The price of gas reaching an eventual four dollars a gallon should have people seriously thinking alternatives to using their cars as they currently do. I ask myself what it takes for the average person to change his gas consuming habits and am disappointed at the current trend. It takes a crisis to change people's habits. So what does it take for people to leave their cars at home at take a bicycle to work if they can?
Today there was a sudden increase in the price of gas the worst in twenty years. Coincidentally I watched that a man living in the Ottawa Valley came up with a system of get petroleum from used cooking oil. He obviously has to have a steady supply of the greasy source to manufacture his crude fuel but he has been successful so far in being able to make enough petroleum for his truck and his home. Another person also from Ontario has come up with a similar system of obtain gas from a vegetable source and sent away for a system that is comparable to a small refinery. These are just two people who want to avoid paying extra at the pump or want to keep their lifestyles without having to sacrifice some of their material benefits for the extra cost of gas. Yet there should be more people doing this sort of thing and one does not have to have a chemical degree to do so.
A bi-product from the manufacture of fuel from cooking grease is soap, so this is an indication that lye is used in the process. There is a certain amount of mixing and separation of the soap from the oil so as to obtain the desired product. Naturally one can consult a chemistry text on the process or speak to a chemist to see how a home system can be set up efficiently and effectively.
