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Straight Vegetable Oil In The News
(follow links for the original articles)
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Page Contents
Buehler's
Using Waste Vegetable Oil to Fuel Semi Truck
Going Green: Vegetable Oil Truck
Chocolate-powered car takes to the race track
Times Online - Biofuel imports - a costly trade in bunkum
Fat Burner - Old Oil Powered Generating Plant Being Converted To Run on Waste Vegetable Oil
Everyday Environmentalist: Run Your Car on Vegetable Oil
WVO centrifuge VS WVO Filter
Straight Vegetable Oil vs. Biodiesel
Not a Good Decision by GM (from a techie)
Veggie oil fuels student's trip to meet U.S. senator
DR - Turbo Diesel Register - 130k on WVO and no issues...
Engineers Log - Reflections on WVO
Like Mom always said, drive your vegetables
Bottled water uses 2000 times more energy than tap water
Making Biodiesel From Animal Fat
No Such Thing As Clean Coal
Trans-America Journey Powered by Waste Vegetable Oil
Engineers Log - One Year on WVO
Engineers Log - Break Even Point
Engineers Log - 159 MPG
Engineers Log - Driving on Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO)
MSNBC "Grease Cars"
Running On Veggies
Outside Magazine
Popular Mechanics Magazine
Diesel Progress Magazine
Quay County Newspaper
New York Times
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Buehler's Using Waste Vegetable Oil to Fuel Semi Truck
Sep 3, 2009 6:00 AM,
By MICHAEL GARRY
WOOSTER, Ohio — Buehler Food Markets here recently converted one of
four tractor trailers — which are used to pick up and deliver local
produce — from diesel to waste vegetable oil (WVO), which generates less
greenhouse gas emissions than diesel oil.
"We expect the truck to use 250 gallons of WVO
per week," said Scott Buehler, vice president of real estate and new
store development.
More semi trucks may be converted, depending on
the amount of waste oil produced.
Over the past six months, Buehler's, which
operates 13 stores, has successfully tested the use of WVO to fuel a
Volkswagen Jetta TDI used by the retailer's corporate chef to visit
stores.
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Sep 03, 2009
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Going Green: Vegetable Oil Truck
By Justin Gehrts
Posted:
Sep 01, 2009 11:34 AM
ROCKFORD (WREX) - Nick Schuer's truck is a
shining example of the saying that appearances can be deceiving. It
doesn't exactly look like a vehicle that's "going green," but it runs on
vegetable oil. Yes, vegetable oil, and Schuer knows just what you're
thinking.
"'Does it smell like french fries?' That's kind of
the universal joke. Or 'does it smell like fried fish?'"
He says
the answer is "no." Regardless, he got the idea a few years ago when
reading up on the VW Rabbit and ran across information on the conversion
to a vegetable oil engine. He made the modifications himself and
filters his own vegetable oil. So how well does his truck run?
"Its
specialty for us is to haul my boat cross-country on long vacation
trips. This year we went to Cape Cod, last summer we went to the south
coast of Texas, the Gulf coast of Texas. That's thousands of miles
running on vegetable oil."
Nick says he gets about the same fuel
economy as using gasoline, but burning vegetable oil is a lot cleaner.
"People like to say that it's carbon neutral because the CO2 you put
back in the atmosphere is absorbed by plants and grows into vegetable
oil."
The truck does use some diesel to start and stop the
engine, but otherwise, the vegetable oil does all the work.
  
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Sep 01, 2009
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Chocolate-powered car takes to the race track
By Emma Woollacott
WARWICK, UK - A racing car powered by chocolate, steered by carrots and built largely from potatoes takes its first test drive on the racetrack this week.
The WorldFirst Formula 3 racing car can do 125mph around corners, say its creators. "On Friday, we tested it around the campus car park, and we hope to get it on the track later this week," project manager James Meredith at the University of Warwick told TG Daily.
The car meets all Formula 3 racing standards except for its biodiesel engine, which is configured to run on fuel derived from waste chocolate and vegetable oil. Formula 3 cars currently cannot use biodiesel. The team hopes to enter it in some sort of race soon, though, said Meredith.
Components made from plants form the mainstay of the car’s make up, including a race specification steering wheel derived from carrots and other root vegetables, a flax fibre and soybean oil foam racing seat, a woven flax fibre bib and plant oil-based lubricants.
