We have converted our main delivery vehicle to run on Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO). This is different than using Bio-diesel (a trans-esterfication, or chemical changing of vegetable oil) because it requires simple modifications of the fuel system components of a diesel engine in order to work long term. Any vegetable oil can be utilized in a diesel engine short term but will cause clogging of injectors, coking and carbonization of cylinder walls, loss of power and eventual catastrophic failure of the engine if the oil is not properly cleaned and heated before entering the combustion chamber. This is true mainly in modern direct injection diesel engine designs.
The original indirect injection design by Rudolf Diesel would not have many of the problems burning vegetable oil. In fact, Rudolf Diesel (the German engineer who invented the Diesel engine) designed this engine to run on vegetable oil. When his first prototype was unveiled at the 1900 World Expo in Paris France, it was running on peanut oil. Many changes to the engine and the fuel have happened since then.
Our conversion to veggie oil is a two-tank system that requires diesel or bio-diesel to start and shut down the engine, which, once warm, runs on veggie oil instead of diesel. As long as fresh, non-hydrogenated oil is used, with no water or particles bigger that two microns in it, and it is 160° F or warmer before it is injected into the engine, there will be no short term or long-term problems.
The two main disadvantages are a very slight loss of power, and that we smell like a burger joint going down the road. The loss of power means that we have to go the speed limit when full and the smell is actually much more pleasant than the smell of diesel fuel.
If you or someone you know is considering converting an engine, please ask us more details. We can save you a lot of unnecessary time and expense in your journey to become more sustainable.
Restaurants, please see our pamphlet on free used-oil pick-up service!
