Biodiesel processors are in strong demand now that the price of petrol is going through the roof. (Small) businesses are increasingly beginning to produce their own biofuels and in an effort to breath more life into the new market, the U.S. Biofuels Exchange Inc. (USBE) has launched a biofuels platform. The new platform matches biofuel producers of all sizes with buyers.
Biodiesel processors are in strong demand now that the price of petrol is going through the roof. (Small) businesses are increasingly beginning to produce their own biofuels and in an effort to breath more life into the new market, the U.S. Biofuels Exchange Inc. (USBE) has launched a biofuels platform. The new platform matches biofuel producers of all sizes with buyers.
The USBE
is internet based and works very similar to eBay; it has a rating
system to track and follow deals, display real time pricing and
quantities on sale.
A board member of the exchange, James Kaufman, told
Ethanol Producer Magazine that “the efficiency in the [biofuels]
marketplace doesn’t exist because there are too many ‘back room’ small
deals and no central exchange.†The new exchange is set to change this
and Kaufman has had and overwhelming amount of reactions from
interested parties, he said.
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The 'back room producers' of biofuels range from domestic people to small or large companies and they're doing nothing secretive. Biofuel processing equipment being marketed comes in various shapes and sizes and levels of sophistication. It´s easiest to brew your own bio diesel from used vegetable oils and producer kits that allow you to do this make one gallon to 300 gallons of bio diesel, says Muna wa Wanjiru, an expert at Merpet Sales, which sells various brands of biodiesel production equipment to individuals and businesses.
Using bio diesel equipment is relatively straightforward. The machine doesn't need assembling and doesn't take a professional mechanic to operate. A biodiesel kit basically consists of a unit for making the biodiesel and might come with a dry wash added on. All bio diesel processor kits running on used cooking oils are simple to operate because they depend on a water heater system. “The processor kits include all fittings, pumps, valves etc the only thing you have to do is to add a water heater and plumbing valve for ventilation``, says Wanjiru.
Ingredients used in biofuel manufacturing are triglyceride fat or oil used in cooking, a relatively pure alcohol i.e. either ethanol or methanol and a strong base like sodium hydroxide (NaOH) or potassium hydroxide (KOH).
If you are not certain that you´ll be wanting to invest in equipment to create biofuel for years and years to come, you can simply invest in a starter kit. These kits allow you to produce around 4 gallons of bio diesel. If you feel happy about creating your own brew, you can always progress to better equipment.
Wanjiru says that he spends a lot of his time marketing what´s known as the freedom fueler bio diesel kit, which is specifically designed to produce bio diesel from any waste vegetable oil. It requires only one hour of work to create 40 gallons of fuel, he says. ``The mixing of methanol can be done by the built in mechanism in the kits. The bio diesel kits also contain safety kits like gloves, dust masks etc. the methanol pump in the bio diesel kits will never cause pouring or splashing,†Wanjiru says.
Evolution bio diesel kits is another brand of bio diesel production kit. It provides a variety of bio diesel processors that can produce small to large amounts of the diesel, also from converted vegetable oils. “The Evolution bio diesel kits contain either semi automated or fully automated equipments. The fully automated equipments can process the bio diesel without the labor requirement. It processes, cleans and washes the equipment automatically`, says Wanjiru.
A biodiesel processor is a combination reaction vessel which, in its industrial format is mostly used by companies who can’t produce more than 10,000 t/year. It is also advisable to consider buying bio diesel conversion test kits, to check whether the reactions are correct. “These handy kits will help you to check the complete reactions. They are easy to install and use. There are water test kits also to check the water levels in the feed stocks``, says Wanjiru.
He has listed foolproof recipes for creating biodiesel here.
