Make your own Biodiesel Part 1

There are at least 3 methods to run a diesel motor on biofuel using vegetable oils, animal fats or both. All 3 are used with both fresh and used 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 gasoline;

3. Convert it to biodiesel.

The first two techniques sound easiest, however, as so typically in life, it’s not quite that simple.

1. Mixing it

Vegetable oil is a lot more thick (thicker) than either petro-diesel or biodiesel. The function of blending it or blending it with other fuels is to decrease the viscosity to make it thinner so that it streams more easily through the fuel system into the combustion chamber.

If you’re blending veg-oil with petroleum diesel or kerosene (exact same as # 1 diesel) you’re still using fossilfuel– cleaner than a lot of, but still not clean enough, many would state. Still, for every gallon of

grease you utilize, that’s one gallon of fossil-fuel saved, and that much less climate-changing carbon in the atmosphere.

People utilize various mixes, varying from 10% grease and 90% petro-diesel to 90% grease and 10% petro-diesel. Some individuals just utilize it that way, launch and go, without pre-heating it (which makes veg-oil much thinner), or even utilize pure grease without pre-heating it, which would make it much thinner.

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

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

Blends with numerous solvents and/or with unleaded gas are “experimental at best”, little or absolutely nothing is understood about their effects on the combustion qualities of the fuel or their long-lasting impacts on the engine.

Higher viscosity is not the only problem with using grease as fuel. Veg-oil has various chemical properties and combustion characteristics from the petroleum diesel fuel for which diesel engines and their fuel systems are designed.

Diesel engines are high-tech machines with really exact fuel requirements, particularly the more modern-day, cleaner-burning diesels (see The TDI-SVO controversy).

They’re difficult however they’ll only take a lot abuse. There’s no warranty of it, but using a blend of up to 20% veg-oil of good quality is said to be safe enough for older diesels, especially in summer.

Otherwise utilizing veg-oil fuel needs either a professional SVO solution or biodiesel. Mixes and blends are usually a bad compromise. But blends do have a benefit in winter.

Just like biodiesel, some kerosene or winterised petro-diesel fuel combined with straight vegetable oil decreases the temperature at which it starts to gel. (See Using biodiesel in winter) More about fuel blending and blends.