Delica Canada | Mitsubishi Van Club

OK, for your information;(taking from the website ,http://www.elements.nb.ca/theme/renewab ... roszko.htm) There are basically two common ways to use vegetable oil as a fuel in an engine. One way is to use straight vegetable oil, either waste fry oil or fresh-pressed oil. This requires an extra fuel tank and a system for heating and filtering the oil before it reaches the engine, because pure vegetable oil is too thick to work in the engine unless the oil is heated up. :( Another way is to convert the vegetable oil into biodiesel, which can be used in a diesel engine without any modifications:)

So,, taking vegetable oil for me and the bother with another tank, heating it, and you know what its going to do in minus 5 degree weather, this is not for me...then it goes on


Biodiesel is made from vegetable oil by a chemical reaction with methanol and lye (sodium hydroxide). It can be made using waste vegetable oil from the food industry, including french fry oil, or from fresh-pressed vegetable oil. It is now being made in commercial quantities of thousands of litres by numerous companies around the world. It can also be made at home with some fairly simple equipment and instructions. This requires care and caution because some of the materials are caustic (the lye), flammable (the methanol), and poisonous if ingested (both the lye and the methanol).

Pure biodiesel, called B100, works as a fuel in ordinary, unmodified diesel engines, but certain precautions have to be observed for good results. B100 has two characteristics that need to be considered: (1) it can dissolve neoprene rubber over time, so you would need to ensure that hoses and gaskets in the engine are made of another material, such as Viton, that is resistant to biodiesel; and (2) it "clouds" or "gels" at temperatures below about +5 degrees Celsius, so you have to be careful not to allow the fuel to get cold, or it will gel and block the fuel filter, preventing the engine from running until it warms up again. Other than that, there have been no serious changes in engine performance or durability reported from using B100.

** about the gel part in cold weather, that would be a good time to mix it with diesel and or other additives.
For Glenn, Schwa and anybody else, IS THIS WHAT YOU ARE INTERESTED IN?

Um, one thing I just have to add is straight WVO, in a converted vehicle, will run at lower temperatures then straight bio diesel.

Glenn, Schwa and the others seem interested in converting there vehicles to WVO and combining resources for WVO handling and processing. But, converting a vehicle to run WVO can cost similar, but most likely less then building a proper reactor to make and wash biodiesel. Buying a complete pre-made biodiesel reactor would cost more, or close to the same, as a professionally completed conversion. Don't hesitate to try a small, drug store sized batch of biodiesel; great thing do do with (old enough) kids. http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html

If you scroll down in my WVO post you'll find the 'ten commandments' of running WVO that should be followed.

Regards,
Kev

Thanks for all the info to loki scorpio, and Kevin. I haven't seen your post before, Kevin, - wow!, lots of info.

As for me, I am only interested in using straight WVO in a two tank vehicle. I have access to more used oil than I can possibly use (as much as 30gals a week). It's like some kind of magic trick - watch as I pour straight Veggie oil into my van for fuel.

While I have a good basic understanding of the van conversions necessary, and the available kits etc, I know very little about the filtering/de-watering end. Is there anyone interested in hosting a small field trip to their filtering set up? It also occurs to me that there may be an overcapacity for most set ups, perhaps with a little initiative, cost sharing, or even beer, something could be worked out to share filtering.

scorpio597 wrote:OK, for your information;(taking from the website ,http://www.elements.nb.ca/theme/renewab ... roszko.htm) There are basically two common ways to use vegetable oil as a fuel in an engine. One way is to use straight vegetable oil, either waste fry oil or fresh-pressed oil. This requires an extra fuel tank and a system for heating and filtering the oil before it reaches the engine, because pure vegetable oil is too thick to work in the engine unless the oil is heated up. :( Another way is to convert the vegetable oil into biodiesel, which can be used in a diesel engine without any modifications:)

So,, taking vegetable oil for me and the bother with another tank, heating it, and you know what its going to do in minus 5 degree weather, this is not for me...then it goes on


Biodiesel is made from vegetable oil by a chemical reaction with methanol and lye (sodium hydroxide). It can be made using waste vegetable oil from the food industry, including french fry oil, or from fresh-pressed vegetable oil. It is now being made in commercial quantities of thousands of litres by numerous companies around the world. It can also be made at home with some fairly simple equipment and instructions. This requires care and caution because some of the materials are caustic (the lye), flammable (the methanol), and poisonous if ingested (both the lye and the methanol).

Pure biodiesel, called B100, works as a fuel in ordinary, unmodified diesel engines, but certain precautions have to be observed for good results. B100 has two characteristics that need to be considered: (1) it can dissolve neoprene rubber over time, so you would need to ensure that hoses and gaskets in the engine are made of another material, such as Viton, that is resistant to biodiesel; and (2) it "clouds" or "gels" at temperatures below about +5 degrees Celsius, so you have to be careful not to allow the fuel to get cold, or it will gel and block the fuel filter, preventing the engine from running until it warms up again. Other than that, there have been no serious changes in engine performance or durability reported from using B100.

** about the gel part in cold weather, that would be a good time to mix it with diesel and or other additives.
For Glenn, Schwa and anybody else, IS THIS WHAT YOU ARE INTERESTED IN?

So your worried enough about WVO at -5 that you will use a petroleum product and a chemical reaction to get a product that will start clouding and gelling at around +5? also in Delica's if you plan to run B100 for an extended time you will likely want to change all your fuel lines and the seals in your IP as they are prone to corrosion with bio-diesel. You end up having to spend much more per litre than WVO and you still spend as much or more than it costs to convert for WVO and filtering on swapping lines, seals and getting a decent bio processor, plus it isn't as good for the environment as you are still using petroleum products from dino oil. You also don't need to have a second tank as there are single tank systems, I'm installing one in a week or so.

So WVO filtered with a centrifuge is not much more than it costs you to get the oil and way more environmental as everything you are putting in your tank is 100% post consumer.

just my 2 cents.

I'm interested in a WVO system, however I think it would be great to also produce biodiesel eventually since with a 2-tank WVO system you need regular diesel or biodiesel to start up and shut down on... I just picked up 60L of B100 for $60 on Galiano Island, price is going up to $1.25 though, so making my own would be sweeeeet.

I don't have space, or a lot of money but I do have a high volume source of waste canola oil.

I just recieved my NEW Centerfuge, for filtering wvo or biodiesel, I have previously been using filters to go down to 10 microns, but the difference in what the centerfuge finds in the oil compared to the micron filter makes me ill.
I will get some picts to show you , but WOW, im sure glad i bucked up for the centerfuge, we are looking at doing a wvo/bio-diesel co-op here in Vic and using the centerfuge for cleaning the oil. but thats still a couple of months off.
here is a pic of my new baby


Im VERY excited, and NO im not saying how much it cost, lets just say , I could have put a DP on a condo for cheaper lol

Wow, is that an Alfa Laval Mab 104? That couldn't have been cheap. Are you supplying filter WVO in Vic yet? There was a Delica owner in Vic looking for a source to fuel their cross country trek.

Adam wrote:Wow, is that an Alfa Laval Mab 104? That couldn't have been cheap. Are you supplying filter WVO in Vic yet.

Hey Adam, Yes, yes it is the alfa laval 104, nope it sure wasent cheap, but im in this as a life style , and want the cleanest oil i can make so I will be running ALL my oil through this baby,
I'm not selling filtered oil YET, but if the leasing all goes through nicely for the building then I will be selling filtered oil, and filtering oil for others .
Oh Adam, check your key board, I think there is some drool on it.....