I've often thought about cruising the countryside in a motor home but was not about to commit to the financial obligation. I was up in Minnesota last summer looking at some property when I seen a school bus for sale. Well I wasn't sure what that was about because I thought the buses hauled kids till the school bus rotted away.

On the way out of town I saw it again and I could see the for sale sign a bit more clear this time. I saw $1,500 on the sign and inquired about it. Mainly out of curiosity. Well now I am in the process of building a school bus conversion and this is how I got interested in the grease car concept.

I was driving it home on the interstate which was 700 miles from Indianapolis. At the rest stop I seen a bus like mine but painted up all nice and had a younger person driving. After a short conversation with him I come to find out he was running his bus on vegetable oil and that I could do the same thing.

This is a fascinating subject if you are like everybody else and are sick of the dependence on gasoline. The fuel for this vehicle is called bio-diesel and was produced from all domestic and renewable resources. We use petroleum based products for most of our fuel needs and with all the pollutants that come from burning gasoline, well heck. I'm ready to do some experimenting.

Biodiesel does not contain petroleum and It can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a bio-diesel blend. This fuel is free of sulfur and aromatics plus Its nontoxic and biodegradable. But my attraction was how inexpensive the fuel could become. I would have to use waste vegetable oil to make this worth while in the pocket book. So lets get some facts straightened out

According to Wikipedia, ( Biodiesel refers to a diesel-equivalent processed fuel consisting of short chain alkyl (methyl or ethyl) esters, made by transesterification of vegetable oils or animal fats, which can be used (alone, or blended with conventional diesel fuel) in unmodified diesel-engine vehicles).

In chemical terms, Bio-diesel consists of long chain fatty acids derived from renewable lipid sources. The lipid (vegetable oil, animal fat or, as in our process, cooking oil) is treated with a light alcohol in the presence of a catalyst. This gives two products, glycerine and Bio-diesel, both of which are bio-degradable and non-hazardous.

A process by which triglycerides-containing, short-chain fatty acid residues are interesterified enzymatically with long-chain fatty acids or their esters, while removing the liberated short-chain fatty acid compounds from the reaction mixture. I really need to be understood before moving on. Mainly because these are the questions I had when discovering the grease car concept.

I want to explain this one more time to drive this home. I had a problem with defining what bio-diesel is. Mainly why bio-deisel has to have diesel engine modification for one type of bio-diesel and doesn't need engine modification for the other process. Plus straight vegetable oil is not called bio-diesel in some circles. Now the grease car is called a grease car no matter what type of bio-fuel I use. This is why I am getting in to all of this bio-diesel thing to begin with.

Biodiesel goes through a refinery process called transesterification. It is produced from any vegetable oil or fat. The glycerin has to be removed from the oil. Transesterification is a reaction of the oil with an alcohol to remove the glycerin which is a by product of bio-diesel production. The glycerin will be discarded.

I mentioned before that the two resulting substances from transesterifcation was biodegradable and non hazardous. Biodiesel can be blended with petroleum diesel in any percentage or used as pure fuel. Bio-diesel that meets standard ASTM D6751 and is legally registered with the Environmental Protection Agency is a legal motor fuel for sale and distribution.

This fuel for sale will not read diesel on the pump. It will read bio-deisel. When used in diesel fuel engines, biodiesel performance is similar to petroleum-based diesel fuel. There is a higher viscosity in bio-diesel which has to be reduced to change the atomisation in the injector system which gives the right spray pattern.

There are a variety of simple processes for reducing the viscosity which means you wont have to do any modification to the engine. Fleet managers have found that Bio-diesel gives similar operating performance to conventional diesel fuel. This gives it a major advantage over other possible 'alternative' fuels.

Is biodiesel the same thing as raw vegetable oil ? No. Are they both called biodiesel ?Yes sometimes.

