When I first read about this I couldnt believe it, but its actually true and many people use it regularly..
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This is a how-to on using veg oil to make your diesel car go, easily, safely and cheaply. It's really very easy, very green and very legal.
IMPORTANT: This is for DIESEL engines only. Petrol engines are a whole other technology and cannot burn veg oil: it will gum them up as surely as if you put diesel into them. If you are a petrol driver, look at petrol/alcohol blends or LPG conversion instead.
Why use vegetable oil as fuel?
Using vegetable oil as fuel in diesel engines isn't a new idea. Rudolf Diesel's first engines were built to run on peanut oil for the developing world, which had no petrochemicals industry. Running your modern diesel car or van on veg is just going back to what the designer intended. But why should you make the change?
Vegetable oil is renewable: it's not a fossil fuel, so it doesn't contribute to global warming. By using vegetable oil as fuel, you're making a positive environmental move right where it matters the most, in the one thing in our lives that is the heaviest polluter: our cars.
It's not just green, though. Veg oil is also cheaper than regular diesel: even if you buy supermarket oil and pay the full duty, it works out cheaper. Use waste oil, and the price drops dramatically. Who doesn't want to save money?
Even better, veg oil has cleaner emissions and is good for your engine. Compared to regular diesel, veg oil has massively less sulphur, so there's less sulphur dioxide emmitted when you drive. Sulphur dioxide is one of the pollutants that makes kids wheezy, so you're cutting your contribution to childhood asthma. And because veg oil has better lubricity, it's kind to your engine, too: a veg-fuelled engine runs just a little bit smoother. Fuel efficiency is unaffected.
How to do it
An ordinary diesel engine cannot run on 100% pure vegetable oil without conversion. Veg oil is too thick and gloopy to get through the fuel pump and injectors. Conversion is moderately expensive and is quite a commitment, so we'll leave that to the experts.
Instead, we'll try to thin down the veg oil so that it works correctly in the engine. There are two ways to do this: mix it with something, or convert it into biodiesel.
Making biodiesel is a fair old job of bucket chemistry. There are easy how-to's on the web but you need a shed and some spare time.
It's far easier to mix the veg oil with something that will make it runnier. And we have just the thing to hand: regular diesel. Just mix your veg oil into your diesel, and you have a working blend. How?
Just bung it in the fuel tank.
Yes, it's that easy. And yes, it feels really weird putting food into your car for the first time! But it works, and works well.
The easiest way to do this is to run your tank almost empty. Then when you pop to the supermarket, fill up with diesel, and then add the veg oil. The drive home mixes it all up nicely.
How much veg oil should you use? Start with a light blend, and increase each time you refill. That way, if you notice your car sputtering, you know you've hit the limit and should use less next time, and you can top up with regular diesel to thin the mixture back down.
* A 10% veg oil blend will work for everyone. It meets your personal part of our Kyoto commitment, and there should be no noticeable difference in how your car drives. 27 litres of diesel and one three-litre bottle of veg oil from the supermarket.
* At 25% veg oil in 75% diesel, your exhaust stops smelling like a taxi and starts smelling like a doughnut fryer. It's pleasant and a real talking point. You should notice the slight smoothness improvement around now.
* 33% - one part veg to two parts regular diesel - is the heaviest mix I would recommend for the British winter, unless you've got a frost-free garage. This level of blend still starts even on cold, frosty mornings.
* 50% is a good running blend for the rest of the year. Half-and-half is where the cost savings really show themselves. And of course, the carbon saving is good enough to offset that second TV.
A note for new car owners: using non-standard fuels probably voids your warranty. This doesn't mean they're bad, just that they're not covered. Caveat emptor.
Reference -
http://www.ravenfamily.org/andyg/vegoil.htm
Running Diesel engine on vegetable oil -
19th October 2006
19th October 2006