The biodiesel engine is configured to run on fuel derived from waste chocolate and vegetable oil. It also incorporates a radiator coated in a ground-breaking emission destroying catalyst.
"It is a technical demo to try and prove that you can go motor racing and it doesn't have to harm the environment," said Meredith.
In future, said Meredith, the team plans to use similar techniques for a range of other vehicles - road cars, boats and even Formula One racing cars.
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May 05, 2009 |
Biofuel imports - a costly trade in bunkum
Carl Mortished: On the money
Forget electric cars, you won't be driving one for decades, perhaps you never will. What matters is the liquid that fills the tank in the Mondeo and that liquid is becoming more peculiar every year. You may think that your car's diesel engine is burning brown sludge pumped out of a North Sea well and processed in a stinking jungle of pipes and pots on some blighted estuary in the North of England. That is only part of the story: what goes into your tank may be a cocktail of fossil-based fuels from Russia or the Gulf laced with vegetable oils imported from as far afield as Brazil and Malaysia. Making road fuel and delivering it to your car is a business that is becoming more complicated, costly and wasteful every year.
Fleets of ships, belching emissions of sulphur and carbon, are moving ethanol and other biofuels to Britain to ensure that the petrol and diesel sold at filling stations complies with the low-carbon diktat. A nightmarish transglobal web of logistics and manufacturing is required to meet the increasing biofuel obligation. In Britain, road fuel is currently 2.7 per cent ethanol or biodiesel (sourced from grains, such as wheat, rape or soya as well as palm oil and animal fat). The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation will increase that to 3.5 per cent next year and an EU directive requires that it rise to 10 per cent by 2020.
It is a trade in bunkum: more ships burning more fossil fuel to move more biofuel in order to burn less fossil fuel. About 70 per cent of Britain's petrol and diesel is sourced from crude pumped from the UK and Norwegian North Sea, according to the UK Petroleum Industry Association, whose members run Britain's refineries.
The dwindling output of these wells means that more crude will in future be imported into Europe but biofuels will accelerate our rising dependence on imports. Only 8 per cent of the biofuel used in Britain is sourced locally. The biggest suppliers are Brazil, from which we import ethanol made from cane sugar, and the United States, which supplies grains, but our hunger for biofuels is forcing us to seek supplies from a host of countries including Indonesia, Malawi, Pakistan and Ukraine.
To make matters worse, Britain is now forced to import not just crude but oil products. Our refineries can no longer cope with the increasing clamour for diesel caused by the fashion for more fuel-efficient diesel cars. Petrol is spurned as the hunger for diesel increases. The imbalance between supply and demand (a barrel of crude can only produce so much diesel) has created more seaborne trade: 4.5 million tonnes of unleaded petrol shipped to America last year while 3.5 million tonnes of diesel arrived on our shores, mainly from Russia. At the same time, the budget airline industry is boosting demand for jet fuel and the refineries in the Gulf are supplying it — 5.3 million tonnes imported last year.
Perhaps we ought to make the stuff ourselves — build better refineries that can produce more diesel molecules from the sludge at the bottom of a barrel of crude. That is possible, say the refiners, but it's an energy intensive process: we should emit more carbon if we make more diesel. It would be harder for Britain to cut its emissions; it is easier to let the Saudis and Russians make the stuff offshore.
And so we run British industry into the ground, shying away from dirty processes, buying more fuels from distant lands that don't worry much about carbon in the hope that we can meet our self-imposed target of reducing emissions by 80per cent by 2050.
Today, agriculture ministers from the Group of Eight nations (including Britain) meet in Italy to talk about food security. Since last year's bout of severe food price inflation, the pressure has eased but the problems remain. Stockpiles of staple grains are very low and a drought could push the cost of rice and wheat higher again.
Meanwhile, at the refinery, diesel is being laced with methyl esters made from wheat and soya. It has cost us £100 million so far to build this low-carbon house. And the game has only just begun.
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April 18, 2009
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Fat burner
By TOM FOWLER
Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
April 19, 2009, 8:38AM
The site of a 1940s-era power plant that once burned oil to generate electricity may soon be home to a new generation of power turbines fueled by refined animal fat and vegetable oil.