To begin with raw vegetable oil cannot meet biodiesel fuel specifications, it is not registered with the EPA, and it is not a legal motor fuel. To make this fuel concoction you will use vegetable oil, animal fat or both. Now this is where It gets confusing with this bio-diesel, animal fat and ( SVO ) thing. SVO ( straight clean vegetable oil ) will not need to be processed or modified to run the diesel engine as long as the diesel engine is converted or modified to except ( SVO ). Now this is not necessarily a true statement. I've heard conflicting answers on this subject. There are different oils and some work better than others.

Now I know that waste vegetable oil or fryer grease ( WVO ) will have to be de-watered, de-acidfied, and filtered before being used to fuel the engine. There will also have to be a modification of the engine to run the ( WVO ). The diesel engine will have to have modifications to run Raw vegetable oil of any kind. You have probably read someplace where you can just pour clean vegetable oil in the fuel tank and the engine will just fire up and go. Well yes and no.

The engine might very well run with out any modifications to the engine or SVO. But its going to damage the engine in the long run and once you get in to lower temperatures you are going to be dead in the water. You have to consider the specks of the engine design. I've heard of fuel pumps wearing out from the fuel viscosity being more than the pump was built for. There are different SVO retrofit kits to chose from and all the kit builders swear by their product. I have reason to doubt their design unless I read something negative on line.

I have seen so many articles about what could go wrong. I will have an answer soon though because I will be wanting to hit the road with the school bus conversion project .My bus is an 87 bluebird so I don't have to worry about a computerized fuel system. I have heard about them not excepting veggie oil at all.

The grease car is an automobile with a diesel engine running off of a fuel created from a vegetable oil or animal fat chemical modification. That is what I am trying to accomplish with this project. I have been reading where people are driving on bio-diesel fuel for 46 cents a gallon and that is very enticing.

Alternative fuels are a great idea and so many options are available. However, many of the vehicles we currently use can not be used with these alternative fuels without some type of conversion. Biodiesel is generally safe to use without a need for conversion. It is best to use a biodiesel blend rather than straight B100 unless your vehicle is made specifically for use with pure biodiesel.

Another type of biodiesel - straight vegetable oil is another option, but there is a need for conversion before it can be used. This is due to the fact that oil burns differently than diesel fuel. You could pour straight vegetable oil in a diesel vehicle and it will get you where you need to go but over time it would not function properly and you would need some repair to the engine and fuel parts.

To convert your vehicle to run off of SVO biodiesel so you do not risk damage to your vehicle you need to change the fuel delivery system. You have to keep the vegetable oil in a liquid form so it can spray through the fuel injectors. This usually involves installing a special tank that will keep the vegetable oil heated so it remains liquefied.

You also have to make sure that before combustion the oil will not have time to solidify. This may require an additional heating system to keep the oil heated.

You want the vegetable oil to stay heated so it can flow through the system and combust as energy without ever having the chance to solidify and gum up your engine or other parts. You also should replace any rubber seals as these will break down when used with vegetable oil. Usually newer diesels do not have the rubber seals so this is only a concern in older diesels.

After you have concerted your vehicle you should be able to run it off straight vegetable oil. In colder weather you may need some diesel fuel to get the car started. This is because the vegetable oil will solidify when the car is setting and will not be liquid enough to get flowing through the system to start the car. After the car is warmed up then the vegetable oil will be ready to use.

You should also clean your fuel lines and fuel pump before letting it set in cold climates so there is no risk for vegetable oil solidifying in the lines or pump and causing the car not to be able to be started. You can use a cleaner to do this or just run diesel through the system before turning it off.

Biodiesel - How to make diesel fuel from used cooking oil

Biodiesel is a fuel that can be used directly in any diesel engine generally without modification. It’s viscosity is twice that of regular diesel fuel which means it is better at lubricating your diesel engine than regular diesel. And... emissions are cut dramatically vs using standard diesel fuel. You can buy Biodiesel already made Or you can make it yourself using your own homemade equipment. One other option is to burn straight vegetable oil in your diesel engine. To do this, you must do three things: 1) You must pre-heat your vegetable oil including the storage tank and all feed lines, 2) You must start your engine using regular diesel or biodiesel, and 3) You must clean your system by burning only regular diesel or biodiesel before shutting the engine off. Here are the instructions on making your own biodiesel...

