Preparing for winter?

[neisel]

I made BD last winter pretty much as & when I needed it, freezing my arse off. Looking ahead to next winter, I want to avoid making any BD in the cold months of winter & the plan at the mo is to make & stockpile this summer

Ideally I would like to have enough made by about October to see me through until the end of March-ish.

It would be made from v. good, lightly used, runny, dry oil with no solids or fats, sourced from gastro pubs that change their oil at least once a week. I store the finished BD outdoors in 25 litre plastic jerry cans full to the brim & with cetane added (25ml into 25 litres) as it's decanted from the processor, though of course cetane can be added at any time.

Will my BD suffer from being stored for as long as six months?

Will I encounter any other probs?

It's being used in a Mercedes C250 TD (OM605 engine) which seems to like it & runs like a top.

TIA.

[Rotary-Motion]

sounds good, plenty settle time before uses...

isnt that engine a 100% vegger?

[RichardP]

How do you finish your bio and have you suffered from HMPE's in the winter? If you do get hmpe's then storing for months outside over winter may be a problem.

The use of bio stored for that long should not cause any issues, I've had stuff over winter in Germany and it was fine when I used it.

[neisel]

Well, it'll run on WVO but it runs much better on BD. No reliability, starting, 'O' ring, twin tank, fuel filter etc, etc problems. Plus I hate the stink of WVO exhaust.

I make BD in about 135 litre batches using KOH / Meth 2 stage, 90/10, combined spray wash & pump wash, heat & spray to dry method. It's run through a polish pot before decanting. I maintain a fuel reserve so it now sits for up to a month.

Before it goes in the car it's decanted into clean containers by hand pouring until I see any white stuff (HMPEs?) coming through at which point I stop & pour the balance (currently maybe a litre) into another container of dregs where it sits until it separates.

[julianf]

Whilst making bio in the summer is nicer, for winter use it would be better to use cold oil.

What i mean to say is that oil thats liquid in the summer may well be cloudy in the winter.  If you use oil that is still clear in the depths of winter, the the bio you produce will be sure to stay liquid.


I made it though this winter by using only clear liquid feedstock, with no addatives (and then broke down last week through getting the tallow out too soon!)

[neisel]

Julian,

I am using up any marginally shitty oil now in the warm months & will be using the same beautiful stuff I used all last winter for this coming winter's BD stockpile. It was fine even in the coldest weather after living outdoors the whole time.

I've heard people talk of BD oxidation & cetane affecting / going off & affecting the BD. Anyone know anything about this?

[julianf]

I think its more that its chemically possible, rather than it actually happens.  The only time ive ever heard of anyone's bio going that way was when someone left it spraying at a diffuser at elevated temps for ages.

I would have no concern at all about what you are planning on doing (and, indeed, im to do similar - i will make this summer for the boiler this winter)