All That is Gold Does Not Glitter
This is the summer I buy a diesel car, so I am already experimenting. :)
I've been busily making bio-diesel using Embedded Lipase Catalysts. Basically, they are enzymes found in all living things, including your own body), that break down fats. When you take water out of the mix and replace it with alcohol, they make bio-diesel and quite well with a little tweaking.
The advantages of using enzymes are:
1). They are very efficient
2). They work at Room temp (best at 40C)
3). Are reusable. You can use the enzyme over and over, for more than 200 cycles.
4). Are easily filtered & recovered.
5). Are safe, & environmentally benign, made by bacteria.
6). All the reagents in the reaction are common.
I seriously need an investor to buy me the equipment I need. I believe I have found a novel way to produce high grade bio-diesel with a flow through reactor using two complementary catalysts, one at a high pressure (~100bar) and the other at atmospheric pressure .
Bottom line: you put the alcohol and the vegetable oil in one end, pump it through the catalysts and the final silica filter (to remove the glycerol) and out comes pure bio-diesel, a machine anyone can use. The catalysts and silica gel will be in easily removable screw cannisters, kinda like the things in Britta water filters.
The rate will be fairly slow around 5mL/min, but you won't need to do anything after it drips out, except put it in your diesel and drive away. 5mL/min comes out to about 13gallons/week. For a Volkswagon Jetta, that'll give you about 500miles worth of fuel/week or you can drive about 75miles/day.
My brother has a bar/restaurant and said I can reclaim as much waste oil as I need. Used waste oil actually works better with these catalysts since many of the acyl bonds have already been thermally cleaved.
jv