WARNING!!!!

Methanol is flammable and toxic. Do not let it touch your skin or get in your eyes. Wear proper protective gloves, clothing, and eyewear at all times. Same thing with ethanol. Lye is also very caustic - do not allow it to touch your skin or clothing. When you mix the lye with the alcohol, it creates an even more toxic substance and toxic fumes which you should be very careful with - do not come into contact with it in any way. Always be in a well ventilated area. Also... you are 100% responsible for your own safety. The author is not responsible in any way whatsoever for personal injury or damage to your engine.

Let’s get started...

Here is a general description of how to make your own biodiesel fuel using methanol, lye, and used cooking oil. This process is called transesterification You can buy methanol from your local racetrack or chemical supply store. You can buy granulated Red Devil lye (sodium hydroxide) from your local grocery store or hardware store. Make sure you filter the used cooking oil before using. Fry oil filters can be purchased in any good restaurant supply store. The oil also must be warmed up so it is not solid or lumpy or thick. You can use the sun to heat the oil or some kind of water heating element or a electric or gas burner of some sort. The ideal temperature is 120° F. If you are using flames, remember that the methanol is extremely flammable and you should turn your burner off before getting the methanol mixture anywhere near it. Of course, this should all be done in a well ventilated area too.

Hint...

To determine the amount of lye needed to start the transesterification process, do a small test batch first. You don’t want to mix up a large batch only to find out that you did not use enough lye. Some used cooking oils may contain different amounts of animal fats. The more animal fat in the vegetable oil, the more lye you need to start the process. Start with just 1 liter of oil and 200 milliliters (1/5th of a liter) of methanol and 4.5 grams of lye. First, mix the lye in with the methanol until dissolved (this creates sodium methoxide - very, very caustic - be careful). Then mix the sodium methoxide with the vegetable oil and mix for 1 hour. After mixing, let it settle for an hour or two and it should form two distinct layers of biodiesel (top) and glycerin (bottom). If there are not two distinct layers, repeat the whole process with 5.5 grams of lye.

You can also perform what is called a titration...

Dissolve 1 gram of lye into one liter of distilled water and dissolve 1 milliliter of vegetable oil into 10 ml of isopropyl alcohol. Then drop the diluted lye into the diluted vegetable oil one ml at a time. After each ml, measure the pH of the diluted vegetable oil with litmus paper or a pH meter. When the pH rises significantly, the free fatty acids will be neutralized. The ideal pH is between 8 and 9. The number of ml used will equal the number of extra grams of lye to use per liter of vegetable oil (starting from 3.5 grams of lye).

So, let’s assume 5.5 grams of lye produced the desired distinct two layers. We now want to scale it up to a 10 liter batch. So we need 10 liters of used cooking oil, heated. 2 liters of methanol and 55 grams of lye. Mix the lye with the methanol until dissolved and then pour the sodium methoxide mixture into the vegetable oil. Stir for one hour. The mixer can be a sump pump setup or some sort of mechanical electric mixer like a paint mixer. After mixing, let it settle for 8 hours. After settling, you can siphon or pump the biodiesel from the top. After washing, run it through a Racor fuel filter before burning it in your engine. The bottom part after settling is glycerin. A valve at the bottom of your barrel or container is useful to drain off just the glycerin. If you allow it to sit in the sun for a week to evaporate all the methanol, you can use it as a degreaser or to clean your hands.

Washing your biodiesel...

After the above process is completed, you should “wash” your biodiesel fuel to remove any residual soaps suspended in your fuel. The easiest way to get rid of the unwanted soap is to simply add water. The water will emulsify with the glycerin soap and settle to the bottom. So to perform the wash, simply spray an equal amount of water on top of your biodiesel and let it settle to the bottom for 12 hours. Drain the water off the bottom of your container with a valve and then repeat the process 2-3 times until the water drained off is clear. Heat your biodiesel up to 130° F for 20 minutes to evaporate any residual water and you are literally ready to go! Remember to filter it in a 5-10 micron filter before burning it in your engine.

