Converting Diesel Engines to Run on Vegetable Oil
by Jeff McIntire-Strasburg, St. Louis, MO 
on 07.24.06
While Lloyd may well be correct that increased production of biodiesel by DIYers could lead to "a lot of exploding garages and gummed up dead diesels along the side of the road," another option available to drivers of diesel cars may prove less frightening: using straight or waste vegetable oil. Before explaining the process, we should note that the US Environmental Protection Agency has declared the use of vegetable oil for motor fuel a violation of the Clean Air Act, and violators could be subject to a fine of $2750. If you're willing to take that risk, though, as the New York Times' Jim Norman did, you'll discover that using vegetable oil to power your diesel engine could result in significant cost savings and a lighter environmental footprint.
Besides that little matter of legality, running a diesel car on vegetable oil requires fuel system modifications that run about $2000 for parts and labor, and different driving practices: a driver must purge the fuel lines of vegetable oil during the last moments of a trip to avoid congealing, that purge function can only be run for 20 seconds or so before diesel fuel will run back into the vegetable oil tank and possibly cause an overflow, and s/he must keep an extra vegetable oil filter on hand, as it requires changing as soon as its served its useful life. Still, Norman speaks glowingly about the experience of driving his "veggie powered" Volkswagen Jetta:
...after more than 2,000 miles on veggie oil, there seem to be few disadvantages to the transformation. My car seems to get slightly better mileage, it seems to run a little more quietly and it has just as much zip as it does on diesel. According to test results I’ve seen, vegetable oil burns somewhat cleaner in most categories than diesel fuel, and emits absolutely no sulfur. What a veggie car does emit is a smell faintly redolent of the kind of oil being burned — or, in the case of used oil, the scent of whatever it might have cooked previously.Norman notes that it's unlikely that vegetable oil, whether new or used, will replace gasoline and traditional diesel: too many uncertainties still exist about the amounts of biofuel our agricultural sector can realistically produce, and what effect increased production will have on food prices. On a small scale, though, drivers like Norman can contribute to lessening our dependence on fossil fuels and moving towards energy sources that don't require quite the "devil's bargain" in terms of environmental impact. That last point motivates Norman and his wife Ginger to continue their experiment, which they've named the "Noah project." Noah is also the name of the couple's 11-month-old grandson, and both Normans hope their efforts contribute to cleaning and greening the world that he'll eventually inherit from them. ::New York Times via diggVegetable oil, of course, is a renewable resource that emits no more carbon dioxide than next year’s crop will absorb and requires no drilling for soybeans in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or anywhere else. The environmentally aware will give you even more points in the game of green for using oil previously used for cooking.
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Is using veggie oil really a violation of the Clean Air Act? Does this make sense?
The thing about dino diesel going back to your veg tank isn't always a problem as you can fit an overflow tank and a valve that switches the return back to the standard tank if the veg starts to overflow.
Slightly off topic, but what's the deal with nascar? Cheers to the Noah project anyway and to Norman and Ginger for not burying their heads in the sand.
1. If it's cleaner, why is illegal?
2. What's the cost of bulk veg oil, fresh or used?
I think this is pretty cool, if it turns out to be as clean as they say. I think it's great that people are finally starting to really tinker and see what works.
What I don't know is if having our freeways stink like french fries or fried fish is any better than the current situation. :-)
Julie -- Here's a NYT article that explains the "illegal" status of straight vegetable oil as an automotive fuel.
I have a 98' Diesel VW Jetta (TDI) and I would NOT recommend using straight Veggie Oil (SV)) in ANY Modern Diesel Engine.
Why not? you ask.
Modern Diesel engines (ones made after 1995) have extremely small fuel injection nozzels. The sizes of the nozzels are measured in microns!
Auto manufacturers are making ever smaller and smaller injection nozzels so that the fuel may be misted into the combustion chamber in ever smaller quantities. This allowing a more complete burn of the fuel and therfore, increases efficiency and decreases emissions.
Straight Veggie Oil (SVO) is simply too thick to run through these tiny nozzels.
What will happen if you use SVO in a modern diesel engine?
Simple, you will get plugged up injectors and you will have to replace them.
Don't believe me? Check out www.tdiclub.com in the forums, very reliable specific diesel information.
http://www.patagonia.com/bendtobaja/index2.shtml
Has a lot on Veggie Oil and was my first introduction.
A few notes I can quickly reiterate.
Veggie Oil can be Free -though doesn't have to be-.
Converting a Vehicle is not too difficult by the 'professionals'.
There are large communities of Veggie as Fuel.
It is better to modify an older vehicle for certain warranties may be void by the modification.
And what is the question on NASCAR? Wasn't one of those car racing groups going to bio ethanol or something like that?
