I was talking to this old guy, who apparently has been using his home-brewed biofuel in his truck(a early PSD Ford) most of the 1.6 million miles he had it. He says this stuff works good(easrier on things than ULSD, and a lot simpler to make than the usual methanol biodiesel), but before I make some myself, I'd like to see what you guys think.

Here's his recipe:
1. 5 gallons of WVO
2. 1 quart of Gasoline
3. 3 quarts of Diesel(ULSD)
4. 1/2 oz of Mineral Spirits
5. 1/2 oz of Naptha
6. 1 cup of SlickDiesel(white bottle stuff), especially in the winter, though this can be replaced by a bit more gasoline instead, in some variants.

He says mix it all together, then let it settle out. It'll settle out in just a few hours, and you can just pull the biodiesel right off the top, filter it, and go.

He says that the bit of mineral spirits, naptha, and gasoline produce some sort of catalytic reaction, which binds the glycerin and helps to make it settle out.

Now, I've seen others who have had good luck just mixing WVO and gasoline to the same specific gravity as diesel, but that is usually a bit higher proportion.

Any thoughts?

 

SNAKE OIL.....All he is doing is lowing the viscosity of the oil and making the heavy fats fall out faster.... Its still WVO when he is done.

Diesel Rod

 

Total and complete BS! He is NOT making biodiesel.....

 

That's what I expect. But will it work anyway like he says?
I mean, regular WVO works fine(in the 7.3 IDI, anyway), if you can heat it up. If you lower the viscosity to the point that it doesn't need to be heated, then that solves the main problem, as well as(I think) creating less wear on the pump.
If the heavy fats fall out, then they aren't there to create carbon deposits and such, right?

 

Sounds to me like just another 'blending' recipe. If you're dead set on giving it a try, here's what I would do. Go ahead and make the blend as described, and allow it to settle. Take a sample from the top and put it in a small glass and place it in your refrigerator. In a few hours you'll get to see what will end up in your fuel filter, IP, piston ring landings, and fuel lines, and how it might behave when you shut down and let it sit overnight in your engine. It's worth a try, but one thing's for sure, that is not biodiesel.

 

macrobb did you do anything with this? I can totally follow your thought process. Where are you? Here in Chicago - ish mine will have to be good -20 to 120* ambient temp.

 

Wow that sounds like a lot of work and expensive chemicals to make fuel. I use 10% diesel to thin it out so it will settle faster and thin out all the fats. Kerosine works better but its expensive around here. Since you have an idi why don't you do all the work up front and install a wvo fuel system in your tuck and just run straight wvo.

My wvo source has a lot of lard and animal fats in it so I heat it before filtering that way it goes through the filters and ends up in the truck and out the exhaust. I don't worry about getting the fats out just filtering it and thinning it out a little. You won't smell fries behind me just buffalo wings.

The system on my truck has 50gal tank in bed that's not heated. Heated line in a line from tank to pump. Separate filter before it goes through a 26 plate heat exchanger just to make sure its hot and then into the injection pump.

I've been running wvo for 3 years now. I burn through 30-50 gallons of the stuff a week.

 

The only mix I'll run until it warms up is 25% bio 75% regular diesel. Running another batch this Friday.

 

Idaho, and it's below freezing here much of the time. I don't think I'm doing anything until spring. My truck's hard enough to deal with when cold on regular diesel.
Let alone the problems of actually filtering the oil I've got at these temps.

Once it warms up enough to play with this stuff, it's experimentation time.

 

Veg and additives are said to polarize (turn to plastic) in some ratios but what ratio? have a buddy that lives in northern Montana runs stock fuel tanks, home made fuel line heater, including the tank (hot coolant and copper tubing) stock tank switch, and factory filter head with added heat. starts on diesel switches at the end of his driveway to veg 10+ years, switch's back to diesel five miles from home, parks in a heated garage manual trans has forgot to switch a few times, over the years, plugs it in and ethers it. he can turn off the extra heat and run all #2 on long trips, 1990 7.3 f350 4x4

 

I think you mean "polymerize."

Yeah, you can always find someone who is running WVO with copper and mild steel components for X number of years, but that is rare. The best thing to do is use aluminum components and fuel lines, and make sure you have a separate fuel pump and fuel filter for your veg system. And blends are a waste of time, money, and provide no real benefit. As one of the previous posts stated, if you fridge it, that'll tell you if the blend is not worth it.

 

Been running my work truck on a blend for years, lowers the viscosity rather well, stays mixed, and runs great even in the winter Portland/Salem Oregon.

For every 10 gallons Wvo, 1-1.3 gallons gas as a solvent and 10 gallons diesel to thin.

Runs fine through a number of vehicles, work and personal, PowerStroke, IDI, Mercedes, couple of the vehicles use solid state electric fuel pumps and have no issues with the blend. I've noticed a few of the vehicles run smoother on the blend than just regular diesel.

I'm practically between jobs at the moment so running blend in my truck is the only thing keeping me employed and just making it. Hope to have that good job by the end of summer to finally do the final few additions to run Heated SVO and the startup and shutdowns on Diesel.