Veg oil fuel ??

[Koi]

Dunno bout wording issues, could be... but many longtime UK vegoilers have already been thru this. Originally when the UK gov reduced the duty on biodiesel, most customs offices refused to accept that vegoil should be treated the same. Over time they seem to have clarified this and I believe most if not all not accept that it too qualifies at the same rate as biodiesel. I assume that they judge that once you put it in your diesel engine it becomes "designed for use in a diesel engine" but attracts the reduced rate.

I also have found out the work gets through about 50-100 litres of cooking oil a fortnight. Being used, would this need to be given any special attention before use??

[Morr]

Rick / Nigel,
From a combustion perspective the used oil is just the same as the new oil.
The used oil should first be filtered down to around 5 to 10 microns, to do this you will probably have to heat it to get it to pass thru such a filter, heating it thouroughly (and hot enough) will also remove any water content (often not visable as it is in suspension or emulsified).
The filtered used oil will also have a higher viscosity compared to new oil and so must be used in lower ratio's when mixed with dinodiesel, or ideally used in a twin tank setup whereby you start and warm up on dino, before switching over to veggie. Switching back ti dino again just before journeys end to flush the veggie from pump and injectors etc to allow easy resarting.

Morr - Veggie master

[Draig]

currently running a 25% mix (fresh oil pored straight into tank).

now my baby smells gooooorgeous too!

seriously had no probs with power etc and i reckon i'm saving about £4 per tankfull - which aint bad!

[ChasesDragons]

Here is some background stuff to add to the knowledgebase guys.

http://danalinscott.netfirms.com/vegoil.htm
http://www.veggiepower.org.uk/selecting.html
http://www.northwales.org.uk/bio-power/taxation.htm
http://www.goatindustries.fsnet.co.uk/svoreport.htm

I plan to buy 200l drums of Biodiesel from a couple of guys in Manchester on a bi-monthly trip. At 75p a litre, I guess I will save a tiny bit of money, but get greater satisfaction from kicking the Oil powers + Taxation in the swingers

BTW, check the net for a story about a poor biodiseler who's truck got attacked by bears 'cos of the smell!

Good luck ppl
Udhi

[kitesurf_phil]

I have just found out that I can have the used oil from a guy who runs three takaways. I just need to get the filter system built. Mrs KS says if I start another project she is going to kick me out, so I could save an absolute fortune!!!!!!!

I've had a measure up of the lock-up and I can't get two 45 gallon drums on top of each other. I was considering two plastic loft water tanks built onto a suitable frame. The idea being to pump the WVO into the top one and let gravity do the work of getting the oil down through the filters. Are coffee machine filters any good for the initial rough filtering as I have a source for those? I have also found out that the standard Zook 410 air filter is washable so it wouldn't be a great feat of engineering to bodge a suitable housing. I haven't had so much fun since I built my wind generator.

[ChasesDragons]

I think Coffee filters have been mentioned on a site in relation to WVO filtering perhaps a quick Google search should bring somink up. But I am quite sure that you will have to do a 5 or 10 micron filtration before the stuff enters the fuel tank.

I think that the WVO needs to be filtered at a 60 Deg C to get the best effect BTW. Perhaps you could source a water heater/leccy heating element type thingy to that end?

I have just placed an order for a book on Biodieseling, looking forward to it.

Is the KZN130/KZN185 Direct Injection? Have heard that DI isnt a good choice for using Biodiesel on......

[ChasesDragons]

Just for ewe

http://journeytoforever.org/biodiese...html#homebrews

[carbonman]

Was just wondering....

Anyone know the position on doing a ferry crossing to france and buying a whole STACK of vegetable oil...??
Would you be able to do that?
Might save a few quid. So far i have phoned a number of wholesalers and can't get the price below lidls!!!

[ChasesDragons]

Carbon,
My finance skills arent too good (heck, I plan to run a 3.0TD!), but it really has to be a STACK - mebbe 1000 litres to make it barely break even?

Dunno where you are based, but there could a biodiesel supplier local to you.

[da SLUG man]

I think that the WVO needs to be filtered at a 60 Deg C to get the best effect BTW. Perhaps you could source a water heater/leccy heating element type thingy to that end?

..

why not use a small hot water tank?... they've already got a heater set to 60 degrees c

[MrHankey]

Dunno bout wording issues, could be... but many longtime UK vegoilers have already been thru this. Originally when the UK gov reduced the duty on biodiesel, most customs offices refused to accept that vegoil should be treated the same. Over time they seem to have clarified this and I believe most if not all not accept that it too qualifies at the same rate as biodiesel. I assume that they judge that once you put it in your diesel engine it becomes "designed for use in a diesel engine" but attracts the reduced rate.

We tend to have the vehicle inspectors parking up near Chelsea Bridge and on the North Circ at Ealing and they have one of those detector thingummyjigs. Would they be able to detect veggie oil in the fuel? If they can detect it would they know it was different from biodeisel bought from a pump or could you just say you had filled up at a biodeisel pump (having previously found out where they are located etc)? Erm... just curious is all :-)

[Morr]

why not use a small hot water tank?... they've already got a heater set to 60 degrees c

These are often used both for heating the oil prior to filtering and in the construction of biodoesel processing plants.
Also popular is using an immersion heating unit in a 40 Gallon drum for both purposes, this gives far greater capacity than the hot water tank. On the plus side for the hot water tank, assuming its the copper type, is that it will last much longer than the steel drum, which can eventually rust out from the water in the oil dropping out as it is heated.

[baw]

Thinning veg-oil with BD?

Morr, from reading this thread you seem to have a lot of experience with vegoil. I have been using small amounts in my 96 3.0TD 3rd gen without problems. I understand that you have to use a thinner oil to stop the vegoil gelling in cold weather. Is there any reason you couldn't use biodiesel for this purpose rather than dinodiesel? Just chasing the holy grail of total carbon neutrality!

Marcus

[max6674]

Just read all 14 pages of this post and thought I would do some searching on the net for conversion kits and I have come accross this one.. 100% veg oil:

http://www.rainbowtradingpost.co.uk/...w%20it%20works

Im going to give it a go tomorrow I think, lets see how much veg oil the local supermarket will let me buy in one go...

[Morr]

Morr, from reading this thread you seem to have a lot of experience with vegoil. I have been using small amounts in my 96 3.0TD 3rd gen without problems. I understand that you have to use a thinner oil to stop the vegoil gelling in cold weather. Is there any reason you couldn't use biodiesel for this purpose rather than dinodiesel? Just chasing the holy grail of total carbon neutrality!

Marcus

My experience on veggie is not all-encompassing, but I have done a fair bit of research too



Using Biodiesel to thin the veg-oil all year round would indeed be the ideal situation. You may even be able to do this in the winter, depending on the temperatures reached. Bear in mind that biodiesel naturally has a higher gel point than DinoDiesel so unless anti-gel additives (not too easily available) are used you will not be able to use it to thin your veggie for use at temperatures as low as thinning with dino will allow.

I’ve never used biodiesel myself (hoping to change this soon enough), so have no experience of using it to thin.

Are you thinking of purchasing or manufacturing this biodiesel?