Vegetable Oil as Bio Fuel
Ever more people are discovering that it is possible to use veg oil to power their diesel vehicles. People are particularly interested when they discover that it is actually possible to use waste cooking oil. The only fundamental problem with veg oil as diesel fuel is that it's a little on the thick side. ie. doesn't flow as easily as fossil diesel. So before using it must be thinned. Various methods can be employed to achieve this thinning...
1. Chemical processing:
The oil can be treated chemically. The resulting liquid is known as biodiesel, that can be used directly in any vehicle. See:
http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_svo.html
Below is Martin Steel, one of UK's pioneers in Biodiesel production, together with his 1 tonne batch processor. This man is one of the UK's leading lights on biodiesel production and can be reached at... martin@biofuel.freeserve.co.uk
2. Mixing:
You can reduce the thickness by mixing the veg oil with fossil diesel fuel. Some cars are happy on a 50/50 blend whilst others will only handle 5 or 10% veg oil.
3. Heating:
The oil thins down when it is heated. The normal method is to use the cooling system of the vehicle to heat the veg oil. A second tank is fitted and the vehicle is started and stopped on fossil diesel. When the veg oil is hot enough (approx. 70ºC) a solenoid automatically switches to the veg oil tank. The modifications cost about 500€. It doesn't take long to get your investment back at today’s fuel prices.
Whether you mix or heat, if you employ used cooking oil you will need a filtration plant, but as is revealed by the pic below, they can be DIY from scrap parts. (apart from the hand pump and the filter cloth)
Here's a good link for general info...