Spring-based Biofuels Power Corp. bought the 79-acre site from NRG Energy recently and plans to move an existing 9-megawatt generator that runs on refined waste vegetable oils to the site later this year. A 100 megawatt natural gas turbine will also be part of the project, and by 2010 the Houston Clean Energy Park could be home to as much as 50 megawatts of generation capacity coming from a variety of fuels made by refining animal and vegetable products, called biodiesel. One megawatt can power up to 800 homes.
“Long term, we want this to be a clean energy industrial park that will use biofuels, biomass, natural gas and even solar energy to generate electricity,” said Fred O’Connor, president and CEO of Biofuels.
The most important feature of the site is its access to the local power grid. It sits next to a switching station that can handle up to 500 megawatts, which means getting the power to market would be relatively easy, said O’Connor.
The company would operate as an independent power producer, selling electricity onto the grid first as a “peaker,” meaning it comes on during times of peak demand when the prices are high. Eventually Biofuels Power will try to operate on a more regular basis.
“It largely depends on the cost of the feedstock for the fuels,” O’Connor said.
The company also hopes to have an on-site training center where it will teach workers how to build and operate such power plants.
Interest in fuels made from vegetable waste and animal fats has grown in recent years, thanks to the Energy Act of 2005 — which requires cleaner-burning blends of diesel — the steep climb in oil prices and growing anxiety over the nation’s dependence on foreign oil.
Biofuels officials acknowledge that such fuel sources won’t be able to eliminate the need for energy imports completely. Rather, they can provide alternatives at the margin that can have a moderating impact on fuel costs and, ultimately, electric power costs.
The University of Minnesota estimates that the country produces about 2.7 billion pounds of yellow and brown grease per year, byproducts of restaurant fry cookers and industrial processes that could be converted to about 350 million gallons of biodiesel. The 11 billion pounds of lard, tallow and poultry fats the country produces might be good for 1 billion gallons more.
But U.S. diesel consumption was about 62 billion gallons last year, according Department of Energy data, meaning even if all of those domestic animal and vegetable fuel sources were developed, the output would equal barely 2 percent of U.S. needs.
The plant site, at South Main and Hiram Clarke Road, was originally built by the city’s former electricity monopoly, Houston Lighting & Power. At its peak it generated up to 288 megawatts of power.
Those original oil-fired units were decommissioned in the mid-1980s and replaced by natural gas-fired turbines with a capacity of 78 megawatts.
The gas turbines were removed in 2004 at about the same time the Clarke plant and several others that were part of HL&P were sold to a quartet of private equity firms, which later sold the plants to NRG Energy.
Biofuels paid about $1.4 million for the land, which is sandwiched between a CenterPoint Energy training center where workers practice scaling power poles and an equipment yard for the company. Biofuels plans to spend about $500,000 for engineering and design work on the site and perhaps another $500,000 to restore the building that housed the first boilers from the 1940s.
Construction could employ up to 400 people, while it would take up to 35 workers to operate the plant and 20 to 30 more people to run the training and research center.
Chief Technology Officer Rich DeGarmo said some of the original equipment may be salvageable. During a walking tour of the site last week, he pointed out massive pipes that drew groundwater into the boilers of the four-story concrete and steel building and a rail spur that formerly connected with tracks that run along South Main.
Blueprints of the plant from the 1940s were found in a room of the plant, which DeGarmo said was also used as a backdrop for scenes for one of the Robocop movies.
Biofuels is hoping to land some federal stimulus money, an effort U.S. Rep. Al Green, D-Houston, said he will support.
If that is unsuccessful, then Biofuels, which is publicly traded in the over-the-counter markets, will finance the purchase through debt and equity.
“I’m hoping this kind of project can serve as a national example,” Green said.
tom.fowler@chron.com
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April 19, 2009
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Everyday Environmentalist: Run Your Car on Vegetable Oil
By Gabe Cahalan
Before taking a job at The Nature Conservancy, I worked as a seasonal field biologist counting birds. I went wherever the work took me — and this often meant migrating with the birds all over the country.
So I decided I should try to lessen the impact of all that travel on the environment.
