Marine Biodiesel fuels

That is happening in other countries also so they can grow their own brand of "renewable" energy.

"In September, Friends of the Earth published a report about the impact of palm oil production. "Between 1985 and 2000," it found, "the development of oil-palm plantations was responsible for an estimated 87 per cent of deforestation in Malaysia". In Sumatra and Borneo, some 4 million hectares of forest have been converted to palm farms. Now a further 6 million hectares are scheduled for clearance in Malaysia, and 16.5 million in Indonesia.

Almost all the remaining forest is at risk. Even the famous Tanjung Puting national park in Kalimantan is being ripped apart by oil planters. The orangutan is likely to become extinct in the wild. Sumatran rhinos, tigers, gibbons, tapirs, proboscis monkeys and thousands of other species could go the same way. Thousands of indigenous people have been evicted from their lands, and some 500 Indonesians have been tortured when they tried to resist. The forest fires which every so often smother the region in smog are mostly started by the palm growers. The entire region is being turned into a gigantic vegetable oil field."

Here's where that came from...
http://www.cicle.org/cicle_content/pivot/entry.php?id=447
I believe there is just way too many people for the earth to sustain. Utopia is possible, but human beings are only capable of recognising it, they don't have the ability to create it. Sam

 

Come and have a look..

Don't just believe what you read..come and have a look your self..Palm oil is not for renewable energy..it is for cooking oil..

 

Arguement for making your own

I think that the bottom line is that everyone will save considerable money (whatever coinage used) by making your own biodiesel. The added incentivee of using cleaner burning and environmentally healthier fuel is definitely worthwhile in cleaning up the atmosphere. Problems that many people who live in ities will find is otaining space to set up a refinery. Other than that, city dwellers have the advantage of having the raw product close at hand. The savings on biodiesel here is reaching significant levels with both car and boat. At least we don't feel restricted in using the boat or car due to fuel costs and it's a darned good feeling to thumb your nose at oil companies. The new toy on order is a diesel generator to provide power during weeks-long huricane power outages this year when gas station pumps can't pump any sort of fuel. Another benefit is an experiment that we tried in using biodiesel in hurricane lamps which work well enough but makes the house smell like a donut factory.....back to scented oils for that one.

 

Greenseas

I'm interested in your use of biodiesel as lampoil! what kind of hurricane lamps? the old style or these new fangled pressure jobs? Could this start a new thread/ideas?

 

Biodiesel

We Used The Old Fashion Lamps With The Wide Wicks. It Burns Ok, But Took Quite Awhile To Get The Wick To Absorb Enough Initially. After That It Was Ok. I Don't Believe There Would Be Enough Interest In It To Start A Thread. Still In All, For 46cents A Gallon There May Be Others Who Want To Use It. You'll Want A Lower Flame To Prevent Smoking Like Any Other Lamp Fuel. We Might Try To Use Biodiesel In Our New Origo 3000 Stove. There's Nothing There That Could Be Damaged And It Would Be Safer Than Alcohol.

 

This is from the same place....

But before we celebrate biofuels as an 'eco-conscious' way to drive, perhaps we should consider that tropical rainforests and forests are currently being destroyed to meet the spike in demand for it. Palm oil and soya biomass are the cheapest sources of oil used in the production of biofuels, and both are already amongst the world's major causes of tropical forest destruction. "Largely to meet demand for biofuel, the Indonesian government announced in July 2005 the development of the biggest palm oil plantation in the world which will clear the "Heart of Borneo", the vast areas of tropical rain forest in Kalimantan." (Forests.org)

True or not, I don't know. It seems to me this biofuel solution could be worse than the problem once it gets past the 'homegrown' stage. Bush says we're addicted to oil, this seems like a methadone substitute but no real cure. Sam

 

Sort of related to the thread. Is there such a thing as 'bioresins' where you can refine your own laminating resin? Sam

 

Combustion engines,

SamSam is right i think we should say goodbye to combustion engines and make the next step.

Quote of my own from "New propulsion sytems for ships" thread:

Combustion engines either piston or turbine, burning bio or other fuels produce waste gases that will never be really clean.

The yachting industry should be one of the first to adopt fuel cell technology. Engines in yachts are expensive anyway because they are not produced in large numbers. Most yachts are expensive compared to the engines that drive them.

 

Worse, it's for all the processed, packaged food we buy at Wal-Mart. Partially hydrogenated oil, etc.

 

I don't know about making your own fiberglass laminating resin, but anything made from oil can be made from bio-oils, with modern chemical processing techniques.

You could certainly make your own varnish or shellac though.

I believe the original "synthetic" Mobil One was refined from some kind of vegetable oil, probably castor oil.

 

Biodiesel stoves?

I wonder if biodiesel would make diesel stoves and heaters less smelly and sooty, to a point where they're acceptable for yachties?

 

Healthy oil..

The best..for your health cooking oil..virgin coconut oil..the price is very stiff..We still cook at home..daily..and I make our very own Coconut Virgin Oil..http://www.wildernessfamilynaturals.com/

 

Coconut oil

http://www.kokonutpacific.com.au/index.html?Biofuel.htm
a lot more site about this topic..

 

Biodiesel will make it worse.
Preheat the diesel would work a litle

 

Biodiesel stoves

Currently there are manufacturers of diesel stoves, mostly for work boats. Biodiesel would work well in these; however, the design of these stoves are old and time proven. What is needed at this time is for someone to develop a small 2 burner stainless steel stove for the recreational boat industry. One about the size of the Origo stoves. After a marketable 2 burner unit is made, then a 4 burner with oven could be made. Modifying a current stove using either alcohol or propane would probably be a mistake. The stove wouldn't need to be pressurize and could be gravity fed. Unlike propane or alcohol, there would be no dangerous fumes to get into the bilges. Deveoping a biodiesel stove would decidedly be a wothwhile effort.