Biodiesel diary+Muirhouse bio diesel continues producing ....
biodiesel kit sales
June 08. Royal Highland show. Bit of a rush on this month it appears that we have acquired some space in the education area with the Royal Highland Trust and have to produce a display this week ( NOW) a lttle rushed and we hope to do a good job and of course I hope to see you there.
May 2008 . We find that despite the Local television coverage on BBC TV on the local spotlight show (twice) and Radio borders (regular slots for 2 days) and Radio Scotland (feature) as well as ccoverage in the Southern Reporter, Farmers weekly page 13 in mid April 2008 , Farmers Gaurdian and other publications of Tweeddale press NONE of them mention this website so due to the lack of link we continue to hide in the obscurity of the ether.
However if you want to see these articles and links you can find them using other search techniques
I will add them here
We are starting the SRDP grant process to upgrade the plant size to make more biodiesel and to start production of Muirhouse Farm extra Virgin Rape oil, for this we need stainless steel conainment vessels and a bottling plant. This being all quite expensive we need to ask at this time for some state aid. Particularly as the 34p duty and the 17.5% VAT on top of the biodiesel production costs make it uneconomic for us to sell reliably the quantities of biodiesel we are being asked to supply ( 2 requests for 1000 lires per week) despite having the production capacity. It of courae does not help that both these commercial users have discout accounts with their fossil fuel current suppliers undercutting the pump price by about 15p/litre. I can sincerely say that we cant make biodiesel cheaper than fossil fuel however there are other very good reasons for going green and price matching..And of course with the fossil fuel company lorry drivers all striking for more cash ( £36k sounds like a great wage perhaps all farmers shoudl strike too) and issues with Grangemouth over wages perhaps biodiesel is your buisnesses way to actually just keep your vehicles moving.
Domestic production around 2000 litres is duty exempt so you can save up to 74p on duty alnoe on every domestic litre you produce so you should buy the fuel pod , the fuel pod 2 or the fuel pod 2 , 100 and make your own at home. It is really easy and you could save a packet.
April 2008. The plant is declared open on the seventh of April 2008. Not only did Lord Adrian Palmer come and open the plant he gave the following speech. Bio diesel PDF and also we released the following press release press release . Our first external unlinked customer is from Edinburgh airport, and runs car washing plants in both Edinburgh airport and at Glasgow airport, these are currently burning red diesel and their intention is to run some tests on the bio diesel or their own purposes and to continue to burn at least a percentage of bio diesel within the car wash facilities. However the main advantage to bio diesel is when compared to Road Fuel Price. We can just produce on a competitive basis even given the recent price rise in oilseed rape seed prices ,we cannot compete against red diesel. Thus we are hoping once these initial tests are complete that it will be the customers of the car wash that choose diesel rather than burning fossil fuels. If we can sell to a number of the taxi companies around Edinburgh airport will be making a big difference directly whether it is major pollution both in and around the Edinburgh ring road and where fossil fuels are burnt heavily in order to propel aircraft into the air. OK , it may have a very minor impact compared to the amount of fossil fuels being burned, but it will highlight the people can make a difference by choosing bio diesel , and it may help BAA consider adding bio diesel as part of the fuel mix on both airport side and customer side vehicles.
March 2008. We have had our first major disappointment, the local Toyota garage has decided to insist that the use of bio diesel will avoid any guarantee that they put on the cars. Given that all cars have had to be bio diesel compliant since 1998 this is a ridiculous situation. We have a customer willing to make a difference to the planet whose trade is driving and teaching learner drivers and the manufacturer of his car is playing their corporate line to support petroleum giants burning fossil fuels. I understand that it is impossible to avoid the warranty assuming the fuel meets appropriate standards which our equipment ensures.
February 2008. We has had some minor issues with Frost and one of our pumps which has led to the measurement and adding of the methylate manually. I visited greenfuels in Cirencester with some samples of oil and the exhaust from the bio fuel production unit in order to resolve this issue. While I was there I noticed some good press coverage of Prince Charles using bio diesel on a train in the U.K. as well as other press coverage about a high-performance sports car burning bio diesel.
January 2008. By coincidence I met with Lord Adrian Palmer and discovered that he was the president of the British Association of bio fuels and oils. I invited him to come and visit our plant at his first available opportunity perhaps we can do some good towards publicity of bio fuels in general and indeed it would be helpful to invite people to buy bio diesel from this farm.
