WVO / Waste Vegetable Oil as Fuel
Raw Power Centrifuge
The Truth about WVO as Fuel
Raw Power Centrifuge Gives You
"The Three Biq WVO Questions"
What is required for My Diesel to use WVO as Fuel?
This depends on your evaluation regarding how cold your weather gets to how much heat will have to be used in your vehical conversion. The system “required” for a $2000 300D is going to be quite different than what is “required” for $4500 F350. That said, this is your options:
- Single tank - Just put it in and go/blend it with diesel/blend it with something else. There appears to be some merit to “thinning” the WVO however, it is general opinion of the community that while this is the lowest cost “conversion” it is also the most risky and should be avoided if possible.
- Single tank with heated filter, injector line heaters and fuel/coolant heat exchanger. This is very popular with the 300D crowd and provides good usability with acceptable reliability. Weakness in this system is in the initial startup, cold un-burnt WVO will be in contact with cold combustion chamber and cylinder walls. Ultimately, piston ring contamination and coking will occur and leading to lubrication oil contamination and pre-mature engine failure.
- Two Tank system with manual switches. Engine can be started on diesel or biodiesel then, when the engine is to running temperature, can be switched over to WVO safely. The heat in the engine will produce higher combustion temperatures and more completely consume the WVO drastically reducing contamination. At the end of the trip, the engine must be switched back to diesel/biodiesel and residual WVO must be consumed leaving only diesel in the engine and thus ready for cold starting. Weakness of this system are the human factor in switching over to WVO before the engine is sufficiently heated and back to diesel without allowing sufficient time for complete purge of WVO from the engine.
- Two Tank system with automated control. Same as above except electronics using sensors and timers control the switching on to and off of WVO. This will provide the highest degree of reliability when combined with a completely independent WVO system from the stock diesel fuel system.
I have a WVO Source / What else will I need?
In addition to converting your vehicle, you are going to need to set up your infrastructure to collect, process, store and possibly distribute your WVO. Your time is going to be the issue here. Sitting down and planning this out now will save you time and money later. The amount of oil that you are going to be moving at any one time is the key and you will need to size your operation around it. Standardize your operation to one of: 5 gallon cubies, 55 gallon drums or 275 gallon totes. Your storage area should be sized to hold at least a month’s collection capacity. Anticipate that pumps move WVO at half their rated (no load) flow rate and should be sized to transfer your container in less than half an hour. Your WVO cleaning/processing system should be able to handle one container at a time without refilling. If in doubt, size up.
What are my options for filtering/processing the WVO into fuel?
Once again, the volume of oil that you are going to deal with is going to be the critical factor in sizing your cleaning/filtering system. If you are dealing with cubies, you can probably get away with filter bags, if you are dealing with 275 gallon totes, you are going to want a centrifuge. Either way, the longer you let the WVO settle the better off you will be. Always transfer from the top of the container and discard or process sediment separately. In many cases, heat may be required to liquefy the WVO for any significant processing; mechanical filters should always beheated and centrifuges are much more effective with heated WVO. Up front planning should focus on minimum human interaction and use of gravity if possible.
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