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
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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

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