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Grease, The Cheap and Satisfying Way to Go |
Current rating: 0 |
by Darrin Drda
Email: d_drda (nospam) hotmail.com (unverified!) |
29 Nov 2005
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Alas, mobility comes at a very high price. But what if someone told you that it’s possible to run your car on a renewable resource that produces no environmentally destructive emissions, doesn’t fuel wars, and costs virtually nothing? |
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"The use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today. But such oils may become in course of time as important as petroleum and the coal tar products of the present time."
– Rudolph Diesel, 1912
THE HIGH COST OF COMBUSTION
Cops and Driver’s Ed teachers like to make the point that driving is a privilege. Anybody who owns a motor vehicle knows all too well that it can also be a royal pain in the assets. Over the summer, Americans saw historically high prices at the pump, due in part to price gouging, as well as a dramatic decrease in refinery capacity caused by hurricane Katrina. Although gas prices have dropped in recent weeks, the unfortunate truth is that they’re bound to increase in the long run, as the human racecar inevitably runs out of its favorite non-renewable resource.
Speaking of stormy weather, you don’t need to be a meteorologist to know which way the wind blows when it comes to global warming. This seasons’s record high number of hurricanes gives further confirmation to the notion – now accepted by even the most shortsighted pundits and politicians – that we’re beginning to stew in our own juices, largely because of our dependence upon (dare I say addiction to) fossil fuels, with their ozone-depleting emissions.
Then there’s the war in Iraq, and perhaps other oil-rich regions where lives are being lost in efforts to secure control over the planet’s dwindling reserves of crude.
Alas, mobility comes at a very high price. But what if someone told you that it’s possible to run your car on a renewable resource that produces no environmentally destructive emissions, doesn’t fuel wars, and costs virtually nothing?
VEGETABLE OIL AS FUEL
Every diesel engine is capable of running on vegetable oil. Indeed, the very first diesel engine, showcased at the 1900 World’s Exhibition in Paris, was powered by peanut oil, a fact that seems to have been forgotten by history and ignored – perhaps systematically – by the auto and oil industries. Surprisingly, veggie oil has roughly the same fuel efficiency (mpg) as diesel fuel, with none of the harmful emissions. Even the smell of burning vegetable oil – something akin to unbuttered popcorn – is far more pleasant than the noxious blue-white clouds of smoke produced by diesel.
For clarity’s sake, it must be noted that vegetable oil is different from biodiesel, which is made by combining vegetable oil with lye and methanol. Biodiesel is relatively popular among alternative fuels, especially in Europe (particularly Germany) and the American Northwest (particularly Oregon and northern California), where many gas stations have biodiesel pumps. It’s sold in different grades, from B100 (100% biodiesel) down to B20 (1 part biodiesel to 4 parts "regular" diesel, aka "dino-diesel") and sometimes weaker concentrations. This article deals with running a vehicle on straight vegetable oil, or SVO.
THE CONVERSION PROCESS
Before you go pouring Crisco into your tank, there are a few things to consider. First, as you may have surmised, your car has to be a diesel. Even among diesel cars and trucks, there are certain makes and models with engines better suited to run on SVO (VWs are popular candidates, as are Mercedes), while others may even be problematic (certain Cummins truck engines). As is usually the case, a little research goes a long way.
Another chief consideration is the fact that vegetable oil has a higher viscosity than diesel fuel, and therefore must be warmed up in order to thin it out. This is usually accomplished through the addition of a second fuel tank featuring a heating coil or similar device. There are a growing number of websites devoted to SVO, such as the dot-coms Greasel, Greasecar, Frybrid and PlantDrive, each selling their own version of a conversion kit, along with related accessories like temperature gauges and specialized fuel filters. Apparently there do exist a few one-tank renegades living in warm climates who run veggie without conversion, but this is not recommended in general, and is simply not possible in colder climates.
Finally, there’s the obvious fact that your quart of Crisco (and fresh vegetable oil in general) is expensive, considerably moreso than diesel fuel. Thus we turn to used oil, known to many as grease and to some as free fuel.
GREASE COLLECTION AND FILTERING
Restaurants with fryers have to get rid of their used oil somehow, usually working out a deal with a local waste disposal company. Normally the grease is dumped by the kitchen staff into a big, metal "grease trap" in the back of the restaurant, out of sight of the customer happily munching on her French fries. What is typically shunned as a smelly and disgusting waste bin can be seen as a veritable treasure trove to the seeker of "liquid gold".
Of course, most used grease is far from golden. It’s usually quite dark in color, often containing visible bits of fries, breading, and other crud, and needs to be thoroughly filtered before it can be used as fuel. A few of the aforementioned online companies sell cloth bags designed to filter grease down to the requisite 5 microns, and also include a heavy-duty fuel filter to be installed during conversion. Additionally, the grease must be free of water, which can ruin a car’s injection pump in short order.
Fortunately, certain innovative members of the "greaser" community have started marketing their own collection and filtering devices that make the normally unsavory process fairly convenient. One such product, known as "The GreaseBeast", features an electric pump which, when connected to the car battery, sucks the grease through a series of hoses and filters, directly from the trap to the tank. In this way, re-fueling at a roadside diner can be nearly as efficient as a stop at Mobil or Shell.
