Can cars run on vegetable oil?

Answer 1

Absolutley! Using vegetable oil as fuel in diesel engines isn't a new idea. Rudolf Diesel's first engines were built to run on peanut oil for the developing world, which had no petrochemicals industry. Running your modern diesel car or van on veg is just going back to what the designer intended. But why should you make the change?
Vegetable oil is renewable: it's not a fossil fuel, so it doesn't contribute to global warming. By using vegetable oil as fuel, you're making a positive environmental move right where it matters the most, in the one thing in our lives that is the heaviest polluter: our cars.

It's not just green, though. Veg oil is also cheaper than regular diesel: even if you buy supermarket oil and pay the full duty, it works out cheaper. Use waste oil, and the price drops dramatically. Who doesn't want to save money?

Even better, veg oil has cleaner emissions and is good for your engine. Compared to regular diesel, veg oil has massively less sulphur, so there's less sulphur dioxide emmitted when you drive. Sulphur dioxide is one of the pollutants that makes kids wheezy, so you're cutting your contribution to childhood asthma. And because veg oil has better lubricity, it's kind to your engine, too: a veg-fuelled engine runs just a little bit smoother. Fuel efficiency is unaffected.


How to do it
Conversion
Converting a car to run on pure veg oil requires a pre-heat for the fuel line, and usually a second small fuel tank for diesel to start. More dramatic conversions just heat the whole tank. These start at a few hundred pounds for a DIY kit and enthusiastic, competent mechanics can fit them at home. Look at Goat Industries, Vegburner and Greasel for more details.

Goat Industries also maintain a vehicle database listing cars and vans that are running on bio, veg or blend.

An ordinary diesel engine cannot run on 100% pure vegetable oil without conversion. Veg oil is too thick and gloopy to get through the fuel pump and injectors. Conversion is moderately expensive and is quite a commitment, so we'll leave that to the experts.
Instead, we'll try to thin down the veg oil so that it works correctly in the engine. There are two ways to do this: mix it with something, or convert it into biodiesel.

Making biodiesel is a fair old job of bucket chemistry. There are easy how-to's on the web but you need a shed and some spare time.

It's far easier to mix the veg oil with something that will make it runnier. And we have just the thing to hand: regular diesel. Just mix your veg oil into your diesel, and you have a working blend. How?

Just bung it in the fuel tank.

Yes, it's that easy. And yes, it feels really weird putting food into your car for the first time! But it works, and works well.

The easiest way to do this is to run your tank almost empty. Then when you pop to the supermarket, fill up with diesel, and then add the veg oil. The drive home mixes it all up nicely.

How much veg oil should you use? Start with a light blend, and increase each time you refill. That way, if you notice your car sputtering, you know you've hit the limit and should use less next time, and you can top up with regular diesel to thin the mixture back down.


A 10% veg oil blend will work for everyone. It meets your personal part of our Kyoto commitment, and there should be no noticeable difference in how your car drives. 27 litres of diesel and one three-litre bottle of veg oil from the supermarket.


At 25% veg oil in 75% diesel, your exhaust stops smelling like a taxi and starts smelling like a doughnut fryer. It's pleasant and a real talking point. You should notice the slight smoothness improvement around now.


33% - one part veg to two parts regular diesel - is the heaviest mix I would recommend for the British winter, unless you've got a frost-free garage. This level of blend still starts even on cold, frosty mornings.


50% is a good running blend for the rest of the year. Half-and-half is where the cost savings really show themselves. And of course, the carbon saving is good enough to offset that second TV.

A note for new car owners: using non-standard fuels probably voids your warranty. This doesn't mean they're bad, just that they're not covered. Caveat emptor.

What oils to use?
Any thin, clean, dry oil will work.
Thin: Runny oils work better than thick, heavy oils. Once the engine is warm, it doesn't make much difference (and some nutters even run on melted lard!) but for easy starting, choose a runny oil.

Clean: There shouldn't be any bits in your oil. Diesel is particle-free down to 25 microns, so if you are using waste oil, get a 25 micron filter and pass the oil through that. Discard the gack. Most food oils are filtered and just fine, but you will need to avoid those bitty, murky, tasty first-pressing olive oils. They're way too expensive to burn, anyway!

Dry: Water supspended in the oil will make it burn less well. Again, a standard food oil doesn't have this. With waste oil, let it settle before filtering it, and discard the water (if there is any).

The runniest easily-available oil is rapeseed. Next best is a blend of rapeseed and sunflower, which is commonly sold as "vegetable oil". Pure sunflower and corn oils are also good, a little thicker but still perfectly useable. Peanut oil would be perfect, but it's expensive in the UK.

The simplest case, then, is just to get a few big bottles of cooking oil from the supermarket. Vegetable oil is a loss-leader in many supermarkest, so it's often just as cheap as you can find it in cash-and-carries. Shop around - if you're a heavy user, you can get local catering supply companies to deliver lots to your door.


