Learn to Make Your Own Biodiesel - Part 1

Methanol is one of the three main ingredients used to make biodiesel. We like to buy our methanol in 54-gallon drums from a local race shop. It tends to be most economical that way. Make sure that the barrel pump used for transferring methanol is rated for alcohol. As you can see, they are usually made of a yellow nylon material. It's non-reactive and non-conductive. Do not use a normal steel barrel pump. Not only will the alcohol corrode and destroy the pump, the steel could throw a spark and ignite the alcohol. Methanol is extremely volatile and flammable. Be sure to wear heavy duty synthetic rubber gloves and use an approved respirator when working with methanol.

For our normal batch we use 2.6 liters of methanol.