03-03-2008, 07:12 PM
The Mercedes diesels, I'm told, can run on WVO (waste vegetable oil) with no modification to the engine. I've run into several people on the Island doing it. Other vehicles may need a preheater to thin the fuel a bit before running it into the engine, or a second tank running regular diesel, or biodiesel, to start with until the engine heats up. When the engine is heated, you switch to the WVO. When turning off the engine, you do a purge, switching back to regular, or biodiesel, before shutting down.
The used vegetable oil has to be filtered to remove particles, and oil used to cook meat should be avoided. Rudolf Diesel designed the engine to run on vegetable oil. WVO and biodiesel aren't really the same. Biodiesel is often processed from oil-rich plants, and involves some chemistry. Pacific Biodiesel apparently collects WVO and processes it to make theirs. The DIYer can collect their own WVO, let it settle, and filter it before putting it into their diesel vehicle's tanks. It will still put out hydrocarbons but the idea is that biodiesel is returning stuff that was recently taken out of the ecosystem, unlike petroleum products which are releasing hydrocarbons from eons ago.
The used vegetable oil has to be filtered to remove particles, and oil used to cook meat should be avoided. Rudolf Diesel designed the engine to run on vegetable oil. WVO and biodiesel aren't really the same. Biodiesel is often processed from oil-rich plants, and involves some chemistry. Pacific Biodiesel apparently collects WVO and processes it to make theirs. The DIYer can collect their own WVO, let it settle, and filter it before putting it into their diesel vehicle's tanks. It will still put out hydrocarbons but the idea is that biodiesel is returning stuff that was recently taken out of the ecosystem, unlike petroleum products which are releasing hydrocarbons from eons ago.