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Making the Clean Fuel: Biodiesel Equipment List

To use biodiesel as fuel, you need the right equipment to turn plant oils or animal fats into biodiesel. Because of its environment-friendly nature and its usefulness, people are starting to shift to this fuel for use in their homes or their cars.

A simple set of equipment can be used to produce small amounts of biodiesel. These materials can be bought individually from retailers.

Transesterification is the process of purifying animal fats or oils by them it react with alcohol through catalysts such as sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide. Plant oils are the easiest to make biodiesel. A person can use plant oils from corn, rapeseed, palm, sunflower, peanut, soybean or canola. Methoxide is formed by mixing together the catalyst and an alcohol, which can either be ethanol or methanol. When methoxide is mixed with the plant oils for a period of time, esters are obtained. These esters compose biodiesel.

A small amount of biodiesel can be made in a backyard or garage. However, if a person wants to make the fuel at home, he or she should be very careful when handling chemicals that could be dangerous and even fatal. The catalyst sodium hydroxide can severely burn the skin. Methanol is also dangerous and can cause blindness. These substances should be handled very carefully. These chemicals should be placed only in polyethylene, polypropylene, glass or stainless steel containers.

Here are the other tools required to produce biodiesel at home:

A reactor vessel where the chemicals are mixed together

Funnels, graduated beakers and scales to accurately weigh the substances

A dropper or syringe

Funnels, graduated beakers and scales to accurately weigh the substances

A reactor vessel where the chemicals are mixed together

A pH indicator for the catalyst, such as a litmus paper, a chemical indicator solution or a electronic pH indicator.

A dry, sealed storage container for the fuel. Steel drums or tanks should be used for large amounts.

A dry, sealed storage container for the fuel. Steel tanks or drums should be used if large amounts are produced.

Use a different set of equipment for larger quantities of biodiesel. Complete sets can be easily purchased over the Internet. Some of these tools are:

A touchless processor, a more complicated type of processor than a manual one.

Hydronic, electric or flame heat to heat the mixture.

A manual processor, which is a tank that heats and mixes the chemicals.

A touchless processor, a more complex type of processor than a manual one.

Almost everything you need to make biodiesel is available on the Web. The production of this renewable fuel is becoming a profitable clean and green business.