A hybrid vehicle was a little out of a traveling intern’s budget, but it turns out there are alternatives. A diesel vehicle can be made to run on waste vegetable oil (WVO) with some modifications — and a Google search will yield plenty of companies that make kits for various cars.
Why You Should Consider WVO
If you’ve read the recent Science article about biofuels co-authored by Nature Conservancy scientist Joe Fargione, you may know that biofuels made from corn and other food by-products have serious drawbacks — namely, land conversion from forest to agriculture creates a huge carbon debt.
While WVO is by no means the answer to all our transportation problems, it does have some redeeming qualities:
Emissions testing of WVO shows that it produces lower levels of CO and PM (particulate matter) than diesel when tested in the same vehicle (tested by the conversion company Greasecar).
WVO is a recycled waste product that releases carbon drawn down by the plants grown to make the oil. On the other hand, burning petroleum releases carbon drawn down millions of years ago.
And the plants that WVO is made from come from existing agricultural lands, so there’s no additional conversion of habitat.
When I tell people about using WVO in my car, they usually ask me: Should everyone do this? Of course, there's not enough used vegetable oil around to fuel the whole U.S. vehicle fleet. But consider this: As of 2000, the United States was producing in excess of 11 billion liters of waste vegetable oil annually — mainly from restaurants, snack food factories and deep fryers in potato processing plants, according to Wikipedia.
How I Did It
I custom built my first vegetable-oil conversion for an old 1983 Volvo. That car took me across the country twice on used vegetable oil I got from restaurants.
I went to the restaurant managers and explained that I was using the oil in my car. Although some gave me a blank stare, most managers were happy to give it to me and pointed me towards their dumpster or barrels in the back.
My latest conversion is a kit made for the Volkswagon Jetta. With a little mechanical know-how, I installed the kit into my car in one afternoon.
This conversion is best for longer trips because you have to warm up the engine by driving 15-20 minutes before switching to vegetable oil. I mostly use it on weekend getaways since my commute to the office is only two miles and I bike there whenever possible. The conversion includes a second fuel tank for vegetable oil that’s heated by coolant from the engine.
Of course, there are some minor inconveniences to using WVO:
I have to warm up the engine for up to 15 minutes before I can switch to veggie oil.
It takes some dedication to pick-up and pre-filter the oil when most of us are so used to pulling up to the nearest gas pump.
There are many ways to pre-filter vegetable oil including just pouring it through old clothes or rags. I use a pump and a water filter that keeps the process contained and clean. It takes about 20-30 minutes to filter 5 gallons.
My gas mileage on vegetable oil is comparable to what I would get on regular diesel fuel — 37 miles per gallon in city driving and 41 mpg on the highway. There's no noticeable difference in driving power, either. With an engine tune-up, I could probably get closer to 45 mpg for highway driving in my Jetta.
And WVO is now available across the country. Go to Fillup4free.com for a map of people who have waste vegetable oil to give away or sell. Municipal websites can also be helpful — the Maryland county I live in now has a used vegetable oil exchange web site where converted car owners can be matched to restaurants with oil.
It feels good to pick up my carryout and fuel at the same place and to know that the fuel is relatively non-toxic. At the same time, I know that this is just a small step and that much bigger changes are needed in our transportation system.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not represent those of The Nature Conservancy.
Nature picture credits (top to bottom, left to right): Photos © Gabe Cahalan (Cross-country on waste vegetable oil); Courtesy Gabe Cahalan (Gabe Cahalan)
Gabe Cahalan is a steward on the land management team for The Nature Conservancy’s Maryland/DC program. He started at the Conservancy in 2005 working on the Karner blue butterfly restoration effort in Eastern New York.
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April 8, 2009
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WVO centrifuge VS WVO Filter
First what are these two types of filtering systems?
WVO (waste vegetable oil) centrifuge:
A centrifuge is a piece of equipment, generally driven by a motor that puts WVO in rotation around a fixed axis, applying a force perpendicular to the axis. The oil entrifuge works using the sedimentation principle, where the centripetal acceleration is used to evenly distribute substances WVO of greater and lesser density. Traditional centrifuges use an electric motor to spin a bowl at high RPM and create a force like gravity but up to 3000 times the force of gravity. This speeds up partical and water separation enormously. Separation levels that might take months using only gravity take less than a minute in a centrifuge. And most industrial centrifuges are continuous so dirty WVO can be fed in and clean/dry WVO fuel exits. accumulatMost centrifuges must be stopped to remove the contaminants but some systems are available that allow automated cleaning without stopping the centrifuge.
