Tiverton Biodiesel

Welcome to the Tiverton Biodiesel page. This is meant to track our progress in setting up a Biodiesel Co-op in the area.

The Idea

Mythbusting

Recent Developments

Progress So Far - Updated 23/04/09

Links

The Idea

Biodiesel with waste oil as a feedstock (raw material to process into biodiesel) seems to be a relatively green and economic fuel. Since 2007 the UK government do not levy tax on biodiesel produced for personal use (annual limit of 2500 litres). Why not setup a co-operative group with shared premises and equipment to manufacture biodiesel, and even to help educate the average diesel user on the process benefits and problems?

Depending on the cost of the feedstock the price for personally manufactured biodiesel seems to be around 30p/litre + TIME spent making it. However, the TIME isn't as great as you would think given that once things are set going they can usually be left until you return. Not that much constant scrutiny is needed.

Mythbusting

Even with the bad press Biofuels have had recently regarding the land abuse in developing countries where land was being used for biofuels rather than more essential food, and with concerns over the use of Jatropha, biodiesel from waste oil is still viable on smaller scales depending on the sourcing of the waste oil feedstock.

Land use is an important issue, but one I cannot help but feel is a general economic one rather than a specific blight on biodiesel itself. The challenge seems to be whether biofuel crops can be grown in such a way as not to disrupt the economics of countries involved. I'm sure it can be done carefully.

Jatropha is a plant grown in tropical environments with very useful properties for biodiesel production. It has downsides including its toxic nature and the fact that shipping it from its native countries would damage its green biofuel credentials!

Garages are singularly unhelpful on the topic of biodiesel, concentrating on their scare stories of the expensive repairs needed by some guy who used some BAD biodiesel which wrecked his fuel injection, or some guy who EXPLODED himself when making it. The point is, it is not a high risk process if done properly and resulting biodiesel can be checked to make sure it is suitable for your engine. It's a pity garages don't seem willing to give any more info on the suitability of biodiesel for more modern diesel cars with sensitive fuel injection. I think this just raises the quality control standards on your biodiesel produce however, which is probably a good habit to get into anyway!

Recent Developments

In Devon, for various reasons including general press hating of biofuels, commercial biodiesel has suffered some major setbacks with suppliers and manufacturer shutting down. This does mean that local waste oil feedstock may well be up for grabs again! I don't know whether this is a UK-wide situation or not.

The downside has been the difficulty in finding anyone to advise on the practicalities and seeing the process in action.

Progress So Far

There is a lot of supporting info on the internet, and if you can find someone nearby with practical experience of the process they will probably be happy to give you some tips and a demonstration! There should be more support for public education about biodiesel, but I think the recent bad press has scared off a lot of potential corporate supporters from getting involved leaving most newcomers to stumble about.

We are still gathering information about possible grant funding for a community project. Actually making our own biodiesel is the next step, and a small scale batch seems like a good place to start.

What we need is:

1. A place to make the stuff (electricity, water supply, ventilated)

2. Manpower to run the operation

3. Equipment - either purchased or made

4. Waste oil as feedstock - know any chippies or restaurants locally who'd give us theirs?

HMRC Verdict

This is interesting. According to HMRC Notice 179E the 2500 litre personal use allowance is keyed in to the production premises and not the biodiesel maker per se. This is apparently to prevent fraud, presumably where one processor could be used to make thousands of litres of biodiesel, but supposedly by many different people each with a 2500 litre allowance.

If you hadn't already noticed, this is exactly what our co-op idea is supposed to be about, except we would be doing it legitimately and not just as an excuse to bypass the 2500 litre limit. Basically, the difficulty in policing this allowance has resulted in the above restriction regarding premises which is a pain for any honest attempts to form a co-op.

Watch this space.