So, I can't run SVO in my diesel, how can I make it more environmently friendly?
Simple, you can run 100% BioDiesel! a 100% renewable resource.
There are retail locations all over the U.S.
Check out www.biodiesel.org for a retail location near you!
Whiplash -
The cost of used veggie oil is low. The raw material (used oil, aka UVO) is free, if you collect it from restaurants. Then, the only cost incurred is the cost of filtering the UVO to remove any sediment that could clog the pipes. The total cost of it per gallon is pennies, and it can be even less, if one is smart in where they get their UVO.
Just to clarify one point, running UVO requires no modifications to the engine. It only requires modifications to the fuel system. You can pour straight veggie oil into the tank of a diesel vehicle on a warm summer day and have no worries!
Depends what kind of injector pump you have Thad. Unheated veg oil will kill newer pumps.
I am thrilled that this kind of thing is catching on. Here in the Boston area, there is more and more interest in this. It's fabulous because restaurants can dispose of their used cooking oil at the same time that car owners can obtain fuel. So what if your car smells like French fries?
Rhea, I'm with you, I think this is great stuff.
HOWEVER... and I'm being a little tongue in cheek here... but if it ever really takes off on a large scale, I could see them having to process the used oil to reduce the smell. A few million cars crusing through New York or L.A. smelling like corn dogs and onion rings would be's enough to turn anyone's stomach.
Vegetable oil is made from glyceride connected to three fatty acids. When you create biodiesel, the glycerin is separated from the fatty acids. The fatty acids are used as the biodiesel and the glycerin can be sold for other uses.
Although I'm not sure, I think the danger comes about from burning the glycerin in the triglycerides. According to one page*, "The glycerine by-product burns well, but unless it's properly combusted at high temperatures it will release toxic acrolein fumes, which mainly form at between 200 and 300 deg C (392-572 deg F)."
As for the smell, I'd take roadways that smell of fast food and french fries over diesel and VOCs any day.
Andrew
* http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_glycerin.html#burn
Lil' Hugger: your comment is no shock to me. Everyone that knows even a little about cars knows that unless the car is designed to accept more than one fuel source, your car will have to be moded to accept another source. Whether that be diesel and bio-diesel or veggie oil, or gasoline and E85. The fact the car needs some moding is no reason to dismiss veggie oil as an acceptable alternative.
Does anyone have an email address or number for any companies that equip your car to run on veg oil? Or where you can get a kit or parts list to install yourself...thanks
Disclaimer on previous statement - I would never recommend pouring straight veggie oil into any diesel tank, unless you are sure that the vehicle in question can handle it (as my '85 Mercedes could in the summer in North Carolina).
James - Just wanted to let you know that if you correctly convert your car, which still requires no modifications to your standard diesel engine, any diesel vehicle can burn veggie oil. The designers of the kits are really good at making sure that they work with the car that you are converting.
Lil' Hugger - Any good conversion kit will come with a 10 micron filter to keep any particles that may clog up fuel injectors out of the system and an oil warmer to lower the viscosity to near that of diesel.
Webs - Be careful in making sweeping charactizations like that, older diesels (especially ones designed to operate at high pressures) can accept a range of fuels including palm oil, which was used during World War Two, without any modifications. There are even some stories (to be taken with a grain of salt) that during World War Two, some diesel supply trucks in tropical areas were run on peanut butter without any special modifications (personally, I don't know if I believe it, but anything is possible and peanut oil will work in a diesel engine)!
Sharon - Try GreaseCar for info on converting your car or Golden Fuel Systems, formerly known as Greasel. GreaseCar.com also has a classified ads section for those who are interested in purchasing a used car to convert or a car that has all ready been converted.
Cheers!
Can you tell me why running on oil is deamed a bio hazzard? Is the logic ?
try 50% mix sump oil and diesel toyota hilux done 10 000 ks on it
I am looking to veg out a Sprinter van, now that my wife is in a wheelchair. The larger car bothers me... but if I can run it on waste veggie oil I suppose it is a step in the right direction.
I do have 2 problems with it though 1) this is not the answer... it still pollutes too much, has higher NOX emissions (in some areas this is the limiting factor in ozone production) and ... where is my electric car?... I have issues doing things that I know are still wrong and do not have mass potential for real change. Bio fuels if taken on by auto makers are a copout just like hydrogen. The fact that I can use waste oil makes it a little better... which brings me to my next point
2) Why do they show people using new cooking oil in their car? I believe this is not what veggie oil is about. People need to eat and having food compete with fuel raises the prices for food. Did you see what happened to the price of corn on the commodities market when they started talking about ethanol in washington... it went way up because demand went way up. What does this do to people who are hungry? Now starving people are starting to compete with fuel (and other"eco" products) in 'first world' countries. Waste oil, yes.... new oil from the store... please... no.