WVO (waste vegetable oil) Filter:
A gravity or pressure filtration system, the WVO is simply poured into a filter bag placed over a container into which the WVO is collected. These filter bags come in different microns or levels of filtering ability to fit your needs.
Which is better well it all comes down to how much WVO you want to process, how much time you have to spend processing how much money do you want to spend and how hard do you want to work.
With WVO Filter system Oil will run through a 100 micron filter bag at 2-5 gallons per minute however, if the oil is dirty or just creamy the flow rate will deteriorate rapidly.Pre heating the oil helps as does larger and longer filter bags. My advice is to only use filter bags after settling. Which means time waiting for the oil to settle. Cartridge WVO filters, tee strainers ECT, should be used only with heated oil or heating of the filter. Waxy precipitates in cool oil quickly clog cartridge filters and no amount of pressure will resolve this issue. y mechanical cartridge filter will require an amount of pressure to work finding an appropriate pump plumbing and pressure relief system can be difficult and large spills are possible.
With WVO Centrifuge “Forced Settling” can clean WVO to sub micron levels as well as removing heavier liquid contaminants such as water. If you are looking at having to deal with hundreds of gallons or more, a centrifuge is your only solution. WVO centrifuge is required to remove solid and liquid contaminants from the WVO regardless of size. Centrifuges have proven to be quite efficient in the cleaning of waste vegetable oil and reducing the free fatty acids in the pre-processing of Biodiesel. They also have proven to remove glycerin during the processing. Contaminant particles as small as 1/10th of 1 micron are removed, all without the use of a disposable costly filter element. There is no better way to make quality biodiesel quickly. What takes many hours for gravity to separate down; a centrifuge can separate instantly in seconds.
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April 15th, 2009
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Straight Vegetable Oil vs. Biodiesel
The Advantages and Diasadvantages of Switching Fuels in a Diesel
© David Greenfield Mar 24, 2009
Vegetable oil can be used straight or can be turned into biodiesel in a chemical process called transesterification.
There are things to consider before switching fuels on a diesel vehicle. There are advantages and disadvantages to using Straight Vegetable Oil vs. Biodiesel fuel. Straight Vegetable Oil conversions (SVO) involve vehicle modifications and may cause engine damage if not used properly. Biodiesel is more expensive due to more processing, but can be used in any Diesel engine without any modifications.
Using Straight Vegetable Oil in a Diesel Vehicle
Vegetable oil can be used in diesel vehicles, but there are some disadvantages. Vegetable oil is much more viscous than petroleum diesel fuel. Vegetable oil does not have the same chemical or combustion properties as diesel fuel and can damage engines.
Vegetable oil can be mixed with diesel, kerosene, or other fuels and solvents to improve viscosity of the oil. Vehicles using Straight Vegetable Oil should be used properly, some systems include two tank systems where the Straight Vegetable Oil is preheated. At start-up and shut-down the vehicle should be run on diesel or Biodiesel, the vegetable oil should only be used on hot engines. Shutting off a diesel engine running on Straight Vegetable Oil can cause the residue to crystallize in the cylinder and can cause problems.
During cold weather the vegetable oil crystallizes at higher temperatures than conventional diesel. This can cause cold staring problems and the crystals can block the fuel filter. Some diesel systems respond better to SVO than others. Direct Injection Diesels are not recommended for Straight Vegetable Oil, mechanical injection is much better for Straight Vegetable Oil. Copper should not be used in the fuel lines because it can catalyze the oil. When using SVO the quality and condition of the vegetable oil is more important than if it were to be processed for Biodiesel.
Biodiesel Fuel
According to the National Biodiesel Board, "Biodiesel is a domestic, renewable fuel for diesel engines derived from natural oils like soybean oil, and which meets the specifications of ASTM D6751." The ASTM standard ensures the opperator the quality of the Biodiesel fuel unlike SVO.
Vegetable oil can be used to make Biodiesel in a chemical process using methanol and other chemicals. Biodiesel is a clean burning, renewable fuel that can be used in any diesel vehicle without any fuel system or engine modifications. Biodiesel can be made out of different fats and oils used as base stocks to process into Biodiesel fuel.
