Procédé de Transformation d’Huiles Végétales en Vue de Leur Utilisation comme Carburants') Belgian Patent 422,877. This patent described the alcoholysis (often referred to as transesterification) of vegetable oils using ethanol (and mentions methanol) in order to separate the fatty acids from the glycerol by replacing the glycerol with short linear alcohols. This appears to be the first account of the production of what is known as 'biodiesel' today."
Source: Wikipedia

So check out the video, the PDF, and the related links.

Next up, the MAKE Flickr photo pool has over 25,990 photos and 4,143 members! We've included the latest "weekly roundup," so visit the pool and add your photos today!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/make/pool/

Cheers,
pt

Phillip Torrone
Senior Editor
MAKE Magazine

From the MAKE Blog

MAKE Flickr pool weekly roundup

Flickrmosaic8-17-08
From the MAKE Flickr photo pool

Building Benito [above, bottom-right]
Software CV sequencer [above, bottom-left]
DIY Channel cutting blade [above, top-right]
Speaker cube [above, top-left]

Weekend Project: Making Biodiesel

Make your own backyard biodiesel. It's easy to make a small batch that will work in any diesel engine. You won't need any special equipment--an old juice bottle will serve as the "reactor" vessel--and on such a small scale, you can quickly refine your technique and perform further experiments. Thanks go to Rob Elam for the original article in Make Volume 3

To download Making Biodiesel MP4 click here or subscribe in iTunes.

Check out the complete Making Biodiesel article MAKE 03 "Making Biodiesel" & You can see that in our digital edition.

Weekend Project: Making Biodiesel (PDF)

Make your own backyard biodiesel. It's easy to make a small batch that will work in any diesel engine. You won't need any special equipment--an old juice bottle will serve as the "reactor" vessel--and on such a small scale, you can quickly refine your technique and perform further experiments.>br>
Thanks go to Rob Elam for the original article in Make Volume 3
View the PDF