Cooking oil cars turn the table on high fuel prices

AFP ^ | Virginie Montet

[CubaninMiami]

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A growing number of Americans are setting up mini-refineries in their homes to produce biodiesel, a fuel made from waste cooking oil which is cleaner and cheaper than the petrol sold in gas stations

The sky-high price of crude oil is scaring everyone.

Biodiesel has Hollywood backers like actress Julia Roberts and Morgan Freeman, is sung about by country star Willie Nelson but also meets the political correctness of the American right wing which has made the campaign against imported oil a mantra... ...

[painter]

He said it will take him awhile to get his money back.

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

1. Has anyone ever seen a tanker truck delivering vegetable oil to a McDonalds?

2. If not - if cooking oil is delivered to restaurants in gallon jugs instead of in bulk quantiy in tankers - that tells you all you need to know about the quantity of oil that could be avalible from a single restaurant.

3. If in fact a single restaurant disposes of enough used vegetable oil to fuel even one automobile, logically that automobile should belong to the manager of the restaurant. It is in his interest to have that vehicle for his own personal savings, and because the exhaust of an engine burning that fuel would make everyone hungry for freedom fries.

[B Knotts]

Biodiesel is not a "dirty fuel"; in fact, due to its slight solvent characteristic, it is a natural detergent, and cleans out the fuel system.

For older vehicles with large buildups of filth from years of running petrodiesel, this can be a problem, as biodiesel will loosen these deposits, and can clog the fuel filter or tank screen.

That's easy enough to remedy, though.

Biodiesel also has excellent lubricity, while the lubricity of ultra low sulfur diesel is questionable.

I don't run biodiesel right now because of the price. It is otherwise an excellent fuel, and if made in massive algae ponds in the desert/plains, could replace all our transportation fuel.

[B Knotts]

Well, like I said, they won't have to do that...they'll just shift the tax to a per-mile tax, and force you to have a GPS unit on your vehicle.

[B Knotts]

I assume Biodiesel is used in diesel and not gasoline engines. Correct?

That's correct. The diesel engine is the original "flexible fuel" engine. Rudolf Diesel designed the diesel engine to run on powdered coal, with a view to run it later on peanut oil.

[B Knotts]

I'm not sure what that means, but it sounds like you have to add alcohol to used cooking oil to produce biodiesel?

Yep.

Many people are now homebrewing biodiesel from various vegetable oil sources. Here's how it's done:

Collaborative Biodiesel Tutorial

[LurkingSince'98]

Correct!

[from occupied ga]

Biodiesel has Hollywood backers like actress Julia Roberts and Morgan Freeman, is sung about by country star Willie Nelson

Enough right there to tell you it is not a feasible energy option, but rather a sideline stunt instead

[weezel]

NAHHH! I misunderstood what he was saying. Those prices he quoted was to remove the trees, not to buy them.