Where can I buy methanol? 13 December 2006 at 10:28AM in Green & ethical MoneySaving 11 replies 27.4K views

gbmud

No, not for pepping up the punch at the office party but for making my own bio-diesel! There is a guy on ebay selling it but you have to collect - from Manchester - and I live in Wiltshire, a well known bio-diesel desert. Any suggestions? I guess I would be looking for 5l at first, perhaps more later. Any tips on what type of companies to look for in the Yellow pages?

Thanks

Chris

oigoi_2

To me it isn't worth the hassle converting whatever oil it is to biodiesel. I have an unmodified old banger Astra 1.7 diesel (Bosch injector pump)which will run on straight sunflower oil in summer but needs a bit of petrol added to the sunflower oil in winter to thin it a bit. Watch out if your car has a Lucas/CAV injector pump though as these cannot handle thick oil.

zorber

most camping shops will sell methanol as they use it in camping burners

DrFluffy

Sigma-Aldrich are a good, cost-effective supplier of chemicals and reagents...

roger56

Some modellers mix their own fuel. Methanol is one ingredient.
You could try a model shop for small quantities, I suspect it will not
be the cheapest, but it will be good quality (ie low water content)

http://www.modeltechnics.com

alice's_mum

My oh works for a Chemical company and they distribute and sell this stuff, however such a small amount could be difficult for them. If you want more info then pm me and I'll let you have the company name, they have a site in Bristol who MIGHT be able to help you. For looking in Yellow pages, try chemical distribution companies.

justruth

You will have to check, but I believe that it is illegal to do this, as you are not paying fuel tax. Now I am not best friends with Mr Brown, and I do not currently have a car, but I am led to believe that an associate runs an old diesel on standard rapeseed oil, and did so in defiance against the war in iraq (she is certified lol). This friend has a black fuel container which she fills up with the oil and a drop of diesel to stop the car smelling of a chip shop, and fills it that way, using about a 25% diesel to 75% oil ratio. She used to work for a comercial kitchen, ad asked the oil recyclers what they did with it all, and they suggested it.

My advice if you want to stay on the right side of the chancellor only go to approved tax paying stations. If however you are a fuel protestor you could try recycling the oil from your local chippy (filter it first) and adding a little diesel every now and then to stop the smell. Another thing to note is that you can get carbon deposits building up, so depending on how much you drive get some injector cleaning stuff.

petere_3

I've got a ford focus and I mix veg oil with diesel. It seems to run fine. I'm sure this is legal for the first 1500 ltrs per year and then you have to pay a little tax after that. If you type in "veg oil top gear" on youtube a man shows J clarkson how to make it with oil and thinners! Good luck

cepheus

justruth wrote: »

You will have to check, but I believe that it is illegal to do this, as you are not paying fuel tax.

It is legal up to 2500 litres/yr now

4.2 When is excise duty payable on biofuels?


The excise duty point for biofuels is the time when they are:

• sent out from entered premises;
• set aside; or
• used as a motor fuel.

'Set aside' means the point at which it is decided that the product is going to be used as a motor fuel. This decision means that the fuel has been set aside for a chargeable use.
4.2.1 Exempt producers/users

If you have produced or used less than 2,500 litres of:

• any biofuel, or
• any other fuel substitute or additive

within the last 12 months, and/or expect to produce or use less than 2,500 litres in the next 12 months, you are an exempt producer and do not need to register with HMRC and account for duty. However, there are simple record-keeping requirements, which are described in paragraph 4.9.1.
Production includes the manufacture or processing of road fuel, and the setting aside of any product that has not been charged with duty, with the intention of using it as road fuel.

http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageExcise_ShowContent&id=HMCE_CL_000205&propertyType=document

andeebee

Try this forum for a source of Methanol, most home Biodiesel makers will have some you can buy, especially if you only want a small amount to get you going. You may find one close to you.
http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/forum/index.php

A note to Straight Veg Oil users - Use SVO at your (cars) peril if you are only doing short journeys, it will eventually gum up your engines piston rings and the engine will die. I would use it only for cars that are about to die anyway! Try and alternate tank fulls with diesel and SVO and you should prolong the life. Better still get some Bio in there and stop worrying.

This said however it is a well known fact that Landrovers will quite happily run for years on SVO, Im guessing this is probably due to a simple engine design.

Mike_Oxsbig

Quote:
Originally Posted by justruth
You will have to check, but I believe that it is illegal to do this, as you are not paying fuel tax.

It is legal up to 2500 litres/yr now

This is very true however there is a loophole to allow you to make as much as you want which is as follows: True, as of Sept 1st 2007 anyone is allowed to produce up to 2500 ltrs/yr without paying VAT, HOWEVER there is no limit to how many people can 'own' one biodiesel processor (the machine that converts cooking oil). Hense if ya gonna sell it to your mates just get them to say they have share in the processor and you make it on thier behalf. You can then legally have records of thousands of ltres of bio and they can't do a thing, just dont tell the taxman you sell them it!!!

Just for the record I'm making my second batch of biodiesel
for personal use it costs 12p a litre to make it from waste cooking oil and its GREAT!!!