Other ingredients...

Instead of using methanol, you can use ethanol. Ethanol is less toxic than methanol and is considered a “greener” fuel than methanol. Ethanol is “grain alcohol” and is usually made from corn which makes it a renewable fuel. Methanol is highly toxic and is made from fossil fuels or it can be distilled from fermented wood. That’s why it’s often called “wood alcohol”. Also... you can use potassium hydroxide instead of sodium hydroxide. I believe you’ll have to use 1.4 times as much potassium hydroxide as sodium hydroxide though. Make sure you do your “test batch” first!

Two more things....

1) What kind of engine do you need to use biodiesel... basically, biodiesel will run in any diesel engine unmodified. Biodiesel is a solvent, so if you put it in an old tank or use it with a diesel engine that has been running regular diesel, it may clean and dissolve some "residues" and then the residues will clog your fuel filter. Changing the filter often when you first start using biodiesel usually fixes this problem. Usually, manufacturers warranties are not voided when biodiesel is used, but check with your manufacturer to make sure. Sometimes a blend like B20 is required (20% biodiesel). Now if you are running straight vegetable oil (SVO), then you need to make modifications to pre-heat the oil to increase it’s viscosity.

2) The only other problem you might have is with natural rubber gaskets and hoses in vehicles made prior to 1992. The biodiesel may degrade these types of rubber and they may need replacing after a while. Newer engines have been modified (synthetic rubber) to stand up to the newer blends of diesel fuel that have been in use since 1992 and these engines will work fine with biodiesel

If you have been wondering how fuel-grade biodiesel works, you can be confident that it works just like regular diesel does. And like your normal diesel fuel, you can only use biodiesel in a car with a diesel engine, such as some of the older model Mercedes-Benz, and of course, many trucks.

But if you're looking for a way to save money in the face of rising fuel costs, then it might be worth thinking about getting a Diesel beater than you can use for your daily commute. What's more, you could actually save money by converting your car to run on straight vegetable oil rather than the processed and refined biodiesel. In fact, if you're considering diesel this is probably the best way to go because refined biodisel is actually hard to come by, but waste vegetable oil is plentiful and frequently free.

What is Biodiesel?

Biodiesel is a fuel that isn't made from petroleum. It's manufactured from vegetable oils. During the refining process, the vegetable oil is altered so that it will be able to work efficiently as a fuel source. The glycerin needs to be removed from the oil to reduce the viscosity of the fuel. Otherwise you car or truck wouldn't be able to use it properly.

Once the biodiesel is created, then it can be combined with petroleum diesel or used on its own. Frequently, if Biodiesel is available at the pump at a gas station, it will only be a small part of the diesel that you end up pumping into your tank.

Using Raw Vegetable Oil for Fuel

Raw vegetable oil can also be used to fuel your car or truck, either as straight vegetable oil (SVO) or as waste vegetable oil (WVO) which can be collected from restaurants and other places that use a lot of vegetable oil. In this case though, some modifications will need to be made to the vehicle since the glycerin will still be in the oil. In order to use SVO or WVO as fuel, you need to make sure that the viscosity is reduced before it gets to the injector.

Frequently, cars that have been modified to run on straight vegetable oil are referred to as Grease Cars by their fans. Imagine, running your car on grease! And if you have a ready supply of vegetable oil, your fuel costs could be reduced to virtually nil. In fact, if you have oil heat in your home, that can also be converted to take waste vegetable oil and since the cost of oil appears to be rising all the time, that's something else to think about.

How much did you spend on your last tank of gas?

If you are like most people in the US, then you probably are spending between $30 to $40 per tank of gas these days. Now most of us fill up at least once a week, and if you do the math, that can add up to over $1,000 per year on just gas!

What if there was a way that you could run on free fuel?

What if there was a way that you could reduce the effects of global warming at the same time by using an alternative fuel, like biodiesel--but better and way, way cheaper...(how much cheaper can you get than FREE!)...

Would you be interested?

Few people know that there is a readily available alternative fuel to gasoline that is available right now for FREE all over the country and is better than biodiesel.

