Make your own Biodiesel Part 1
There are at least 3 methods to run a diesel engine on biofuel using vegetable oils, animal fats or both. All three are utilized with both fresh and used oils.
1. Use the oil just as it is-- normally called SVO fuel (straight veggie oil);
2. Mix it with kerosene (paraffin) or petroleum diesel fuel, or with biodiesel, or mix it with a solvent, or with fuel;
3. Convert it to biodiesel.
The first 2 techniques sound simplest, however, as so typically in life, it's not quite that basic.
1. Mixing it
Grease is far more viscous (thicker) than either petro-diesel or biodiesel. The function of mixing it or mixing it with other fuels is to reduce the viscosity to make it thinner so that it flows more easily through the fuel system into the combustion chamber.
If you're mixing veg-oil with petroleum diesel or kerosene (same as # 1 diesel) you're still using fossilfuel-- cleaner than many, however still not clean enough, lots of would say. Still, for every single gallon of
grease you use, that's one gallon of fossil-fuel conserved, which much less climate-changing carbon in the environment.
People use various blends, ranging from 10% vegetable oil and 90% petro-diesel to 90% veggie oil and 10% petro-diesel. Some individuals simply use it that way, launch and go, without pre-heating it (which makes veg-oil much thinner), or perhaps utilize pure grease without pre-heating it, which would make it much thinner.
You might get away with it with an older Mercedes 5-cylinder IDI diesel, which is an extremely difficult and tolerant motor-- it won't like it but you probably won't kill it. Otherwise, it's not wise.
To do it effectively you'll require what amounts to an SVO system with fuel pre-heating anyhow, ideally utilizing pure petro-diesel or for starts and stops. (See next.) In which case there's no need for the mixes.
Blends with numerous solvents and/or with unleaded fuel are "speculative at finest", little or nothing is known about their impacts on the combustion qualities of the fuel or their long-lasting impacts on the engine.
Higher viscosity is not the only problem with utilizing vegetable oil as fuel. Veg-oil has different chemical residential or commercial properties and combustion characteristics from the petroleum diesel fuel for which diesel engines and their fuel systems are created.
Diesel motor are state-of-the-art makers with really exact fuel requirements, especially the more contemporary, cleaner-burning diesels (see The TDI-SVO controversy).
They are difficult however they'll just take so much abuse. There's no warranty of it, however using a mix of up to 20% veg-oil of great quality is stated to be safe enough for older diesels, particularly in summer season.
Otherwise using veg-oil fuel needs either a professional SVO solution or biodiesel. Mixes and blends are normally a poor compromise. But mixes do have an advantage in winter.
Just like biodiesel, some kerosene or winterised petro-diesel fuel blended with straight grease reduces the temperature at which it begins to gel. (See Using biodiesel in winter season) More about fuel mixing and blends.