Recycled veggie oil for fuel

[mountain_mama]

I've heard that you can pretty much turn any deisel engine into an engine that runs off of recycled vegetable oil. Does anybody have any info on this? I love the idea but have a ton of questions about the reality of it. I live in a rural setting where there is no public transportation and a 4x4 is a must this time of year. I am searching for a greener way to travel into town!

[toman]

There is plenty of info on the 'net about it, it's quite popular these days. I don't know a whole lot about it, but a simple Google search should turn up at least a few days reading... ;-) and I can almost gaurantee there is someone if not a group of someones who would be more than willing to chat about it at your local university. Seems like every school has a few volkswagens pumping out that yummy french fry smell...

[plainjanepatchwork]

Yes you can! You just have to either start the car with the diesel or make a diesel veggie oil mix. It is called biodiesel and there is tons of information online about it. Here are a couple of websites that I found while I was researching it. It sounds like biodiesel would be ideal for you because you can easily find a diesel 4 wheel drive. They are making a new Jeep Liberty that has a diesel engine. That vehicle is out of my price range but it could be converted!

http://www.biodiesel.org/
http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html
http://www.biodieselamerica.org

[PEACE FROG]

Yeah and I just sold two diesel trucks a couple months ago, cuz I thought they were gross poluters. I would have loved to do a biodiesel thang'. :rolleyes:

[2veggiebabes]

Aside: Some of the posts here about biodiesel aren't quite technically accurate so be sure to check out www.biodieselnow.com (great forum with many leading biodiesel experts) and www.biodiesel.org to see what it's all about. I don't want to repeat what they say.

Now, to my post -- In reality the diesel engine is the most environmentally friendly engine in existence. The thing that is polluting is the fuel used in America. Diesel fuel from petroleum sold in this country has sulfur in it which clogs catalytic converters and modern emmisions controls. Biodiesel is sulphur free so you can use them. . A study in sweden where only Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel fuel (ULSD) is used compares the 2004 VW Jetta TDI (Diesel) to the Jetta gas engine. Both brand new with most modern pollution controls. Diesel emmissions were less.
When you use biodiesel or recycled cooking oil the environmental impact of a diesel grows even less.as biodiesel is 90% less polluting than diesel in this country. (not sure how it compares to ULSD except its less) When you calculate that diesels are 30 to 40% more fuel efficient, the wars, oil spills, environmental destruction caused by just acquiring oil, the fact that diesels don't have ignition systems (sparkplugs, sp wires, coil, distributor ...) and that the avg lifespan of a diesel engine before a rebuild is over 500,000 miles, it really becomes a no brainer.

The diesel engine was invented with vegetable oils as the primary fuel in mind. In 1900 Rudolph Diesel demonstrated his invention in Paris using 100% peanut oil as the fuel. At the time oil was cheap and "diesel" fuel as we know it was a cheap by product of making gasoline. Rudolph knew one day it would be significant. After he died around 1913, oil companies stuck his name on their dirty by product and marketed it for use in diesel engines. They didn't like him much .
Today more than ever Rudolph's vision is coming full circle as in the next 5 to 20 years gasoline will be unaffordable and by 2040 it will be all but gone at the current rate of consumption.

Anyway, my hubbie and I drive diesels and use 100% biodiesel. It runs better than petrol diesel, is made by farmers and concious people in the US, no war required and is comparable in price : 2.35 per gallon. Since we get 45mpg the fuel cost is about the same as driving a gas car. (NOT to mention that's still about a dollar cheaper than europe prices now for diese). It also gives new meaning to that no "W" sticker that fits so nicely over the VW LOGO.

Hippies, here your call. The time is now. Trade in your gas cars before there worthless. Join the revolution for peace, freedom, and environmental justice. When you think about it, if you drive regularly, switching to biodiesel is about the most revolutionary thing you can do in the world right now. Oh yeah another neat site is www.hempcar.org.


peace