Converting diesel vehicles to run on vegetable oil

i believe all you need to do is first remove the glycerin from the oil, because it will gel up in the lines. then it has to be pre heated to about 140 degrees, or your motor had to be about 160 degrees. that sounds simple, but a diesel engine is unlike a gas engine, and may never reach that temperature. the trick when your converting to just oil, is how do you preheat the oil when the engine is cold, withought using a petrochemical fuel source. most prefer just to make biodiesel, which is veggie oil mixed with methanol, which is a byproduct of pig shit. when yuou use methanol, it ends up costing you about 70 cents a gallon to make biodiesel, unless you have a free source of methanol, which you probably dont. the process is simple, yet dangerous, as methanol can blow up very easily. you also need a relatively cheap tool called an hydometer, to measure the viscosity of the oil, so you know how much methanol to add.
the best way kids have come up with so far (and im excluding the option of paying the pros 3000 to convert you) is to have a small tank with biodiesel in it, as the motor runs off that for about an hour or so, depending on the weather, the heat is redirected from the motor to heat up the bigger tank with just oil in it.
its not to hard to get your diesel to go about 20 miles, but it is hard to get it to start from cold, every day of the year and be completely reliable. unless you pay the pros an ungodly amount of loot. and then if you want to fill up out of a grease trap, you need to filter the oil, then remove the glycerin befoer you can put it in your tank.
yes i waoul have to say that the newer TDI motors by VW will probably work best with the most horsepower, or a cummins diesel may be a bit more reliable and long lasting, albeit louder.

 

.

 

Isn't that just a joint and a bic lighter? :H

 

Ok is this correct... the idea is that a diesel engine could run on just veggie oil (-) the glycerin once the motor is hot enough?

 

A diesel engine will run on straight filtered waste vegetable oil as long as it has been heated to +120F to reduce the viscosity. WVO will neither properly inject nor burn at its normal viscosity below that temperature.

The question of glycerins and resins applies specifically to processed biodiesel. And no, I didn't read the entire thread so I don't know if this has been covered already.

 

.

 

Thanks. I need to hit the books.

 

.

 

http://www.hipforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=12254

From another thread this link
http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_svo.html

 

.

 

.

 

Zoomie already corrected this error. Glycerin is a byproduct of the esterification reaction that makes biodiesel. There is no glycerin in veg. oil.



If you run straight, hot, veg. oil, it must be well filtered, and the proteins should be removed and the Ph balanced. Otherwise you will see increased engine damage.



BTW, the esterification reaction becomes more difficult as the size of the alcohol increases. That is why methanol is used. The reaction with ethanol is quite difficult, and higher alcohols are not worth exploring for this purpose.



Let me correct one more misunderstanding. While methanol can be made by many environmentally friendly processes, currently the only methanol that is cheap enough to use for fuel is derived exclusively from oil.



Biodiesel is still a petroleum product and an environmentally bad idea for numerous reasons.



A fine hobby......Very bad science or energy policy!



Jim

 

For those of you who want to run a vehicle on alternative fuels, there are lots of better options.

Why not make your own ethanol and blend your own gasoline with it.

Or, why not build a car that runs on the gasses emitted by heated firewood. there have been lots of folks who have proven that method.

How about steam engines? they can run on anything that produces heat.

there are lots of hobby projects like this that are a lot safer and greener than biodiesel. Biodiesel is popular because of our government propaganda hype only. It has never been a viable solution to any environmental or energy issues. Just a smoke screen to allow the big guys to continue to reap maximum profits.

 

.

 

.

 

Not to mention wastefull and polluting. What are you going to do with the byproducts of esterification?

And MOST places WVO is free or at least available if you pick it up and are nice enough to clean out someone's deep fryer once a week or so.

BTW, stick with mom & pop diners and Chinese hole in the wall restaurants. Chains already have recyclers who basically dump the stuff. I had a friend a few years ago who drove cross country and back in an old diesel bus and never paid a dime for fuel. Just stopped everyday and cleaned out someone's fryer.

 

.

 

I really want to discourage the biodiesel hype. This is a dangerous, environmentally damaging technology that is distracting from useful technology. i have dangerous hobbies too, so if someone wants to play, fine, i just want to balance out the hype.

If anyone is serious about the chemistry, i am glad to help out. I almost started a biodiesel opperation last year with a chemical engineer friend. we were going to make it with ethanol, but as a chemist and an engineer, we have a bit of a training advantage over most playing in this game.

For those of you making this stuff, i am really curious how you handle your methanol. For those who have been doing this a while, how is your vision these days? this is a dangerous, polluting process unless done in a very controlled manner.

methanol is a better fuel than biodiesel all by it self, why waste the methanol in this process. If we can economically make methanol from renewable sources, then lets burn the methanol and leave the waste oil to the recyclers who already have plenty of uses for it.



Jim

 

BTW methanol burns much cleaner than biodiesel!

 

.