Biodiesel has much better cold start up properties than SVO and can be most commonly found in blends called B20 – 20% Biodiesel, 80% Petroleum Diesel. Using Biodiesel helps reduce the amount of carcinogenic emissions that are caused by burning Petroleum based Diesel fuel.
Biodiesel has been tested more than Straight Vegetable Oil and many vehicle manufacturers in Europe now provide vehicle warranties for vehicle which run on straight Biodiesel fuel (B100). Biodiesel is becoming increasingly more popular in the United States and already is used by many European countries. In Germany, Biodiesel fuel is cheaper than Petroleum Diesel fuel.
The copyright of the article Straight Vegetable Oil vs. Biodiesel in Engineering is owned by David Greenfield. Permission to republish Straight Vegetable Oil vs. Biodiesel in print or online must be granted by the author in writing. |
March 24, 2009
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Not a Good Decision by GM (from a techie)
From the Macomb Daily today: GM kills 4.5-liter Duramax diesel. I was sad to see this as this is a very good diesel engine design. I know several people that purchased the Duramax option (the big one, not the 4.5L which doesn't exist yet) when they bought their trucks and none of them have had any problems. (they only wish that diesel prices would come down) For those that don't know, going diesel will increase fuel efficiency roughly 30% as compared to the spark-ignition counterparts. The diesel cycle is a nice hardy cycle that can be fueled with diesel, biodiesel or straight vegetable oil without major modifications. In fact, should we all go to diesel, we would be off of foreign oil tomorrow. I'm not kidding. That would about do it, sans fuel cells, hydrogen economy, or other pie-in-the-sky ideas that have close to zero chance of success. In any case, the article says:
General Motors Corp.'s cash problems have snuffed out plans for a small diesel engine that would have improved the fuel efficiency of the company's light-duty pickup trucks.
The engine would have been more efficient that GM's gasoline engine offerings or its current 6.6-liter heavy-duty V-8 diesel. The company also offers a gasoline-electric hybrid powertrain in the pickups. How much more efficient, you might ask?
Try 30 mpg in a light truck. That's pretty darned good! Well - at least it would have been. Sad, sad, sad...
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March 11, 2009
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Veggie oil fuels student's trip to meet U.S. senator
WASHINGTON, D.C. - High school student Colin Coon wasn't intending on making an environmental statement when he left his hometown of Sarasota for a tour of the country in a car he converted to run on vegetable oil.
The Associated Press reports Coon saying, "I'm more of an engineering hippie than an actual hippie."
But the New Gate School student has become an example of how we need to be thinking about energy and finding alternative sources, according to U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida.
On Wednesday at 2 p.m., Coon arrived in the nation's capital to meet with Nelson and talk about how everyday Americans can take advantage of new energy technologies.
Coon is expected to drive his vegetable oil-fueled station wagon up to the Hart Senate Office Building, where Nelson will look under the hood and kick the tires.
"We're going to see how a teenager was able to convert his car to run on the oil donated from restaurants," said Nelson, a strong proponent of developing alternative fuels to get the U.S. off oil.
Coon bought the used Mercedes in Kansas. Besides Washington, D.C., he's planning to show off his new ride in Atlanta, Nashville, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Dallas and other cities.
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March 12, 2009
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TDR - Turbo Diesel Register - 130k on WVO and no issues...
That's 130K of 430K on a 95 4x4 Cummins 12 valve. Converted the fuel system to a two tank (Greasecar) system which I've tweaked a bit and added a Vegtherm Mega.
I have run very strong on filtered WVO and done many long trips without issue.
I'm a new member and signed up here to share this info with you folk. I had lot's of skeptics, and so called experts who were certain I'd kill my engine. Guess what? Engine is superb, no smoke, no oil burn, extremely low blow-by, runs great on the oil. I filter to one micron and toss it into the grease tank. I've had NO poly issues either. Can pull a Mt. Pass at 90mph no problem on Veg.
Ironically when coming up through Oregon from a California trip this winter my diesel started to gel so I switched to the Veg system and made it to Bend! I was nearly out of Veg.