December 2007 We have had some problems with the cold! Some of the componant chemicals are freezing and the raw oil is becoming like a wax. We have thus added a heating band temporarily to the methylate at a very low temperature to stop this freezing. The production is going well and our first client company www.thenaturalhousecompany.co.uk has agreed to move all of their vehicles over to biodiesel. This is great for us and for the enviroment. As eco friendly home builders it is perfect for them too.
November 2007
We have started putting together a second-hand bin and augur which will take the “ waste product” the oilseed rape cake which is a high protein feed cake used for cattle feed. There is already a market for this type of high-protein cake in the local area and the prices for this type of cake are relatively stable. We expect to be selling the cake in one tonne bags.
On 8th October 2007 two new silos to contain the approximate 70 tonnes of oilseed rape seed were delivered and in October and November they were set up. We need to have such a large quantity for a couple of reasons. One the price of oilseed rape has fluctuated significantly already this year and is at a spot price of £255 per tonne in October 2007. Now in March 2008 the price is up to £450 tonne.
So we needed to secure sufficient seed for our projected uses and sales over the next six to eight months. This was achieved and delivered. Also the speed of crushing is slow and thus needs to be almost constant to provide us with sufficient oil for the batches of bio diesel we will be making each day. Each batch of bio diesel takes about eight hours to make. (For a domestic plant this makes 150 litres thus could fill your car around 3 times or be good for 1000 to 1500 miles not bad for 20 minutes work)
2nd September 2007: The plant that we bought from Greenfuels ends in a 1,000 litre caged basket the type of which you may have seen on many farms when used as a temporary water bowser. As of 2nd September we had not installed a separate finished oil containment tank. In order to meaningfully deliver any oil outside of this farm we need to have a vessel sufficiently small enough not to hold excessive oil although large enough to allow us to deliver around 2,000 litres per client (in order to keep below one of the numerous Customs and Excise tax thresholds).
Given the large bunded area in the building itself we have been able to buy a tank that is not in itself bunded which significantly reduces the outlay on the tank.
I note that there have been many instances of red diesel being stolen from farms across the country and an internal tank inside one of the buildings may help us police some of this potential crime.
During August and September 2007 we have been testing this fuel for a variety of uses pulling in the skilled services of our local plumber. The kit was delivered into part of one of our old barns, formerly with a slatted floor used to contain cattle slurry. We removed the slatted floor leaving a space of 6 meters wide by 60 meters long. Creating a bund by the door this gives a huge area which is already watertight in which to operate both the crushing plant and the bio diesel plant so that if there is any spillage we can meet SEPA(Scottish Environment agency) requirements and also for general cleanliness. During this process of discovery we find out that while oilseed rape oil is not attractive to rats it supposedly is like manna from heaven for mice. Thus we have to start being even more careful about escaping seed and oil spillage.
In mid-August 2007 our bio fuel production unit was delivered and installed with one test run of 300 litres using used food oil and converting it to bio diesel.
In June 2007 Iver went with Richard to Greenfuels near Cirencester with a view to finalising the projected purchase of a bio fuel conversion unit sufficiently large enough for our needs, however not requiring excessive amounts of labour time. The cheapest plant available comes in at about £1,000 and is suitable for domestic use and can be purchased from this website.
In the event we have combined a number of elements from the range and have a plant we believe will be able to produce somewhere in the region of a hundred and fifty thousand litres should the plant be operating 24/7, 365 days per year.
In May 2007 Andy and Iver went off to France to look at a crushing plant as advertised in the Farmers Weekly for the crushing of oilseed rape seed, sunflower seed or other oil-rich seeds. This trip was with a view to purchasing a crushing plant that would be able to cope with the projected use of a minimum of 10,000 litres of bio diesel.
In the event a number of sizes of crushing plant are available starting at around £6,000 and going swiftly northwards. There are a number of equivalent Chinese made plants available at considerably less money however there is some question in the minds of those farm supply companies as to the relative benefits of a European manufactured crushing plant and those imported.
On the advice of the vendor we purchased a European made plant. Which will allow us to crush a max of approx 7 tonnes of seed per week. This we transported in a pickup back to Scotland. Should you be interested in a crushing plant we can give you some advice and sell you a similar plant to that which we have installed or advise you should you wish a smaller or larger plant.
| 