Tax and legal issues
It is not illegal to use vegetable oil as fuel in the UK.
Stop press! The rules changed on 01 July 2007. They used to be cumbersome and require that small producers (home users are just very small producers) register and submit monthly returns. Now, if you use less than 2500 litres of oil a year, you don't have to register or pay duty! Here's the press release from the Revenue; the rules themselves are being rewritten and I'll update when they have settled.


How much could I save?
Quite a lot, actually. Breaking it down:

I have a 60l fuel tank. Half full of diesel costs about £29 at current prices.
Veg oil costs about 50p/l, so half a tank of veg costs £15.
That's a saving of fourteen quid per tankful now the new duty rules have come into effect!

Veg oil for everyone!
Driving on veg oil is dead easy to do. Why aren't more people doing it? Confusion about whether or not it is safe and legal. The legal issue is resolved now Customs have decided that anyone using 2500 litres or less is too small to bother with - the legions of us early-adopters have smothered their clunky system. Yay for people power! Spread the word! So why not try a bottle of veg in your car? If you're not sure, mail me with your questions and I'll see what I can do - just don't ask if it will work in such-and-such a model, because I don't know!

Answer 2

If you have a conversion kit, you can convert any diesel to run on straight vegetable oil. However, it is harder on your engine than bio diesel. In winter bio diesel and vegetable oil will start to cloud over and start to form into a wax. You can buy a heater that will warm it up. What is better though, depends on if you have a biodiesel processor. They are not hard to make and biodiesel is becoming a very big industry. 10M gallons were sold in the Pacific Nortwest alone. That is a 70% increase since last year. If you want to put your money where the future is get onboard with biodiesel. Check out this website, it is a little too green for my taste, but they have some great information

Answer 3

YES, Vegetable oil or Sunflower Oil works Great, for a Diesel Car

Answer 4

Diesel cars can. But not gasoline cars. Rudolf Diesel intended for the engine he invented to use a variety of fuels, including peanut oil. He demonstrated it at the 1900 Exposition Universelle (World's Fair) using peanut oil.

However putting vegetable oil in a gasoline engine will ruin it.

Answer 5

Yes but the cost would be ridiculous and if your intent is to reduce fossil fuel consumption you won’t. It takes more fossil fuel to make vegetable oil (used by farmer) than is in it. Same for ethanol. The whole thing is ridiculous. People get all turned on by the thought of using something else but don't stop to think that the vegetable oil or ethanol didn't just pop in out of nowhere. Not only is the stuff produced at a net loss in energy, you have to look at all the pollution produced making it so you could produce pollution burning it up your self. Using this stuff doubles the pollution impact on the environment while driving up the cost of all food items. Corn has tripled in cost sense this started and every animal we eat eats corn. Your grocery bill is gong to go through the roof and it will be just so you can pollute even more using fuel that you shouldn't have used in the first place. This stuff will also reduce the life of your car engine. (Ethanol)

It takes almost 2 bushels of corn to make a gallon of ethanol. Corn is now going for 4 to 4.50 a bushel on the market. It costs to convert corn to ethanol. Government subsidies (your taxes) make it profitable for the farmer to make a profit. Politicians will always spend other people’s money to get votes. It works well for politicians when the marks cough up the money they are to be bribed with. The whole thing is nothing but a scam and you are the intended victim.

Answer 6

Cars can run on Bio-Diesel - A mix of Petrol or Diesel + Crop products like Maize ,Sugarcane produced Ethanol and the widely researched in India - Jatropha Plants .ALready more than 60% of Brazil runs on Ethanol mixed Bio-Fuels .And it is increasingly been used ion other countries too .

Answer 7

Diesel engines can run on Bio-diesel (vegetable oil basically) but gasoline cars cannot.

Answer 8

Diesel cars can run on veggie oil, with minor modifications. Large diesel engines (locomotives) can do it even easier.

No, it does not take 2 gallons of fuel to make 1 gallon of ethanol. It takes 0.75. Here's what the government says: http://www.mda.state.mn.us/renewable/renewablefuels/balance.htm
1 gallon's worth of fuel makes 1.34 gallons worth of ethanol. (not even worth doing!)
1 gallon's worth of fuel makes 3.2 gallons worth of biodiesel. (better but still not fabulous.)

They are experimenting with an oil-producing algae with extremely better yields, which could actually solve the entire nation's fuel needs and then some. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algaculture#Biodiesel_production

Answer 9

Yes some cars.

Answer 10

If it is a "diesel" engined car it will be very happy on a vegetarian diet.

Answer 11

Yes it can but the use of veg oil (normally palm oil) cause major environmental disasters such as clearing of rainforest.
please see: http://www.palmoilaction.org.au/