So the point here is beware the skeptics. There are always reasons not to try something and it took me some time to summon the courage. I had 300k on the truck which I've owned since new so I figured "why not experiment?"
Worst case scenario is I eat the P7100 or kill the motor. Not only has neither happened, but the engine seems to love the oil, and it was a marine Cummins tech who encouraged me to go for it. So far still great and I've saved enough to easily buy a new engine.
Now, this is NOT for most. It's time consuming, oil is more scarce than ever, legal issues in some areas, and you have to be mechanically savvy and do things correctly. (most here would I think). It appears that folk have been successful with common rail applications as well, though not the new EGR trucks.
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March 11, 2009
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Engineers Log - Reflections on WVO
Conversations lately inevitably begin with "Howz the car running?" My answer is typically "amazingly well" and I continue to talk, watching for the eye glazing to temper my answer. But here's the rub... it really does amaze me that after about 40,000 miles so far on WVO, I've not had a single issue related to using WVO as a fuel. In short, it works. |
March 10, 2009
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Like Mom always said, drive your vegetables
By Vinti Singh
Updated: 03/05/2009 11:50:05 AM EST
Sit in Etta Kantor's Volkswagon and you may smell French fries. If doing your part for the environment had an odor, you would detect a pretty strong whiff of that, too. Etta Kantor drives a "vegetable car," meaning she has converted it to run on filtered vegetable oil.
Kantor originally ordered a Toyota Prius, but while she was waiting for it to come in, she learned about new technologies that allow cars to run on waste vegetable oil. Although the Prius gets upward of 40 miles to the gallon, a vegetable car can get hundreds of miles to a few gallons of diesel. So she cancelled her order and decided to try that instead. |
March 6, 2009
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Bottled water uses 2000 times more energy than tap water
New research from the Pacific Institute estimates that bottled water is up to 2000 times more energy-intensive than tap water. Similarly, bottled water that requires long-distance transport is far more energy-intensive than bottled water produced and distributed locally. Indeed, when all the sums were done, it seems the annual consumption of bottled water in the U.S. in 2007 required the equivalent of between 32 and 54 million barrels of oil—roughly one-third of a percent of total U.S. primary energy consumption.
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March 1, 2009
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Making Biodiesel From Animal Fat
The biodiesel produced from animal fat has some other properties than the one produced from vegetable oil. First, after settling the glycerol from animal fat turns solid when it cools down. The same thing happens to the glycerol produced from palm oil. This circumstance needs some special considerations when settling because cold and solid glycerol can’t be drained from the bottom of the settle tank...
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March 1, 2009
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No Such Thing As Clean Coal
Coen brothers' TV ad ridicules 'clean coal'
The
Oscar winners, known for their sardonic style, directed the spot for an
environmental coalition as a media battle warms up over the role carbon
fuels should play in America's energy future.
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February 27, 2009
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Trans-America Journey Powered by Waste Vegetable Oil
3 ½ month journey across the country, driving her 1981 Mercedes across
America. So what is new? She is driving a Mercedes using waste
vegetable oil as fuel hence promoting use of alternative fuel. She
lives in Toledo, Ohio where she shoulders the responsibility of running
a non-profit organization known as “Toledo Choose Local.” This non-profit organization promotes self sustenance using local resources.
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February 27, 2009 |
Engineers Log - One Year on WVO
Approximate gallons veg oil used: 500
Miles driven @ 45 MPG: 22,500
St of MN taxes paid on veg oil: $100
Gallons of diesel saved: 500
Cost equivalent: $1,825
Pounds of CO2 saved from entering atmosphere from fossil fuels: 11,200
Amount of human food displaced: Zero
People ask how the car is running and I am continually surprised by how well it continues to run on WVO. No smoking, hard starting, or rough running. No mechanical damage. Just a greasy garage and stained clothes mark this anniversary... along with a big smile.
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October 22, 2008
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Engineers Log - Break Even Point
Cool. This month marks my conversion cost break-even point point! I started in October '07 and have now filtered and nearly used about 250 gallons of veg oil. This puts me over the $1000 mark for fuel costs saved, which is about what my conversion cost.
