Alternative Fuels

[M35A2]

Ok. I was wondering what other fuels you can run in a diesel, without modification?

We have;

Diesel, Petrol, Paraffin, Kerosene, Avgas, Avture, Veg Oil, White Spirit.

Now I know we can run Veg Oil mixed with petrol and diesel. I know we can run diesel with veg oil. I know we can run veg oil, if heated at 100%.

But what about paraffin, Kerosene, and the Avgases?

There are guys on my other forum that are mixing Soya Oil with Methanol for Bio diesel. So can't we mix say, Tesco's finest with Isopropanol? This link give some good information on different fuels.

Has anyone tried the Veg oil/Methanol/Isopropanol route???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_...haracteristics

[TonyN]

Ok. I was wondering what other fuels you can run in a diesel, without modification?

We have;

Diesel, Petrol, Paraffin, Kerosene, Avgas, Avture, Veg Oil, White Spirit.

Now I know we can run Veg Oil mixed with petrol and diesel. I know we can run diesel with veg oil. I know we can run veg oil, if heated at 100%.

But what about paraffin, Kerosene, and the Avgases?

There are guys on my other forum that are mixing Soya Oil with Methanol for Bio diesel. So can't we mix say, Tesco's finest with Isopropanol? This link give some good information on different fuels.

Has anyone tried the Veg oil/Methanol/Isopropanol route???

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diesel_...haracteristics

Hope they are removing the meth properly to make bio, it'll eat your engine otherwise.

Meth especially loves alumimium, guess that a 3.0 head is made out of?

[M35A2]

Hope they are removing the meth properly to make bio, it'll eat your engine otherwise.

Meth especially loves alumimium, guess that a 3.0 head is made out of?

Tony,

They are running M series Military Trucks with it. They are a multifuel engine, so can run on the stuff well. There was talk about burning the Meth off, but I don't understand how all this works. They are also talking about fuel pump cavitation, caused by minute air bubbles in the veg oil. Have you any ideas on that????

[TonyN]

I guess it comes down to the fuel pump, we've not had any issues running on SVO for the last 2 years in Toyota's. Can't speak for other vehicles though.

Very basicaly, meth/lye is mixed to make meth-oxide, this is then added to the veg and turns into gycerine that you drain off from the bottem of the mixture. Then reclaim the meth to use again in another process.

This is transesterification, and is the only way to legally get the lower tax break our so generous govnt grudgingly hands out.

[CaptainBeaky]

Very basicaly, meth/lye is mixed to make meth-oxide, this is then added to the veg and turns into gycerine that you drain off from the bottem of the mixture. Then reclaim the meth to use again in another process.

Err, no.
You mix up methanol and lye to get methanol in an alkaline aqueous solution. There is no real reaction here.
This then mixed, sometimes under heat and raised pressure, with the vegoil - chemically a fatty acid tri-glyceride ester.
The methanol reacts to displace the glycerol, which IIRC doesn't really dissolve in the alkali, but is saponified - ie made into soap, which is a salt of the glycerol eg sodium glyceride.
The "Soap" then drops out of the solution (hence you can pour it off from the bottom of the container) and this drives the reaction equilibrium to form the glyceride soap and the Fatty Acid Methyl Ester, which is your biodiesel.

The unused alkali you can re-use, once it separates out from the F.A.M.E., plus whatever of the methanol has not reacted.

More wine, waiter...

[fatfires]

Err, no.
You mix up methanol and lye to get methanol in an alkaline aqueous solution. There is no real reaction here.
This then mixed, sometimes under heat and raised pressure, with the vegoil - chemically a fatty acid tri-glyceride ester.
The methanol reacts to displace the glycerol, which IIRC doesn't really dissolve in the alkali, but is saponified - ie made into soap, which is a salt of the glycerol eg sodium glyceride.
The "Soap" then drops out of the solution (hence you can pour it off from the bottom of the container) and this drives the reaction equilibrium to form the glyceride soap and the Fatty Acid Methyl Ester, which is your biodiesel.

The unused alkali you can re-use, once it separates out from the F.A.M.E., plus whatever of the methanol has not reacted.

More wine, waiter...

Ehr???????????

[Apache]

Tony,

They are running M series Military Trucks with it. They are a multifuel engine, so can run on the stuff well. There was talk about burning the Meth off, but I don't understand how all this works. They are also talking about fuel pump cavitation, caused by minute air bubbles in the veg oil. Have you any ideas on that????

In typical cavitation (boat props etc) as the propeller blades move through water, low pressure areas are formed as the fluid accelerates around and moves past the blades. The faster the blades move, the lower the pressure around it can become. As it reaches vapor pressure, the fluid vaporizes and forms small bubbles of gas. When the bubbles collapse, they can cause very strong local shockwaves in the fluid, which may damage the blades over time. I find it hard to believe that a fuel pump pumping veg oil will produce these conditions, especially due to the higher viscosity involved - Unless there is air in the oil, which there shouldn't be.