Caution: Home-Cooked Biodiesel Can Be Dangerous
Journal of the American Medical Association. 2007;297:1428.
On May 7, 2006, a hazardous materials (HazMat) release occurred in a residential area of Colorado when a homeowner who was processing a tank of homemade biodiesel fuel forgot to turn off the tank's heating element and left for the weekend. The heating element overheated and caused a fire that burned the surrounding shed and equipment. The shed had contained >600 gallons of biodiesel and recycled restaurant cooking oil, smaller amounts of glycerin and sodium hydroxide, and 1-gallon containers of sulfuric and phosphoric acid; a mixture of these ingredients seeped into the ground during the fire. A certified HazMat team and the local fire department responded. Investigators found seven 55-gallon barrels of methanol and other hazardous materials outside the shed. No injuries or evacuations occurred. To prevent potential injuries, biodiesel should be purchased from a licensed commercial source.
... Biodiesel usually is produced commercially; however, some persons in the United States and elsewhere produce biodiesel in their homes for personal use. Those who produce homemade biodiesel should be aware of the substantial risk for injury. Substances used in biodiesel production can be highly explosive (i.e., methanol) or corrosive (i.e., sodium hydroxide). If improperly handled, these substances can cause severe eye, skin, and upper respiratory irritation; chemical burns; and other serious injuries.5-7 During the preceding 10 years, almost all fires and injuries caused by home production of biodiesel of which the National Biodiesel Board (NBB) is aware were caused by improper handling of methanol during production. NBB is the nonprofit trade association coordinating regulatory, technical, and market development of the fuel as a commercial product. The event described in this report is the first known to NBB involving a heating element in an unintentional fire related to home production of biodiesel.
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/297/13/1428
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