I'm left with these reflections... First off, with the right conversion components, WVO can really work in a very cold climate. I've been impressed at how much of the time I can really run on WVO, despite sub-zero (F) temps.... |
May 23, 2008
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Engineers Log - 159 MPG
I filled up the diesel tank this week.... while it cost over $50 to fill it, my mileage per gallon of *boughten* diesel was 159 mpg. I can live with that. To me, this vehicle is a true hybrid as much as a Prius.... |
March 26, 2008
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Engineers Log - Driving on Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO)
As many of you may know, I drive a Grease Car. More specifically, the bulk of my fuel used in my daily 125 mile commute to and from KAXE comes from vegetable oil discarded from deep fat fryers. Thru information gathered from the Net, I've converted a 1991 VW Jetta diesel to burn any type of vegetable oil. A conversions consists of creating an entirely separate heated fuel system in addition to keeping the original fuel system as the car must be started and shut down on diesel otherwise the vegetable oil will congeal in the fuel lines....
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March 14, 2008
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MSNBC "Grease Cars"
Move over gas-guzzlers. Make way for grease cars, the latest do-it-yourself auto trend for eco-conscious drivers.
Grease cars are diesel
vehicles converted to also burn leftover food-grade vegetable oil (aka
SVO for straight vegetable oil), which you can often get free from
local restaurants. Grease car conversions and fueling take some leg
work, but advocates say in the end you save money, help the environment
and consume less "foreign oil."
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December 31, 2007 |
Running On Veggies
A round trip from Orillia, Ont., to Toronto is 270 kilometres, and William Cox recently made the drive in his 1979 Mercedes. Total fuel cost: $1.25.
How is this possible? Cox runs his car on used vegetable oil he gets for free from local restaurants, along with a little diesel fuel at the start and finish of each trip, which accounts for the $1.25 expenditure.
"Since I converted my car to run on veggie fuel a year and a half ago, I've put 55,000 kilometres on it, and it's cost me in the neighbourhood of $500 for fuel," he says. That's only because of the diesel Cox has to purchase when he's on long trips away from home.
Cox is so positive about veggie oil fuel that he has a part-time business developing fuel conversion kits and installing them. In large part, he uses equipment purchased from PlantDrive Canada, of Salmon Arm, B.C.
PlantDrive's co-founder, Edward Beggs...
Veggie Fuel Systems
Plantdrive Canada
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October 1st, 2007
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Outside Magazine
"Do you want to push it?" 33-year-old Kathy
NiKeefe asks from the driver's seat of her 2001 VW Golf TDi. I lift my
hand toward a button on the dash labeled "veggie switch" in cut-out
letters. Once the button is pressed, the car's engine switches from
diesel to used vegetable oil stored in an extra tank in the trunk.
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Popular Mechanics Magazine
Tom McGurr, a New Jersey contractor, has found a new way to beat the high cost of diesel--by scrounging used vegetable oil from fast-food restaurants, which are usually happy to give it away. But McGurr doesn'tjust pour fry oil into his tank. Using a kit from Missouri-based Greasel Conversions, McGurr filters thecooking oil into a tank in the truck bed. Water from the engine's cooling system then heats the viscous oilbefore it's pumped into the engine. "I've put about 4000 miles on the conversion, and the truck runs great,"McGurr says. "My commute is about 35 miles each way, and after only a few miles I can switch from regular diesel to the heated veggie oil, even on cold days." A few miles from the end of the day's driving, McGurrswitches back to diesel to flush out the lines so oil doesn't congeal in the fuel-injection system. CharlieAnderson, owner of Greasel Conversions, has sold over 4500 of the kits to date; they cost $800 and up.
http://www.greasel.com
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May, 2006
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Diesel Progress Magazine
As part of its zero-waste initiative, Great Lakes Brewing Co.'s Ford E350 "Fatty Wagon" and International delivery truck have both been modofied to run on Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO) and B20 Biodiesel.
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June 2006
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Quay County Newspaper
Dumpster Driving - The messy side of used vegatble oil powered vehicles. Used vegetable oil is not a pretty sight and doesn't smell that great either. (Shameless plug - Until it has been cleaned by vegmyride Inc that is)
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October 21, 2006
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New York Times
''I wouldn't do this to a $30,000 car unless I was confident that it would work.''
With that, John Lin, owner of a Los Angeles fast-food franchise, opened the door of an opulent white Ford Excursion.
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April 22, 2003 |
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