Make your own Biodiesel Part 1

There are at least three methods to run a diesel engine on biofuel using veggie oils, animal fats or both. All 3 are used with both fresh and used oils.

1. Use the oil simply as it is– normally 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 fuel;

3. Convert it to biodiesel.

The first 2 methods sound easiest, but, as so typically in life, it’s not rather that simple.

1. Mixing it

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

If you’re blending veg-oil with petroleum diesel or kerosene (like # 1 diesel) you’re still utilizing fossilfuel– cleaner than the majority of, however still unclean enough, many would say. Still, for every single gallon of

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

People utilize different blends, ranging from 10% grease and 90% petro-diesel to 90% vegetable oil and 10% petro-diesel. Some people simply utilize it that way, start up and go, without pre-heating it (which makes veg-oil much thinner), or even use pure grease 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 an extremely hard and tolerant motor– it will not like it but you probably will not kill it. Otherwise, it’s not wise.

To do it properly you’ll require what amounts to an SVO system with fuel pre-heating anyhow, ideally using pure petro-diesel or biodiesel for starts and stops. (See next.) In which case there’s no requirement for the blends.

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

Higher viscosity is not the only issue with using veggie oil as fuel. Veg-oil has different chemical properties and combustion qualities from the petroleum diesel fuel for which diesel motor and their fuel systems are developed.

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

They’re difficult however they’ll only take so much abuse. There’s no guarantee of it, however utilizing a blend of approximately 20% veg-oil of excellent quality is stated to be safe enough for older diesels, especially in summer season.

Otherwise using veg-oil fuel requires either a professional SVO option or biodiesel. Mixes and blends are normally a . But mixes do have an advantage in cold weather.

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