anyone messing around with bio-diesel? or WVO?

[sasquatch]

does anyone on here make bio-diesel? ive been thinking about making bio or converting a truck to WVO... ive got a 2005 f250 with a 6.0L in it (yes its been "bullet proofed"... and I don't need to hear about its many "internet hyped up" flaws.... its a great motor, if you don't neglect to fix the egr cooler, if you let it fail, it screws the rest up... anyways....) I think im gonna be selling it soon because I can sell it for a lot more than I bought it for and im looking to buy a older 2002 7.3 for a sweet deal... I know the 7.3's are easy to make run on WVO or bio, so ive been thinking about brewing up some stuff... anyone here mess with this sort of stuff?

[FestYboy]

John Jacks, PU241 was in the midst of building a centrifuge separator/filter for waste oil. Not sure how far it got.

[lessersivad]

Sasquatch,

Yes I made my own biodiesel. Makes dang good de-greaser solvent. I would opt to go with a separate heated tank such as my former neighbor (recently moved after 30+ years) has on his 2000 F250.

Or simply have a separate unheated tank with a WVO/RUG (regular unleaded gasoline) mix. That's what I'm planning to do next.

The biodiesel worked pretty well in the warm months of the year but was a bit thick for colder weather. It also will help to dislodge years of crud in the fuel tank. I ended up putting in 3 new fuel tanks in 3 different Olds diesel powered vehicles I had.

The WVO/RUG mix is actually using the RUG to bring the WVO to the same specific gravity as diesel fuel at a determined temperature.

So at different given temps you would need different mixes/ratios of WVO/RUG.

I have the site I got the info from bookmarked and was going to link it but unfortunately the site is now MIA after at least 5 years so I can't help there.

One thing to keep in mind is to secure a good reliable source for the WVO. I have 2 places I pick up from on a bi-weekly basis (have been for a few years now) and make sure you can keep the schedule for pick up.

Even though I haven't been running it lately I was still picking it up on the regular scheduled times and giving it to my former neighbor to use in the F250. He even let me use the truck for free when I had to deliver a diesel generator set to Missouri. Total cost for round trip was around $30 for food and to top off the regular diesel tank!

I have approx. 2500 gallons of WVO in storage right now and I hope to start using it again if i ever get past many other projects I have going right now....LOL.

[lessersivad]

OK, I did find a posting about the WVO/RUG combo, copied and pasted;

I will note I recall from the original website Mr. McAmoil was very insistent that EVERY batch of oil be tested for EVERY temperature the fuel may be exposed to. This pretty much means having different batches for different temperature conditions which could get a bit fussy in the spring and fall with extreme temp swings in less than 24 hours. This is why I suggest having a 2 tank system. One for regular diesel and one for the WVO/RUG.

The hydrometer mentioned on the original site;

http://www.novatech-usa.com/Products/Specific-Gravity-Hydrometers/6602-4

COPIED AND PASTED PORTION BELOW;

Farmer using sunflower oil mixed with gasoline on his farm vehicles, using
specific gravity as his blend indicator
Daniel (sodbust) McAmoil

http://www.oilcrusher.5u.com/

Daniel's data
Fuel mix, temperature, specific gravity
50% gas/50% sunflower oil mix at -20f (-29c) has a specific gravity of .850
12.5% gas/87.5% sunflower oil mix at 75f (24c) has a specific gravity of .870
12.5% gas/87.5% sunflower oil mix at 170f (76.7c) has a specific gravity of .850
12.5% gas/87.5% sunflower oil mix at 190f (87.8c) has a specific gravity of .840

"I'm just using unleaded gas to thin the sunflower oil to match the thickness of #2 diesel so the injectors can do a good job of fogging it into the engine. I use a hydrometer calibrated from .820 to .890. Normal #2 diesel floats the hydrometer at around .850 to .865. ((I'm finding that most of the diesel fuel I'm getting this summer is down to .820 which tells me we are getting allot of jet fuel blended into our #2 diesel)). I just press, filter, add gas and go. No chemicals, washing oil, drying oil, or any engine adjustments, just as simple as
can be!"

"Every engine that I have used it in gains at least if not more than 25% power, and fuel mileage. My new R75 Gleaner with a M11 Cummins used 1 gallon an acre on regular #2 diesel, in comparison, on sunflower fuel, it uses just a tad over 1/2 gallon per acre. My '98 Dodge Pickup went from 16mpg with #2 diesel up to 24-26mpg on sunflower fuel. It's unbelievable!"

[sasquatch]

thanks for the info, ill look in to it further... but I have a question right off the bat... doesn't the gas mess up the injection pump? the diesel is what lubricates the insides of the pump, and if you put a solvent like gas in there, it cant get the proper lubrication it needs... no????

[lessersivad]

thanks for the info, ill look in to it further... but I have a question right off the bat... doesn't the gas mess up the injection pump? the diesel is what lubricates the insides of the pump, and if you put a solvent like gas in there, it cant get the proper lubrication it needs... no????

Well considering diesel here in the states anyway, uses (used) sulfur as a lube and now we are pretty much forced to run Ultra Low Sulfur, there isn't much lube in diesel to begin with. Now the original site claimed his 'Super Fuel' (fresh squeezed vegetable oil and RUG) had great lubrication properties.

Also I tend to run a quart of ATF in at least every other tank of fuel on my 1985 6.2 GMC for the extra lubrication.

I do remember he had never run WVO as he has his own seed press and farm so he could do the processing from field to fuel tank. He also made the remark he wouldn't consider running WVO because he liked his injector pumps too much. He was more concerned with possible salt content from the deep fryer oil than anything.

Yet my former neighbor has put at least 100,000 miles on his F250 with the heated WVO tank with no problems other than a couple of failed lift pumps and a failed tank/filter heater. The lift pumps were caused by getting too anxious flipping over to WVO before it was up to temperature (thick fuel) and the heaters were just electrical failures, one was replaced under warranty by the company (can't recall the name) that sold him the kit.

There's also and exchange of possible problems with ethanol in the fuel and older pumps in regards to the seals.

Here's the site I 'copied and pasted' from originally;

http://beyondbiodiesel.org/forum/index.php?topic=106.0

I really wish the original site was still up as it had a LOT of info as to the different experiments and results Mr. McAmoil saw when going thru the process.

I forgot to mention earlier that I did run a mix of 50/50 WVO and diesel fuel. Again, it worked good in the warmer part of the year but was a 'no go' in the cold.