We already have the ability to make electric cars that can get 300 miles plus to a charge at 70-80 miles per hour... why are these not being mass produced? and researched further to make them better...But we are willing to promote fuels through slick PR stunts that sound green.... argh. I can rant about this... but SVO is great but use waste oil and filter it... this seperates you from the commodities market (keeping food products cheaper for those who need it) and seperates you from the pollution caused by growing/processing and transporting the oil.
Lets be reasonable... we can make this world better.
So, can anyone explain to me the difference between B100 biodiesel fuel and pure vegetable oil? Is there a difference, and if so is the biodiesel somehow better for the performance of your car?
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andy-where do you think that electricity comes from? where i live (wisconsin) it usually comes from burning coal. electric cars are not the answer.
Electric cars with 300 miles + to a charge.. 70-80 mph. Not meaning to sound mean, but do a reality check please!!! YOU drive a Sprinter (a BIG van). The electric cars are "light little pieces of experimental crap". Have you ever wondered what you'd do if your car was so efficient that it didn't generate waste heat? Answer.. Freeze your butt off!!! So turn on the electric heater (or AC) in that electric car (motorcycle with a a shell). On top of that as others posted.. electricity comes from coal, oil and nuclear fuels.
I drive a Dodge Ram. I shouln't have to suggest what a joke an electric towing machine is!! haha
Also, personally, I'd never be so silly as to pour even new veggie oil in my Dodge Ram. I need it... (truck, not the veggie oil)
can anyone help me? i have a Mercedes Diesel electricity generator, can vgetable oil work the same as diesel on it? if so how can i do it? what equipment do i need?who can sell me the equipment?
can anyone help me? i have a Mercedes Diesel electricity generator, can vgetable oil work the same as diesel on it? if so how can i do it? what equipment do i need?who can sell me the equipment?
Can we get rid of obaseki's comment? I'm thinking this qualifies as SPAM.
...and as far as WVO vehicles go...
I read the article, and it sounds like they really aren't 100% sure of their statements, but I do liek that they point out that Biodiesel (as apposed to straight WVO) is perfectly fine. This does imply that the Glycerin is the worrisome factor.
For those more handy than the average bear, it should be pointed out that one could, in fact, pick up free WVO and convert it to biodiesel in your garage.
Unfortunately, I rent. In the meantime I'll have to keep driving my 65mpg Suzuki Swift.
This is to Rob Davis, post.
The technology has been there ever since the first cars were ever created.
First there were electric and gas cars that came into production at the turn of the century. The electric car was pushed out of the marked due to the collaborations of car companies and crude oil companies to make more money together. And, cars used to run on peanut oil and the engines were not changed in any way when they started running them on gasoline.
Nobody is telling you to switch. People need to work and need to use their cars. It is because of the greedy machine and the consumer mind that the vegetable oil and the electric car have disappeared. If these were developed equally from the beginning, you RAM truck would be running on either 3 of the choices. Due to ignorance and greed it only runs on gasoline.
The earth will not be impacted in mine or your lifetime, maybe not even your kids or grand kids. Later on however such mentality as yours will be the eventual destruction of this planet, and we will all disappear, and evolution will start anew like it has done before, and trust me it has happened before.
sorry, though electric cars, & also steam cars did compete & had speeds of over 100mph compared to gasoline vehicles. gas was cheaper than dirt, electricity still has to generated by another source, gas eliminated the need for wastefull high tension wires which had not even been invented yet to be proven to be highly wastefull.
sorry, though electric cars, & also steam cars did compete & had speeds of over 100mph compared to gasoline vehicles. gas was cheaper than dirt, electricity still has to generated by another source, gas eliminated the need for wastefull high tension wires which had not even been invented yet to be proven to be highly wastefull.
i live in the philippines where the temp ranges from 75-85 degrees pretty much all year long. i wonder if this would make a fuel heater optional. the pollution here beats LA's heaviest. and coconut oil is abundant here that isn't getting sold.
i have an '84 toyota land cruiseri'd like to convert but a "gummed-up" dead engine worries me. putting the comments together, ordinary fuel filters don't do the job and one should be able to filter 10 micron solids? i also hear the veg oil loosens old solids in the fuel line.
SVO and WVO, i can get but would city driving be effective since one starts up on diesel and purges before killing the engine? doesnt leave much time or mileage in between.
I would like to know the simplest way to clean used veg oil for use in an oldr Lister diesel generator
Funny Rolis how you say that we are headed into a new evolutional path and that people should trust you that it has happened before, and on what grounds do you claim this to be truthful......science i assume, but science does not support such a theory as the big bang because it violates LAWS of science which state that matter nor energy can be created or destroyed, so something (our world) cannot be created from nothing....so what does support your theory??