Sound too good to be true?

I was originally very skeptical that this technology could actually work, so I read everything I could get my hands on. After years of research I finally took the plunge and converted my car to run on this free alternative fuel, and now--thousands of FREE miles later--I can unabashedly state that if you are paying for gasoline at the pump, then you are THROWING YOUR MONEY OUT THE WINDOW!

You don't have to pay $2.00 or more per gallon to drive a car!

By using vegetable oil fuel technology, you can literally drive on a waste product that other people are throwing away!

My friends tell me that this all sounds like "Back to the Future," and I admit that it is kind of similar, but let me ask you a question.

If you could drive for free and help the environment at the same time, would you?

Back in the early 1900's a man by the name of Rudolph Diesel invented an engine that could run on any type of oil or grease. Petroleum oil, peanut oil, canola oil, you name it--his engine could run on it. Not only was his engine versatile, but many of his original prototypes are still in operation today, almost a hundred years later!

This engine was named the Diesel engine after its inventor, and shortly after its premier the petroleum oil industry developed a type of fuel specifically for the engine and named it Diesel fuel. An environmentally-friendly version that was made from plant based oils rather than petroleum also became available called BioDiesel.

The world then promptly forgot that the Diesel engine could run on vegetable oils, since Diesel fuel was so cheap and easy to get at the pump.

But today, with the soaring prices of Gasoline, Diesel, Biodiesel, Kerosene, and home heating fuel, this alternative fuel technology has been rediscovered!

It is possible to run any Diesel engine with straight waste vegetable oil (also known as WVO or SVO) if a conversion kit is installed to make it a "GreaseCar." Vegetable oil or fryer grease is usuall free and it is readily available since many businesses and farmers throw it away as a waste product!

Isn't that weird?

I mean, can you imagine people throwing away gasoline? Can you imagine anyone throwing away home heating oil or kerosene?

It's absolutely ludicrous!

Every year in the US, the fast food industry alone throws away over six billion gallons of waste vegetable oil!

If you had a Diesel engine, you could use some of that as FREE FUEL!

Just imagine not having to pay for fuel again...you and your greasecar could take those long trips that you have been putting off because gas costs too much these days...

You could take the money you'd save on gas and use it to buy those sweet tires or that awesome stereo you've been wanting...

AND, at the same time you would actually be recycling! You see, using waste vegetable oil or grease as an alternative fuel is actually recycling a waste product. Instead of the waste oil going into a landfill you could be using it in a greasecar to commute to work. Instead of all of that oil from the local fast food restaurant going down the drain, you could use it to drive to the beach in your greasecar!

Since I converted my car to run on straight vegetable oil with a GreaseCar kit, I have driven literally thousands of miles without having to buy gas at a gas station. My friends are all amazed that it actually works, and they are all begging me to help them convert their cars!

There just aren't enough hours in the day for me to help them all personally, so I am publishing articles and information like this to help everyone save money and the world. Do a google search for WVO or for greasecar, or visit your local library to find out how you can join the revolution. It doesn't take much and you can reduce your ecological footprint and be the envy of every gas-guzzling friend around you!

In a time when oil supplies are beginning to be depleted, the need to have alternate or renewable fuel sources is beginning to have an effect on the kinds of cars being offered for sale to the public. There are very few in the public today who have not heard the terms "biodiesel fuel" or "waste vegetable oil" in regards to renewable energy sources that are currently being researched to try and find answers to the shrinking supplies of petroleum-based fuels.

Technically speaking, waste vegetable oil is a biodiesel fuel because biodiesel fuels are any fuels that are derived from vegetable oils or animal fats that run a "diesel" or compression ignition engine. The term Biodiesel is currently used almost exclusively for the product made by combining chemically-reacting lipids like vegetable oil or animal tallow and alcohol.

One important difference between biodiesel and waste vegetable oil is that biodiesel is formulated to be used alone or with petrodiesal blends in "standard" diesel engines and is different from the new vegetable and waste oils which are used to power diesel engines that must be converted specifically to do so.

