There are at least three methods to run a diesel motor on biofuel utilizing veggie oils, animal fats or both. All 3 are used with both fresh and used oils.

1. Use the oil just as it is-- normally called SVO fuel (straight veggie oil);

2. Mix it with kerosene (paraffin) or petroleum diesel fuel, or with biodiesel, or mix it with a solvent, or with gas;

3. Convert it to biodiesel.

The first two methods sound simplest, but, as so typically in life, it's not rather that basic.

1. Mixing it

Grease is far more thick (thicker) than either petro-diesel or biodiesel. The function of mixing it or mixing it with other fuels is to lower the viscosity to make it thinner so that it streams more freely through the fuel system into the combustion chamber.

If you're blending veg-oil with petroleum diesel or kerosene (very same as # 1 diesel) you're still utilizing fossilfuel-- cleaner than the majority of, however still not clean enough, numerous would state. Still, for every single gallon of

veggie oil you utilize, that's one gallon of fossil-fuel conserved, and that much less climate-changing carbon in the environment.

People utilize various mixes, varying from 10% grease and 90% petro-diesel to 90% vegetable oil and 10% petro-diesel. Some individuals just use it that way, start up and go, without pre-heating it (that makes veg-oil much thinner), or perhaps use pure veggie oil without pre-heating it, which would make it much thinner.

You may get away with it with an older Mercedes 5-cylinder IDI diesel, which is a really hard and tolerant motor-- it won't like it but you most likely will not kill it. Otherwise, it's not sensible.

To do it effectively you'll require what totals up to an SVO system with fuel pre-heating anyhow, preferably utilizing pure petro-diesel or biodiesel for starts and stops. (See next.) In which case there's no need for the blends.

Blends with numerous solvents and/or with unleaded gas are "experimental at best", little or absolutely nothing is understood about their impacts on the combustion qualities of the fuel or their long-lasting effects on the engine.

Higher viscosity is not the only problem with utilizing grease as fuel. Veg-oil has different chemical residential or commercial properties and combustion characteristics from the petroleum diesel fuel for which diesel motor and their fuel systems are developed.

Diesel engines are high-tech devices with extremely precise fuel requirements, especially the more modern, cleaner-burning diesels (see The TDI-SVO debate).

They're tough but they'll only take so much abuse. There's no assurance of it, however using a mix of approximately 20% veg-oil of excellent quality is stated to be safe enough for older diesels, especially in summer season.

Otherwise using veg-oil fuel requires either an expert SVO solution or biodiesel. Mixes and blends are normally a poor compromise. But blends do have a benefit in winter.

Similar to biodiesel, some kerosene or winterised petro-diesel fuel blended with straight vegetable oil reduces the temperature level at which it starts to gel. (See Using biodiesel in winter) More about fuel blending and blends.