Greasecar veg oil question

am thinking of selling my gas guzzling ford f-150 (13 mpg) and buying a diesel guzzling Ford Van E-350.....and collecting waste veg oil to use for fuel....there seems to be two options..

1 The Greasecar option - install separate tank, heater, hoses, for veg oil ......I am not mechanic, so could cost 1500 to 2000 dollars.

2 The Diesel Energy Secret option - mix secret formula addative with veg oil and then just dump into fuel tank.....seems much easier & cheaper.

does anyone have any knowledge or advise about these systems?? or is it complete waste of time and money?

TOA

Reply to
dufass
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In either case you will have to do a lot more than dump the oil into a fuel tank and turn the key. In response to your question it will undoubtedly be a complete waste of money because you can't just dump used cooking oil into a fuel tank, magic secret formula additive or not. You may ruin an engine in the process.

Have you thought about the practicality and logistics of going from restaurant to restaurant filling 5 gallon jugs with smelly old cooking oil? Since you are giving up one fuel guzzling vehicle for another fuel guzzling vehicle I think you should figure out all of the costs because I do not see a financial benefit.

Reply to
John S.

There are several aspects here.

One, you are still responsible to pay the fuel tax, regardless of whether you use cooking oil or not.

Two, unless you clean up that cooking oil, your experience might be costly.

Three, used cooking oil may become hard to get. You are not the only application for "yellow oil"

Fourth, you can, very easily, convert triglyceride oils to methyl esters. It requires no heat and a simple catalyst. I am working on this process now, for a totally different application, and the outlook is okay, BUT once anyone finds a use for waste products, the price always escalates and the availability always goes down.

Dont spend a lot of money. Be cautious and be sure you understand the chemistry.

Reply to
HLS

Look on the web for, How to run your diesel engine vehicle on used cooking oil.I have a soft back book here that shows and tells how to do it.I bought the book at a book store about ten years ago.I dont remember the title of the book, it would take me a while to find that book.Check with some book stores in your area.Mike Rowe's Dirty Jobs on tv, Mike checked out a guy who was running his old diesel engine Toyota pickup truck on used cooking oil.The stuff has to be heated up and filtered and some test and other things have to be done with the used cooking oil to get it just right.The guy said he figures it cost him about 65 cents per gallon. cuhulin

Reply to
cuhulin

The federal tax on diesel is about US$0.244 per gallon. There are also state taxes which bring the US average to over $0.50 per gallon..

The government defines diesel as any fuel that can be used in diesel vehicles or trains.

There have already been some attempts to prosecute individuals who use the vegetable oils as fuels and dont pay the taxes. (Dont know how they turned out.)

Rudolph Diesel himself had planned to fire his engines with vegetable oils, so the concept is very firm.

The problem now is to find adequate supplies of give-away used cooking oil. And this will continue to worsen.

Reply to
HLS

I've heard Willie Nelson's bus uses used cooking oil and smells like a restaurant. Also, he's known for his tax problems. I wonder.

Chemically, good filtration to get rid of particulate and moisture will probably work in a warm climate. Otherwise some fats might precipitate out when cold, clogging fuel lines. Methanolisis to convert triglycerides to the methyl esters (biodiesel) is a fairly simple process. I believe they are finding additional end uses for the glycerol biproduct.

Reply to
Frank

There is a good long article in my snail mail April 2008 Popular Science magazine about, The Future Of Biofuels/Breeding The Oil Bug. Check out the article at your local area libraries or better yet, buy the magazine at a store.It is an interesting article.It might be on the web at,

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cuhulin

Reply to
cuhulin

Yep, if the titer is too high, then you can have problems, but usually you can mix it will a bit of petroleum fuel to thin it out.

I have tried out the methanolysis and it is easy, rather complete, and requires no heat to speak of. Separation of glycerol and residual methanol is easy. The project I am working on has to be economically very viable, and the end product has to functionally replace a molecule that is traditionally made in a less economical way. Time will tell.