FINDING A GOOD SOURCE OF OIL
As you might suspect, not all grease is created equal. The least desirable oil contains animal fat, which, like hydrogenated and partially-hydrogenated veggie oil, solidifies at lower temperatures and requires more heating. As it turns out, the type of oil best for combustion is also best for human consumption: non-hydrogenated, higher grade oils like soy and canola, with a minimum of preservatives and additives. Experience has also taught me that the better oils tend to come, perhaps not surprisingly, from the better restaurants, which also typically dispose of their waste oil more efficiently than greasy spoons and fast food joints.
It’s fairly simple to assess the quality of a given batch of grease. If it smells rancid, or has a foamy residue on top, it’s best left alone. If a quick stir with a stick reveals whitish swirls, it’s likely hydrogenated oil, which may be OK if the heavier, creamier parts have settled thoroughly. The best oil will be about the color and consistency of (real) maple syrup. Another reliable way to determine the quality of grease is to talk to the restaurant manager. It’s always best to ask before taking used oil, and those willing to give it away are usually willing to reveal (or find out) what kind of oil the restaurant uses, whether derived from safflower, corn, or whatever. Finding a reliable source of quality oil can be tricky, but the effort is well worth it.
THE PRICE OF FREEDOM
Apart from investments of time and energy, converting to veggie has, of course, cost me money that will take a bit of time recoup. The conversion kit I bought this summer set me back roughly $800, although thankfully my mechanically-minded brother helped me avoid the usual installation costs. I dropped another $250 on a GreaseBeast filter kit, with the intention of taking road trips, including an eventual veggie-powered musical tour.
As winter sets in, I’m looking into buying an extra heater for the veggie tank, as the current method of heating the oil using a diverted coolant line may not cut the mustard in sub-freezing temperatures. The way it works is that the engine is started up on diesel fuel from the original tank, enabling me to drive while the hot coolant warms the grease in the second tank to a viscous160oF or so, at which point I can switch over to veggie. In the heat of summer, this process takes only a few minutes, whereas in the dead of winter, without a secondary heat source, it takes much longer than a cross-town drive.
So, unfortunately, I am still buying gas, albeit in far smaller quantities than the average American, and still emitting those nasty blue-white clouds of smoke now and again. Moreover, I’m still driving a car; a large and dangerous machine that inevitably requires repair and maintenance, not to mention periodic insurance and registration costs, tickets and tows (paying out the nose for that privilege!).
All things considered, though, I’m very glad I made the conversion. Driving my 1979 Mercedes on free fuel, I can’t help but feel like I’m really getting away with something. Using a recycled, renewable resource, I hope I’m playing a small role in saving the earth. In some ways, on some days, driving on veggie oil even feels like a subversive and revolutionary act. It’s almost as satisfying as riding a bike. |
See also:
http://www.darrindrda.org
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Copyright by the author. All rights reserved. |
Comments
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Re: Grease, The Cheap and Satisfying Way to Go |
by Local Yocal
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
03 Dec 2005
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Fill 'er up with your old cooking oil, scientists say
By CHRISTINE DES GARENNES
© 2005 THE NEWS-GAZETTE
Published Online November 26, 2005
CLICK TO SEE PHOTO
After the doughnuts are fried and the chicken wings made golden and crispy, what do you do with old cooking oil, the smelly and nasty-looking stuff that remains?
Why, make fuel out of it.
That's what a group of scientists at the Waste Management and Research Center in Champaign are doing.
They're collecting waste oil from the University of Illinois dining halls, whipping up batches of biodiesel and fueling up the center's Ford F-250 pickup truck.
The truck, its decals state, is a vegetarian.
"This is kind of a new direction for us," said Tim Lindsey, manager of the center's pollution prevention program. As part of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the Waste Management and Research Center tries to find high-value uses for by-products of manufacturing and industrial processes. It's their first venture into alternative fuels, he said.
Right now they're producing small batches of biodiesel in the center's Champaign laboratory.
"We want to get into bigger applications obviously. We have a large food processing industry in the state," Lindsey said.
Food processing companies like Archer Daniels Midland in Decatur and ACH Foods in Champaign, not to mention restaurants, can produce massive amounts of waste oil. Right now, most dispose of it by paying companies to come to the business, pick up the oil and haul it away.
But companies could be making use of the oil by transforming it into fuel.
Researchers have talked with a range of interested companies – not only processors like ACH Foods, but also trucking companies that pick up waste oil and transportation companies who run buses and passenger shuttles.
The center's staff also plans to work with researchers at the Illinois Natural History Survey on studying ways to produce biodiesel from algae. Algae, it turns out, is the most efficient oil-producing organism on the planet, Lindsey said.
Also, to help spread awareness of the alternative fuel, Waste Management and Research Center scientists will visit schools. Most recently, they held a workshop at Mahomet-Seymour High School and added biodiesel into one of the school buses there.
The center's staff is also willing to work with biodiesel enthusiasts who have or who are interested in cooking up the fuel in their garages or basements.