To produce biodiesel fuels, the oils must undergo a process known as "alcoholysis" (sometimes called "transesterification"). In this process vegetable oils have the fatty acids separated from the glycerol components using ethanol (and sometimes methanol) to replace the glycerol with specific types of alcohols known as short linear alcohols. In its purest form, biodiesel has the designation (B100) or it can be blended with petroleum diesel at any concentration for use in most modern diesel engines.

Because of the different solvent properties that biodiesel has versus petrodiesel, biodiesel will cause damage to natural rubber gaskets and hoses in vehicles made prior to 1992. For this reason, these parts in older cars must be replaced with a kind which is nonreactive to biodiesel.

An unexpected plus is that biodiesel has been known to break down and clear out deposits of residue left in fuel lines where petrodiesel has been used before. Fuel filters in the engine might become clogged with particulate matter as a result, especially if a quick switch to pure biodiesel is made. Mechanical experts recommend that the fuel filters on engines and heaters be changed not long after first switching to a biodiesel fuel blend.

Additional advantages to the use of biodiesel fuels include the fact that water will not mix with it; biodiesel has a higher boiling point and flash point of (less than 266 ° F for biodiesel as compared to 147 °F for petroleum-based diesel or -52 °F for gasoline. It has practically no sulfur content and is often used as an additive for Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) fuel.

Waste vegetable oil (WVO), unlike pure plant oil (PPO) or straight vegetable oil (SVO) is a byproduct of other industries such as the deep fryers used in industrial potato processing plants, factories that produce snack foods and fast food restaurants. A majority of the enthusiasts who use it prefer to call the vegetable oil used for fuel as waste vegetable oil (WVO), particularly if it is the discarded oil recycled from a restaurant to better distinguish it from pure plant oil (PPO) or straight vegetable oil (SVO) commonly thought of as standard biodiesel

As of 2000, industry experts estimate that the United States was producing an amount in excess of 11 billion liters or 2.9 billion U.S. gallons. If this entire amount could be gathered up and used, it could be used to replace the equivalent amount of fossil-based petroleum, totaling almost 1% of the oil consumption in the US. The only theoretical drawback here is that the production of waste vegetable oil is limited by the amount that the industries can make as a byproduct versus pure or straight vegetable oil which is limited only by the farm production capacity of any given national economy.

Like the straight vegetable oil used as an alternative fuel for diesel engines, the viscosity of waste vegetable oil must be lowered so the proper atomization of fuel will prevent the incomplete combustion of the oil and the build-up of carbon that can ultimately damage the engine. Additionally, the free fatty acids (FFAs) found in WVO can have an adverse effect on metals. Copper and the alloys derived from it, like brass, are affected. Zinc and Metals like zinc, or those galvanized by zinc-plating are stripped by FFAs. In addition, tin, lead, iron, and steel are all susceptible, too. Stainless steel and aluminum are the only metals that seem to be immune to the effects of FFAs.

Ideally the engine on a car should be converted before using vegetable oil as a fuel. Most diesel car engines can use WVO, if fit with suitable modifications. One common solution is to reduce the viscosity and surface tension of the oil by preheating it, by the addition of a heat exchanger, and an additional fuel tank for "normal" diesel fuel (petrodiesel or biodiesel). It will contain valves to switch between this additional tank and the main tank which contains the vegetable oil. This tank and valve system is an aftermarket modification which costs around $1200 USD.

The engine is initially turned on with diesel, switched over to the vegetable oil when it is warmed up and changed back to diesel fuel shortly before turning it off to make sure that no vegetable oil remains in the engine or fuel lines so that it is read you start when it is cold again. For durability that is more long term, it has been discovered that it is best to increase the frequency of oil changes and to pay increased attention to engine maintenance, particularly when it comes to the fuel injectors, cooling system and glow plugs.

Although initially a little more expensive, as you can see, there are several advantages to using biodiesel or waste vegetable oil as fuels for vehicles. In addition to being a renewable resource, unlike fossil-based petroleum, these fuels also release fewer pollutants into the atmosphere which can worsen global warming.