how do we use cooking oil as replacement for diesel oil?

Question

i have a diesel powered 4wd, and i would like to try cooking oil as a substitute what are the things needed in order for me to use it?

Answer 1

Straight vegetable oil (SVO) is too viscous/thick to work directly at cool temperatures. Get it above 120 degrees or so, it's fine. So you have two choices:
1. Modify the fuel (everytime) to make it thinner, that's biodiesel.
or
2. Modify the vehicle (once) to preheat the fuel, that's an SVO conversion.

Modifying the fuel (everytime) means making or buying biodiesel.
http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html
http://www.homebiodieselkits.com/

Modifying the vehicle (once) means installing an SVO conversion, which is basically a system for preheating the fuel tanks, lines, pump and injectors.
http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_svo.html
http://www.goldenfuelsystems.com/
http://ctbiodzl.freeshell.org/votdi.html

Answer 2

As a ex Technician of 30 years I have seen replacement fuels come and go , but two things that concern me is firstly you are not paying tax on cooking oil and this is dishonest to start with , does not sit well with me , and secondly there is very littel lubricating quality to cooking oil this is needed for the modern Diesel pump , the pu,p relies tottaly on the diesel to keep it going , when yuo convert to cooking oil it efects this greatly , I have seen quite a few worn out pumps ,and in almost every case the reason was cooking oil or a poor % of it .

Answer 3

There are 3 ways to run veggie. All include making the veggie oil the same viscosity as diesel.

1 - process it to make biodiesel, by removing the glycerin by adding methanol and either KOH or NaOH.
2 - heat it with your cars own cooling system which brings it to 180 degrees
3 - Thin it with Kerosene or gasoline - see this great video from Top Gear TV show http://youtube.com/watch?v=GOFbsaNeZps
All three work.
On older diesel (1980's In-Direct Injection) you can almost run it straight, after you filter it to 10 microns.

Answer 4

commercial available bio diesel requires no modifications

A late friend of mine ran his diesel on his home brew for years with out modifications or problems

his process involved some hazardous chemistry
to strip out the non hydrocarbons he used a mixture of Potassium hydroxide and methanol

This is like making soap (the floating layer on top can be filtered and used as an industrial soap)

followed by settling and filtering (don't for get to add a diesel bio-side to your finished brew)

Answer 5

U need to pump it through a very fine filter so it will not stop up your injectors. I would mix it with 50% normal diesel.

Answer 6

You need to process out the fatty acids with an esterization process. Or your Engine will slowly degrade...


The process can be done many ways, a cheap still could be made for under $200...

Beware the insane laws that will retroactively fine you if you live in the US.

Answer 7

Ask Willie Nelson..... Good Luck From Texas

Answer 8

Check this website out...

Answer 9

http://www.lowimpact.org/factsheet_veg_oil_motoring.htm

if you are in UK you may want to go on one of their courses too