Biodiesel itself is nontoxic and biodegradable, but the lye-methanol mixture can create toxic fumes.
"You need to educate yourself before you do it," said Rob Guennewig, energy resource engineer with the center.
Biodiesel is produced during a chemical process called transesterification. Essentially, glycerine is removed from the vegetable oil. In order to do this, you need methanol and lye (sodium hydroxide). The oil is heated to speed the reaction.
The result? Glycerine, which can be used in soap, perfumes and cosmetics, and methyl ester, which is straight biodiesel. The glycerine settles on the bottom and the lighter biodiesel rises to the top.
In order to find out how much lye is needed, they run what's called a titration test.
"The longer the cooking oil has been used, the more lye we have to add," Guennewig said.
Researchers plan to investigate catalysts other than lye to use during the production process.
"We'd like to use cleaner chemistry," Lindsey said. For example, using ethanol instead of methanol to make biodiesel.
Biodiesel is not flammable or combustible, Lindsey said. It's as biodegradable as sugar, compared with diesel fuel, which can stay in the soil for a long time, he said.
"However, it has 5 percent less energy than regular diesel. So you don't get quite the acceleration," Lindsey said, referring to driving performance.
Pure biodiesel tends to thicken in cold weather, but fuel additives can solve this problem, Guennewig said.
As far as emissions go, biodiesel has lower particulate and carbon monoxide emissions compared with regular petroleum diesel and virtually no sulfur emissions, Lindsey said.
But it does emit a little more nitrous oxides than regular diesel. |
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Re: Grease, The Cheap and Satisfying Way to Go |
by Bill
(No verified email address) |
Current rating: 0
24 Dec 2005
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Count the number of fat-food dens in your neighbourhood. How many of you will drive free (after a number of expensive conversions to your cars)?
Sure there is GM canola and GM soy. But what crops will they displace?
In Brasil they are doing sugar-cane to ethanol : corporate plantations are displacing forests and subsistence farmers. It can't happen here?
Millions of people die of starvation every year in India. They export enough rice and grain to their population several times over, so that some of us might enjoy organic rice, and so that others of us might eat toxic McMurder burgers made from the cattle that eat the rice and grain that the deceased Indians did not eat. What's going to happen when we want to put vegetable oil in our cars and SUVs? |
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Re: Grease, The Cheap and Satisfying Way to Go |
by Tom
toms85cj7 (nospam) yahoo.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
10 Mar 2006
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I converted my Jeep to diesel and than to run on grease using greasecars system. I installed a Wabasto coolent hearter, it burns diesel to heat the coolent. Know I can switch over in my drive way even in freezing temps. It uses far less diesel to heat the engine and grease than running the engine. I was even able to start on grease in 30 degree temps by using this heater. Write me if you have any questions.
Tom |
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Re: Grease, The Cheap and Satisfying Way to Go |
by Peter K Anderson aka Hartlod(tm)
hartlod (nospam) bigpond.com (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
12 Apr 2006
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This is the situation i have been mentioning in many places, for many years.
The use of bio fuel oils in not only internal combustion compression process engines, as is the"Diesel" process engine, but also in the 'newer' form of compression engine, the 'turbine'.
This brings in a new, lighter and potentially smaller engine that has good multifuel capability, as does also (and still) the 'older' 'Deisel" process for internal combustion compression based engines.
There would not be a need for a single 'oil crop' and one could 'fill up' on 'different' bio-oil from regional ' farmers co-op' fuel processors and so still enjoy those lazy weekend tours in you own vehicle.
The use of (locally made) ethyl alcohol would allow the 'co-ops' to all produce a consistent 'octane' rated fuel (as is the use for this alcohol in Petroleum production presently).
Let us hope sanity prevails, as i am finding it slow to convince even those platforming 'concern' for these issues to see the rationality of this solution.
Most simply want their 'pie in the sky' solutions emplaced regardless of any other issues or even with notice of reality.
Seems some just what us all not to leave home, and even work from home to avoid 'commuting'.
Humanity could have well 'stayed in the trees', but our forebears did NOT listen to the 'doomsayers' 3 million years ago, they reached for the ground and moved on. We should ALL do the same again today.
Your's
Peter K Anderson aka Hartlod(tm) |
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GreaseBeast Filtration Unit |
by Christo
info (nospam) theOrganicMechanic.org (unverified) |
Current rating: 0
31 May 2006
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My name is Christo, and I have been "greasing" for over 3 years. The GreaseBeast Filtration Unit is a system that we have been using for 2 of them, and a few recent innovations makes the setup even better.
We now also offer full conversion kits for cars, trucks, and any other diesel! We call it the VegQuest SVO Fuel System, and the difference with our kit is that the electronic features make running on vegoil so user friendly- such as a "Veggie-Ready" light that tells you when to switch over, and an "Oops" Buzzer if you forget to purge on shutdown. Check us out at theOrganicMechanic.org (still under construction, but there is a link to our ebay store on the front page!)
Thank you for the plug in your article, and to anyone reading, please contact Organic Mechanic for your VegOil as Fuel needs!
-Christo
info (at) theOrganicMechanic.org |
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