UK Home Brew Diesel Now PC and Tax Free!
As of June 30th, UK motorists have been brewing-up 2500 liters (660 U.S. gallons) of homemade biofuels without paying a penny in tax to the British exchequer. According to NewCarNet, anyone living in the island nation with a penchant for home chemistry can now cook-up their own biodiesel for one tenth of the cost of commercially available diesel. Setting aside the price of waste vegetable oil (i.e. none), the costs breaks down as follows: methanol (7.6p), Sodium Hydroxide (.52p), energy (0.12p) and purification 1p. Not including labor, that’s 9.24p ($.18) a liter. U.S. biofans will no doubt be discussing the implications at the National Biodiesel Conference and Expo in Orlando this February.
Glenn is a baby-boomer, born in 1954. Along with his wife, he makes his home in Connecticut. Employed in the public sector as an Information Tedchnology Specialist, Glenn has long been a car fan. Past rides have included heavy iron such as a 1967 GTO, to a V8 T-Bird. In between those high-horsepower cars, he's owned a pair of BMW 320i's. Now, with a daily commute of 40 miles, his concession to MPG dictates the ownership of a 2006 Honda Civic coupe which, while fun to drive, is a modest car for a pistonhead. As an avid reader, Glenn enjoys TTAC, along with many other auto-realated sites, and the occasional good book. As an avid electronic junkie, Glenn holds an Advanced Class amateur ("ham") radio license, and is into many things electronic. From a satellite radio and portable GPS unit in the cars, to a modest home theater system and radio-intercom in his home, if it's run by the movement of electrons, he's interested. :-)
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That methanol price seems a bit low, but maybe it is cheaper in the UK than here. I also use Potassium Hydroxide (KoH) as it is cheaper and easier to deal with IMO. So maybe it is all the same in the end. I've calculated my COST for my homebrew Diesel at about .65¢ per gallon, which ironically was what I used to pay for petroleum Diesel back in 1982 when I started driving a Diesel car. --chuck http://chuck.goolsbee.org
Chuck: Less than a penny per gallon; or 65-cents per gallon?