Posted on 11/02/2005 2:05:01 PM PST by rightwingintelligentsia
A moped -- or hoofing it -- are not the only answers to the energy crunch. If you own a diesel-powered car, truck or SUV, salvation may be as close as your local greasy spoon.
It's possible to run a diesel engine on used -- albeit filtered and otherwise prepared for internal combustion -- fry oil, also known as Waste Vegetable Oil (W.Va.). There's also Straight Vegetable Oil (aka "SO" and a bit less stinky), a mix of grease and diesel -- or "biodiesel," which is also sourced from vegetable oil or animal fat.
The upside to "going greasy" is liberation from the tyranny of OPEC and $3 per gallon fuel; theoretically, you may never have to visit a gas station again.
The downside -- well, downsides -- are that fry vat fuels only work in compression-ignition (i.e., diesel) engines -- and that there's "some assembly required." You can't just pour "Mickey D High-test" into your tank and motor on.
But it can be done -- and it does, indeed, work.
The fact is that the inventor of the diesel engine -- Rudolf Diesel -- intended his design to run on vegetable oils. But vegetable-based fuels were supplanted by petroleum-based diesel fuel, principally because it was (at the time) a more effective fuel. And of course, at the dawn of the automobile age some 100 years ago, fossil fuels were both incredibly cheap and incredibly abundant. The United States produced more than enough to provide for its own needs; there was no OPEC -- and no worry about Middle Eastern oil barons, terrorism or dwindling supplies.
(Excerpt) Read more at site.aol.com ...
A couple weeks ago the French were complaining their wine is only good for fuel.
And your exhaust smells like french fries!
BTTT
Diesel has a HIGH! HIGH! pollutant output compared to the refine octane of the common ICE vehicle. The manipulation of information that comes with the hypocricy of "bio diesel" is worthy of ridicule.
Diesel produces more CO2, diesel engines (that aren't 3 inches thick) require more maintenance, and the Bio-Diesel has a by product, I forget which one, but it is either a major caustic compound, or a major acid. The same people who say that coal is killing the world (despite the advances in degassification) are gonna say it is okay to polute the world with these side affects.
I'm working off of faulty memory, can someone who knows a thing about chemistry support me please?
Keep in mind that Capone went to prison for tax evasion.
Eastman Chemical Co announced last week the production of Biodiedel fuel from Arkansas soybeans. Their inplant diesel trucks already run on the fuel.
They did a cost per mile test here in the UK with a variety of fuels, from compressed natural gas, to petrol, to standard diesel, to vegetable oil. Vegetable oil was by far the cheapest.
Regards, Ivan
My brother is currently working on a veggie oil system for his old Dodge diesel truck. He's found a restaurant where the owner will give him about 20 gallons of old oil per week.
He's got the tank, filters and line heater elements. I'll ping you once he gets it running and let you know how it turns out.
Vegetable oil is not all that cheap or abundant, that it could completely replace the petroleum-derived Diesel fuel.
But what could be a major player as a source of Diesel fuel in coming years is to send methane, a fraction of natural gas, through a "reforming" process, that converts the methane molecule, CH4, into long-chain hydrocarbons, say like C10H22, decane, which is a clear, sulfur-free, rather non-volatile organic compound, which with almost no particulate matter (soot) at all. What particulate does escape the combustion chamber could be burned in an afterburner that adds O2 to the exhaust stream.
WHy not. -I- pretty much run on cooking grease.
"While no one likes the New Jersey Turnpike ambiance of an idling diesel engine,..."
I always liked the smell of a diesel engine. : )
Major Components of diesel exhaust
Carbon dioxide, ID-172
Carbon monoxide, ID-210
Nitrogen dioxide, ID-182, NIOSH 6014
Nitric oxide, ID-190, NIOSH 6014
Particulates, NIOSH Sulfur dioxide, ID-200
Minor Components
Acrolein, OSHA 52, NIOSH 2539
o-Anisaldehyde
Benzene, OSHA 12, NIOSH
2,3-Benzofuran
Coumarin
Formaldehyde, OSHA 52, NIOSH 2539
4-Hydroxycoumarin
m-Hydroxyacetophenone
2-Hydroxy-4-methoxyacetophenone
Menadione
6-Methoxytetralone
6-Methylcoumarin
3-Methyl-2-cyclopentene-2-ol-one
Trimethylbenzene
Polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons, OSHA 58, NIOSH 5506, NIOSH 5515
Acenaphthene
Acenaphthylene
Anthracene
Benz[a]anthracene
Benzo[b]fluoranthene
Benzo[k]fluoranthene
Benzo[ghi]perylene
Benzo[a]pyrene
Benzo[e]pyrene
Crysene
Dibenz[a,h]anthracene
Fluoranthene
Fluorene
Indeno[1,2,3-cd]pyrene
Naphthalene, OSHA 35
Phenanthrene
Pyrene
anyone can make biodiesel for around 55-65 cents per gallon
Interestingly enough, the "progressive democrat" arkansas legislature is bragging about beginning to build a biodiesel plant and is planning on selling it for ....
$2.65 - $2.75 per Gallon!!! Gasoline is under $2.50 right now
There are several independent locations that make it for farmers in Arkansas but if you use it, you are NOT allowed on the roads .... it isn;t taxed.
The democrats are the "party for the people" -- only if they get all your money.
BUT ....
Where the hell are the republicans? Hello!??! ahem? Hey republicans - Where are you? The party of smaller govt and lesser taxes is SILENT!
At 50 - 55 mpg on ol' #2, I'll stick with diesel.
french fry exhaust BUMP!
I wonder if this is what Jane Fonda planned to run her anti-war bus on.
ROTF.....................
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