Make your own Biodiesel Part 1

There are at least 3 methods to run a diesel motor on biofuel utilizing vegetable oils, animal fats or both. All three are utilized with both fresh and pre-owned oils.

1. Use the oil simply as it is– generally called SVO fuel (straight vegetable oil);

2. Mix it with kerosene (paraffin) or petroleum diesel fuel, or with biodiesel, or blend it with a solvent, or with gas;

3. Convert it to biodiesel.

The very first two approaches sound most convenient, but, as so frequently in life, it’s not rather that basic.

1. Mixing it

Grease is far more thick (thicker) than either petro-diesel or biodiesel. The purpose of mixing it or mixing it with other fuels is to reduce the viscosity to make it thinner so that it flows more freely through the fuel system into the combustion chamber.

If you’re mixing veg-oil with petroleum diesel or kerosene (like # 1 diesel) you’re still using fossilfuel– cleaner than the majority of, but still not clean enough, many would say. Still, for each gallon of

grease you use, that’s one gallon of fossil-fuel conserved, which much less climate-changing carbon in the environment.

People use various blends, ranging from 10% grease and 90% petro-diesel to 90% grease and 10% petro-diesel. Some individuals simply utilize it that way, begin up and go, without pre-heating it (that makes veg-oil much thinner), or perhaps utilize pure veggie oil without pre-heating it, which would make it much thinner.

You might get away with it with an older Mercedes 5-cylinder IDI diesel, which is a very hard and tolerant motor– it won’t like it however you most likely will not kill it. Otherwise, it’s not wise.

To do it effectively you’ll require what totals up to an SVO system with fuel pre-heating anyhow, preferably using pure petro-diesel or biodiesel for starts and stops. (See next.) In which case there’s no need for the mixes.

Blends with different solvents and/or with unleaded fuel are “speculative at finest”, little or nothing is known about their effects on the combustion attributes of the fuel or their long-term impacts on the engine.

Higher viscosity is not the only issue with using vegetable oil as fuel. Veg-oil has various chemical homes and from the petroleum diesel fuel for which diesel motor and their fuel systems are created.

Diesel motor are state-of-the-art machines with really accurate fuel requirements, particularly the more modern, cleaner-burning diesels (see The TDI-SVO controversy).

They are difficult however they’ll only take a lot abuse. There’s no assurance of it, but using a mix of approximately 20% veg-oil of good quality is said to be safe enough for older diesels, specifically in summer season.

Otherwise utilizing veg-oil fuel requires either an expert SVO option or biodiesel. Mixes and blends are normally a bad compromise. But blends do have an advantage in cold weather condition.

As with biodiesel, some kerosene or winterised petro-diesel fuel blended with straight grease reduces the temperature at which it starts to gel. (See Using biodiesel in winter season) More about fuel blending and blends.