For Veggie-Diesel Cars, All Grease is Not Created Equal
When I was asked to write for Gas 2.0, I jumped at the opportunity to share some of the experiences I’ve had during my greasy 10,000 mile odyssey in the 1983 Mercedes 240D, with a diesel engine converted to run on waste vegetable oil (WVO).
I’m often asked what kind of oil works best, so here’s a quick reference guide to different kinds of grease for your driving pleasure.
Waste vegetable oil gathered from restaurants is definitely not all the same. Or rather, by the time you get them, they have not all been “used” the same. So far, over the past six months, here’s what I’ve deduced:
- » See also: One Year and 15,000 Miles in a Grease Car
- » Get Gas 2.0 by RSS or sign up by email.
Asian Food Restaurants — Seem to have the cleanest grease. It’s usually still sort of pale golden color and doesn’t have a lot of food gunk floating in it. If you can get your WVO from a Chinese joint, I highly recommend it, as there will be less filtering/settling time involved in your whole process. And yes… your car will smell like fried rice.
Burger n’ Fry Restaurants — Most burger places are pretty diligent about changing out their fryer grease and keep it extremely clean. However, with any grease that has been used to cook potatoes, you need to be prepared to wait a few extra days for the H2O to settle out. Remember, water is denser than oil, so it will eventually drop down to the bottom of your barrel.
That being said, I’ve never waited more than a week after filtering before I pump the vegetable oil into my car. I know you’ve read that you should filter down to 0.000002 microns and wait three months for settling. Bollocks! 5 microns and two days is my average. Who’s got time for all that work and waiting? I haven’t had any issues yet, but maybe I’ll eat my words before winter is over.
Chicken, fish or anything with a lot of batter — This stuff is liquid death. I’ve recently obtained access to a huge supply of grease from a busy Italian restaurant that makes the best fried calamari around. All that flour is good on the calamari but bad for your grease. I usually can’t get more than 10 gallons filtered before I have to clean out my 5 micron sock filter. And the stuff that it leaves behind is evil. Sort of the consistency of thick apple butter. Very nasty stuff. Also, you will most certainly leave a trail of fish-smoke wherever you drive.
So, in summary:
-
Chinese — best
-
French Fry — good, but let the water settle a few days
-
Fish and Chicken (floured or battered) — God help you
Image Credit: Veganstraightedge’s Flickr Photostream under a Creative Commons License
Excelent article! I really wish I could afford to buy a diesel vehicle and convert it.
If you’re really interested in a cleaner oil to burn, you need to visit the Global Hemp Store website. They have an excelent video on hemp and it’s many great uses. Hemp oil is the cleanest burning that you can find. I’ll give you the link right to it.
http://www.globalhempstore.com/video/hemplands-conspiracy-dvd.html
I’ll quote part of the video description for everyone.
“This series features a rich archive of rare historic images and insightful observations by Ken Kesey, Dr. Thomas Clark, Gatewood Galbraith, Jack Herer, Woody Harrelson, Bill Maher and many others who follow the warp and weave of this fascinating, true story of how a simple green plant went from imported cash crop to sinister outlaw, to subsidized war hero, to counterculture dropout and may yet return as an environmentally friendly economic force once again.”
Ive been wanting to try oil from a Bakery in my 91 Jetta. The sweet smell of donuts would be great!
Very true, northern Wisconsin friday fish fry’s are hard on filters. It will also help if you can ask the restaurant to purchase none creamy oil.
In my experience Asian restaurants burn a lot more the oil, so you get more FFA.
Burger places do give you more water with their oil, very true.
Sea food restaurants, burn a lot less their oil and FFA are at very nice level. Though I agree is hard on filters…
[...] winter dumps her usual dose of cruelty here in New York’s Hudson Valley, like many drivers of veggie oil-powered cars, I have begun reading up on how to best prepare mine for the cold [...]
I enjoyed reading John’s articles. I, too, have a 1983 Mercedes 240D that runs smoothly and seemingly quieter on Waste Veggie Oil than petroleum- based diesel. There is a noticeable absence of smoke in the exhaust also. The purchase of this vehicle started as an experiment to satisfy my desire to use alternative fuels. The previous owner removed and cleaned the fuel tank, and re-built the injector pump rebuilt, along with a new cylinder head and liners, so I was off to a good start.
The fuel:
I learned to simplify the process of filtering my fuel by using a three-step method. I use the spent oil from a Greek cafe. I let it settle at least a week. I started out, after corresponding with another Florida WVO user, by blending the WVO 50/50 with B-20, or on-road diesel. As the process produced satisfactory results, I started increasing the ratio of WVO to B-20. I have recently used an 80/20 blend with positive results, so the next step is 100% filtered WVO.
The filtering process is similar to John’s.
I begin with a stainless steel fine mesh strainer to catch the floating contaminants, then the oil is poured through a nylon basket strainer….actually a reusable coffee filter. If I am blending with store-bought diesel fuel, this where the mixing is done. Lastly, I use a 12 volt 20 gph transfer pump with an in-line filter, identical to the primary fuel filter under the hood. This goes directly into the car’s fuel tank. I’ve done nothing to the car to convert the fuel system, given my southern locale (Tampa Bay area). With more than 10,000 miles driven, I am satisfied with this method. In colder months, I will most likely begin blending the fuel again, or possibly install a heated filter.