"Karl Townsend" remove .NOT to reply wrote
in message news

Is biodiesel the same stinky stuff as "normal" diesel?

No. It's chemically treated cooking oil. Some of it starts as waste oil
from
fast-food joints. No kidding.


There must be more than one meaning of BioDiesel. Here in MN, there
putting
up a lot of pilot plants for manufacturing diesel from soybeans. A 2%
blend
is being used in many public vehicles and farm supply outlets.

It's really just one meaning. There is an entire cottage industry of people
who are making their own, scrounging used vegetable oil from McDonald's
etc., filtering it through paper filters, and then treating it with
something -- maybe lye, I don't remember.

I read a couple of articles about it last year and these must be some
characters. They're very scientific about it. Apparently they prefer 5-cyl.
Mercedes-Benz engines from some years ago, which they say are the toughest
and most forgiving diesels around.

Anyway, they run it straight. If you blend it with regular diesel, it's a
biodiesel blend, which must be what they're using out where you are. And, if
they're making it from pristine soybean oil, that should make the soybean
farmers pretty happy. After all, how many Freedom Fries would we have to eat
to produce that much used grease? g

--
Ed Huntress