biofuel for home heating

anyone know if its possible for biofuel to be used in home oil heating systems , im guessing if it could the burner would need to be adjusted , would that be expensive

The University of Limerick did intensive research on the issue. Well, they rediscovered the wheel. 10-15 percent of plant oil can be added to the ordinary home heating oil without changes to the burner, depending on if you use kerosine or the heavier home heating oil. On the continent where the winters get so cold that ordinary heating oil can't be stored outside but in the rather warm basement of houses they use also 100% plantoil. Check the behavior of the plant oil you have in mind by putting a (clear) bottle of it into the fridge over night. If it turns cloudy then you can only use it during the warmer months in an ouside tank. If it stays clear and runny then go ahead, blend it in. Be carefull when using used frying oil, it needs to be filtered to get rid of water, particles and waxes (hard fat). But I think it could be illegal here for tax reasons. Even though the EU demands a 5.75% national usage of renewable oil (carbon hydrogens) for the automotive sector. But we're always late anyhow when it comes to unsubsidised farming.

Heinbloed
Can you give any reference points as to where I could look into/ research the use of bio-fuels in an ordinary domestic oil burner? It seems like a very good idea- only thing is no bio-fuel is going to match kerosene for price, even today's high prices (about 60c a litre?). Kero is probably at about the same as a bio alternative, maybe even lower.

Check the web page of the University of Limerick, I myself have read an article some years ago about their research project. Apperently the central heating system of the entire-or partsof it?- university is supplied with plant oil. As far as I remember they used to use recycled oil but went to virgin oil because of waste handling licence issues. They also did research in running cars with plant oil.
If you buy the oil by the litre then it is expensive but in bulk it is cheap. You would need an empty IBC -a tank("industrial bulk container")- when buying it to exchange it for a full one when delivered. Aperently the plant oil traders have no meters as the kerosene traders have , so they deliver it batch wise in containers, the so called IBCs.
Check the golden pages for a local supplier. But be warned about the future price developements for the material. It could become more expensive then the Kero because of the legal requirement to ad 5.75% plantoil to ordinary diesel , the EU does not produce enough. There are huge investments done in the Ukraine and white Russia -Belarus- by German and Austrian oil traders and farmers, they got the wiff. The Germans plan to tax plantoil as diesel since less diesel is used nowadays and more and more plantoil.This (German) tax is 10 cents per litre from April onwards, even on the stuff in bottles in the supermarket. You rember the discussion about the fat tax to fight obesity? Well, here it comes. And it wont stop at 10 cents, the exchequer needs the money to build more roads.....
PS: There is a conference in London in two weeks which would go into depth: [broken link removed]
Pps: http://vegburner.co.uk/links.html

Thanks Heinbloed- where and how do you keep up to speed on all things heating and environmental? Do you get any particular journals?

Carpenter

Just a general intrest of mine. There will be a new international magazine available from April 1st titled " sun & wind energy " , the first issue will have an initial circulation of 15.000 .In the beginning they will cover more the EU continental advertisers with the target to reach international markets. The magazine already exists in German and is sold in Austria, Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands at kiosks and bookshops.And not cheap. A scientifical and market orientated magazine, no humbug, facts and numbers. There might be a special offer available of it under www.SonneWindWaerme.de