Q&A: How to Get Started with Biodiesel?

This reader seems to have read at least one of my various articles about biodiesel. For those of you who don't know: biodiesel is basically an alternative fuel meant as a replacement for conventional petroleum diesel fuel. Biodiesel is derived from an organic source, usually vegetable oil.

Surprisingly, most folks think biodiesel is "new" technology - when in fact it is more than 100 years old! For more details, read about it in this article.

WORD OF CAUTION

Surprisingly, I meet and talk with loads of people who are excited about biodiesel because they saw it in the news. They want to try it. But somehow they missed out on the fact that you cannot run biodiesel in any car.

Repeat: Biodiesel will not run in just any old car.

I've known folks who who've tried running diesel or biodiesel fuel in their regular gasoline car with disastrous results. Likewise I've seen it the other way around (gasoline on a diesel engine) with equal disaster.

If you are thinking about using biodiesel in your car, please be sure your car at least has a diesel engine.

And now my reader's question...

THE QUESTION

Dear John,

Thanks for the great article: The Scam On Biodiesel Engine Conversion!

This is probably one of: those who are skirting the edge of wimpdom - being brave enough to try biodiesel, but who are making excuses not to try it cases. But I am planning on letting our company car run on bio diesel. Therefore we have to know for sure that it will work and that it will not brake or damage our brand new Toyota Quantum 2008 Diesel.

So just to get this straight; is it correct that:

If we collect oil from lets say: snack bars, fast food- and other restaurants, filters this with for example; the greasecar filter.

Then put 5% paint thinner to the recycled vegetable oil.

A new Toyota Quantum 2008 would run on it without the so called conversion kits or any other conversions because the paint thinner works like pre heating the recycled vegetable oil? Therefore this mix can be used instead of normal diesel without anything more to it?

I am looking forward to your response!

Kind regards,

Cris

THE ANSWER - "NO" - BUT NOT NEVER

Cris,

Sorry for the late response. Been extremely busy on a project that left me little time to write in response to many other reader emails, let alone live a life. Now that the project's over, I can be a human...

To answer your question, my answer must be NO. But this does not mean "never".

Do not proceed as you propose in your email for at least 3 reasons. In sum, these reasons have to do with:

1) Does Your Car "Like" Biodiesel?

2) Do you have a "Pure" Waste Vegetable Oil Source?

3) Can You Chemically Clean Out Your Waste Oil?

Cris, I can see you wish to be careful in experimenting with biodiesel. I'll give you some pointers on how to do this in the following paragraphs...

DOES YOUR CAR "LIKE" BIODIESEL?

First of all, I must point out there is no sure and fast way to say that biodiesel is the way to go in your diesel-engine vehicle. Why? Not all diesel cars are made the same.

NOT ALL DIESEL CARS ARE MADE THE SAME

It goes without saying that you can have varying degrees of "success" with biodiesel.

For example, my car runs fine on 100% biodiesel. However, I do notice that biodiesel is not as zippy for my car as regular petroleum diesel. Also, my mileage per gallon (MPG) goes down by one or two miles. I have my theories as to why this is so - but I won't go there. Because both of these setbacks don't bother me, I consider my use of biodiesel "successful".

Keep in mind that other folks might not have this problem in their diesel cars. But others would find any kind of lowered performance unacceptable - too "gray" an area to deal with. To accommodate for all this gray area, I suggest you make certain to establish the fact that your Toyota van "likes" biodiesel in a most basic way.

To do this, expensive as it is, I would suggest first running the engine under controlled circumstances on plain food-grade vegetable oil bought from a food store or restaurant supply.

VEGETABLE OIL FREEZING UP - GELLING

If you are running your Toyota diesel van in cold conditions under 50 degrees Fahrenheit, then add the 5% paint thinner as described in my article to that vegetable oil content to ensure you do not experience cold weather gelling.

(TIP: An added benefit of paint thinner is that it reduces the chance of biological organisms (such as algae) growing in your fuel tank.)

The Scam On Biodiesel Engine Conversionarticle does not deny the issue of cold weather gelling, nor contest the need to deal with it. Everyone who burns biodiesel has to deal with gelled fuel, especially jet aircraft. My article merely offers a cheaper and perhaps easily reversible perspective on running biodiesel in your car without wastefully spending loads of money on a so-called "biodiesel conversion kit".

START OFF CAREFULLY

What I mean above by "controlled circumstances" means a situation where you are running your van in moderate temperatures, using a clean vegetable oil fuel that has not been used for cooking or otherwise. "Clean" meaning a vegetable oil containing no solids (particles) nor gums (visible in several forms perhaps as thick stringy residues that sometimes settle out to the bottom of a storage container in which the oil is sold).

Start with small proportions (say, 5% by volume) of clean store-bought vegetable oil, and with success, progressively build your way up to 100% vegetable oil content. Afterwards, continue running in this capacity for a sustained period - say, for a few weeks.

IMMEDIATE POWER LOSS MAY BE TEMPORARY

As you progress, things I would pay attention to would be loss of power, fuel consumption efficiency, or anything else deviating from normal engine operation.

Depending on how drastic any side effects are, you may decide to call it quits or retreat to rethink the biodiesel question. My suggestion is to keep an open mind, and not to draw hasty conclusions on biodiesel. Case in point...

When first using biodiesel, one immediate possibility is a loss of power or engine quitting. Don't panic! This is most likely due to a clogged fuel filter, which is normal. If your vehicle has been running some time on regular petroleum diesel, there will be an accumulation of dirt, scum, and other waste floating around in your fuel tank. These contaminants are naturally captured by biodiesel and get sent out to the fuel filter where they are stopped from entering and damaging your engine. As a minor consequence, this chokes the fuel filter and results in power loss to the engine.

No reason to be alarmed, as this loss of power typically does no damage to an engine. Just be sure you drive your first few veggie-powered kilometers in an area where a sudden power loss will not put you in any danger in traffic.

Fortunately, a clogged fuel filter can be easily remedied by changing out to a new filter. Be sure to carry one or two new filters with you when starting out. I went through two filters when I first started out.

ON YOUR WAY!

After perhaps several weeks of operating on upwards of 100% vegetable oil, you have established two things:

- Your diesel-engine van can run on "ideal" (clean, store-bought) biodiesel, and

- Your engine can run on biodiesel containing glycerol content.

Proceed with caution and be patient. As it had been with my experiments with home-produced biodiesel, you can eventually use it on a continuous basis as a replacement for regular petroleum fuel.

Have fun!

- John

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