Reply to
HLS

On the web, Diesel Fuel Trees in Brazil.It sure would be nice if Diesel Fuel Trees could grow in CONUS (Continental U.S) A guy in Hawaii is growing some Diesel Fuel Trees.I am going to buy a few Bamboo plants (I read somewhere they will grow here, there is a place not far from me where I can buy them) and plant them in my back yard, I want that Jungle ''look'' back there.If I could buy some Diesel Fuel Trees/plants, I would give them a try. cuhulin

Reply to
cuhulin

Bamboo will grow damn near anywhere, and take over your yard and try to invade Poland if given half the chance. It's like really tall kudzu.

nate

Reply to
Nate Nagel

There are Palm Trees in Ireland, and you know where Ireland is. cuhulin

Reply to
cuhulin

Put simply: Giant bamboo is BAD NEWS. KEEP AWAY. You plant that stuff, next thing you know you have an infestation of vicious panda bears. Even if you only get bamboo fibre towels or bamboo flooring it's just nothing but trouble. Pandas LOVE that stuff, and they also love to drive your car. You wake up in the morning to find panda bears have borrowed your keys and driven to Vegas.

Seriously, you gotta watch out for panda bears. They'll take anything that isn't nailed down. It's a good thing that pandas aren't any smarter. Pandas are in fact the stupidest bears. Polar bears, for instance, eat fish, which makes you smart. But bamboo desn't make you smart. Not at all. That's why pandas are going extinct. They are so stupid they keep getting into car wrecks. I don't think they should even be allowed to drive.

And they are just prolific as rabbits. Wherever you find giant bamboo, you will find pandas, and let me tell you I do not want either one in my neighborhood. Write your local community association and make sure they have covenants in your area prohibiting this stuff.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

Never saw a Diesel Fuel Tree in Brasil.

There were a lot of fine "limbs" but they were on the beach, and they could not get your truck going ;>) Goodness knows, they could get most everything else going.

Tenho saudade pra o meu Brasil!!

Reply to
HLS

Perhaps in the arboretums.

Yes, I know where Ireland is.

Reply to
HLS

On the web, Palm Trees in Ireland I have known about Palm Trees growing in Ireland since the

1940s-1950s.Some relatives over there told me about them. I wonder if a diesel engine will run ok on palm oil? Maybe I will plant a few Palm Trees in my back yard. cuhulin
Reply to
cuhulin

Diesel fuel can be made from just about ANY hydrocarbon with enough refining and reformatting. One can break large chains into smaller molecules, and even make longer chains from shorter ones. Whether the amount of effort and expense to do this is worthwhile or not is the question.

The engine must not only RUN on the fuel, the fuel must be stable over a reasonable period, not gunk up fuel lines, and must flow through pumps and injectors over a wide range of temperatures.

Diesels can also run on pure hydrogen- no carbon needed.

I get upset about people doing fuel cell research, and how they are preparing us to utilize hydrogen if a good source can be provided. Both spark ignition and diesel engines can readily be converted to run on hydrogen.

Reply to
Don Stauffer in Minnesota

No, fuel cell research is good, because what we REALLY need is an efficient fuel cell that can run off of propane or gasoline without getting poisoned. That gives you the ability to build a high-efficiency electric car without having to worry about batteries or power distribution systems. It may not be a permanent solution, mind you, but it's a big step up from what we have.

--scott

Reply to
Scott Dorsey

Actually, we have an island a short boat's ride from Stavanger, Norway, and there are palm trees out there, as well as many many other temperate varieties of flowers, bushes, etc. So, I know it isnt impossible.

Reply to
HLS

Kristian Michelsens (sp?) Institute in Bergen, Norway was doing a lot of work on fuel cells as a contract project. I have been there a number of times, and the cells they were working on put out about 10KW, IIRC. They were fairly small, roughly a foot on each side. The fuel, I believe, was carbon monoxide.

Reply to
HLS

Yes, palm nut oil, coconut oil, etc can be used to make biodiesel. Methanolic transesterification is an easy and energy efficient way to convert these oils to more usable products. It is being done all the time.

There is seldom enough coconut oil to satisfy all the applications. Same is true with a lot of the natural plant oils. More demand than supply.

Reply to
HLS

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