What is your opinion of Vegetable Oil fueled vehicles?

Question

Just wondering. I had a friend mod his old VW Bug, and gets waste vegetable oil from the local Long John Silvers, for his car to run on, and I swear the car smells like fish sticks! I think it is a cool concept, keeping emmisions down, but I was wondering what other people think of this. AND, if could CLEAN vegetable oil be ran, why does it have to be USED oil? Thanks in advance for your input.

Answer 1

First off Vegetable Diesel does not lower emissions. The majority of the resulting by-products of any combustion dealing with hydrocarbons are still Carbon Dioxide and Water.

So buring Vegetable oil doesn't stop the green house effect.

You can burn clean vegetable oil, but have you seen the cost of vegetable oil? Try going to a super market some time and take a look on the shelf. Clean vegetable oil would cost somewhere on the order of $8-$10 per gallon. Probably not something that people would enjoy paying on a per gallon basis.

The good point your friend is doing is he is utilizing the waste vegetable oil for fuel. He probably gets the waste vegetable oil for cheap or even free. This oil typically is wasted so by him using the oil from Long John Silver, he is utilizing a product that may have gone to waste otherwise.

So in that respect he is doing good for the environment, by utilizing something that otherwise would need to be disposed of properly.

Answer 2

I"m thinking on the economic impact. If a large scale push of vegetable oil fuel was going through and people would have to purchase the oil, then the same thing would happen as is what's going on right now with Ethanol and Corn. Prices for the source of the vegetable oil would go up, and therefore effecting the prices of everything else. Why do you think corn has gone from $1.50/bushel to $4.00/bushel in just under two years?

Answer 3

First of all the car has to be a diesel to run on WVO (waste vegetable oil). No old VW bugs were diesels.
Secondly the difference between WVO and SVO Straight Vegetable Oil) is negligible. THE WVO has be be filtered before use, and does have a slight odor, usually like french fries or fish. The difference between SVO and WVO is cost.

Answer 4

They probably could do an electrolysis reaction between acetic acid and vegetable Oil down on the farm and make gasoline out of it, then mix the gasoline with oil and have a better fuel. A process called Kolbe electrolysis.

With regard to the above comments, using farm produced fuels does solve the green house gas problem as it does not entail digging stored carbon out of the earth and burning it, it uses the Carbon Dioxide already in the atmosphere to make fuel therefore it halts the increase in CO2 levels.

Answer 5

The engine will also run longer burning vegetable oil vs diesel.

Answer 6

they never made a VW bug for diesel, well they made one car and I am sure your friend doesnt have it,

but the diesel cars that run on veggie oil should be allowed, who cares as long as it is recycling going on

Answer 7

the difficulty with Hydrogen gasoline cells isn't approximately performance. they are very effectual. it incredibly is approximately infrastructure and the by using-product. Water. case in point, the place I stay, there are almost 3 million automobiles in and around my city, in any respect cases of the day. If each physique of those automobiles ran on hydrogen gasoline cells, the quantity of water produced would would desire to be dealt with by using construction run-off drainage dtches and that water would be polluted from asphalt using surfaces. particular therapy plant life would would desire to be geared up and as much as I hate to assert, " it incredibly is not in the terrific pursuits of our legislators".