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Emissions for grease cars are considered "carbon neutral" because the carbon dioxide absorbed by the plants grown to generate the vegetable oil exceeds the carbon dioxide released when the oil is burned (http://www.livescience.com/environment/071231-gas-converters.html)

http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/VW_Beetle_Greasecar.jpgRobin Lloyd – livescience.com – Dec. 31, 2007

Move over gas-guzzlers. Make way for grease cars, the latest do-it-yourself auto trend for eco-conscious drivers.

Grease cars are diesel (http://www.livescience.com/technology/060414_coal_diesel.html) vehicles converted to also burn leftover food-grade vegetable oil (aka SVO for straight vegetable oil), which you can often get free from local restaurants. Grease car conversions and fueling take some leg work, but advocates say in the end you save money, help the environment and consume less "foreign oil."
The first grease cars were developed in 1980 on a Volkswagen Golf in Germany, according to www.Elsbett.com (http://www.Elsbett.com), but thousands of Americans have grease cars nowadays, said Cynthia Shelton, director of the California-based National VegOil Board.

Some "greasers" are financially motivated, while others, such as conservation biologist Sacha Spector and his writer wife Daphne Uviller, converted to take global-warming matters into their own hands.

"Last January, I was out on my lawn and it was 70-something degrees, and I was thinking, 'I've got to be part of the solution (http://www.livescience.com/environment/top10_emergingenvironment_technologies-1.html). This is ridiculous,'" Spector said.
… http://www.livescience.com/environment/071231-gas-converters.html

I wonder how this compares to vegetable-oil-based biodiesel? I get the feeling they're just running it on oil and not converting it to "proper" biodiesel.

Also, I'm liking the license plate :D.

yeah that is a nice plate. I have heard of this, but I would be worried about gelling.

The only healthy place for partially-hydrogenated oils (i.e. Crisco) is to run it through an engine. Putting it through your body is slow suicide.

Harry

The only healthy place for partially-hydrogenated oils (i.e. Crisco) is to run it through an engine. Putting it through your body is slow suicide.

Harry
I agree. And the way oil prices are going, hydrogenated oils could be cheaper to use as fuel. Whats the emissions like from this stuff? If it's anything like what my body produces after the stuff, then there could be a problem! :D

SVO and WVO's days may be limited on newer engines with high pressure fuel injection. The oil doesn't handle being compressed and then squeezing through injector holes 1/1000 of an inch in diameter very well. It can end up making a gooey mess of carbon in fuel pumps and on injectors and valves. Even on the 15000 psi 1.9 TDI, some people are seeing damage after 50k miles. (Others have gone much farther without damage though, which suggests the quality of the kit and oil is probably a factor.) With the new i-CTDi and other engines in the 25000 to 30000 psi range, things may get messy much faster. Plus, I don't know how the new emissions control systems coming out will react to the exhaust. I would only consider running a WVO or SVO system on older, non-direct injection engines if I were to do it.

Hi Mike:

___The upcoming 2.0 TDI will not be allowed to use anything over B5 for a number of reasons the engineers would not tell me much about?

___Good Luck

___Wayne

How about a veggie oil battery-charger engine for a Chevy Volt? That would make it the ultimate green car!

My neighbor that has the snowplowing business that I drive for is going to be this route next year after he moves to his new place. All the trucks being considered for this are 2004 or older, so that gives him a little leeway. His front end loader and skid steer are pre-2000, so they are no problem.

Hi Wayne, two ideas come to mind. First, I think high amounts of biodiesel also have a tendency to gum things up, but to a far lesser degree than vegetable oil. I think my car is only allowed up to B5 but I would not have any worries if I put in B20. I think most diesel engine manufacturers only allow up to B5 on their warranties. A handful of agriculturally related companies such as John Deere, New Holland and even Cummins allow up to B20.

The second idea that came to mind was emissions. Biodiesel increases NOx emissions. Most companies are probably be just under the limit for NOx, so they would probably want to limit the use of a fuel that would lead to increased NOx.

My neighbor that has the snowplowing business that I drive for is going to be this route next year after he moves to his new place. All the trucks being considered for this are 2004 or older, so that gives him a little leeway. His front end loader and skid steer are pre-2000, so they are no problem.

I don't know how your neighbor plans to deal with cold weather. From what I recall from being a short order cook in high school a lot of waste oil isn't exactly liquid at room temperature. Winter plowing doesn't sound like one of the easiest applications for grease fuel. From what I've heard straight biodiesel is better, but still has temperature issues.

This sounds good but the reality is that there really isn't that much cheap waste cooking oil out there. A town of 15,000 with a number of greaseburger places might be hard pressed to produce 100 gallons of such grease a week.

Also biodiesel homebrewers are paying restauranteurs for their grease now, so cheap grease is a thing of the past.

It does work OK with old style mechanical injection in the summer. You have to heat the grease to get it to flow. Start your engine on dino-diesel. Once the grease tank warms up, you switch over. Before you shut down, you go back on dino-diesel to purge the grease out of the fuel system so you can start it later.

Looks to me like converting grease to bio-diesel would be a lot easier.

Hi Big Dave:

___Except with the caveat Mike brought up in an earlier post. The new high pressure common rails coming down the pike are not meant to run any Bio or grease mixtures for some reason. The warning includes the injectors but there was something else about the cylinders, crank case, exhaust and after treatment. I will try and get this nailed down with more details in Detroit early next month during a private get together with the VW/Audi reps the first night of NAIAS 2008.

___Good Luck

___Wayne

I found some more information on what happens in the crankcase. Apparently, small amounts of the WVO can get by the rings and mix with the engine oil. After a while, heat can cause the vegetable oil can polymerize into a gooey mess, which would certainly not be good for any engine parts. Monitoring oil and shorter oil change intervals are important in keeping a vegetable oil fueled engine running properly. Here are a couple pictures of some very polymerized oil in a crankcase from vegetable oil. I don't know the history on how long vegetable oil was run or how the vehicle was maintained.
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/image062.jpg
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/image063.jpg

And valves from a 1.9 TDI with about 80k miles, 50k or which were on WVO.
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/500/valves.jpg

gelling and crust that engine will run great. My coworker runs b20 I wonder what his engine looks like.

Hi Mike:

___Holy $@$*, those valves and whatever is sitting in that pan looks wicked! Note to self, Veggie oil will never be placed into a modern Diesel I will ever have the chance to drive!

___Good Luck

___Wayne

No kidding. That stuff is scary!

Where did you find those photos, Mike??

I don't know all the particulars of the kit that he is getting, but I do know that he is talking about ending up with a mixture of about 50/50 dino-veg oil. I'll show him the pics...

The ugly valves came from WVO no more-My Tragic Greaser Story (http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=186108) on TDIClub. His cams were scarred, which doesn't seem to happen on those engines unless an improper engine oil is used. He could have had some polymerization from the veggie oil which affected lubrication, leading to that damage. He also has some serious turbo and piston damage but I don't think that's related to the vegetable oil.

The black goo is from a German website that discusses the TDI engine. The pictures come up on occasion on TDIClub when somebody asks about running a modern direct injection engine on vegetable oil.
http://fatty-fuels.ubitco.de/TDI-Probleme/TDI-Probleme.htm#_Toc116102110

koreberg, if your co-worker is getting good fuel, he shouldn't have much to worry about. I don't see many problems cropping up, even from people who have run B100. I would look for fuel meeting ASTM D6751 when purchasing biodiesel so that I know the fuel at least meets some specification in some way. Biodiesel and vegetable oil are completely different animals when it comes to what they can do to an engine.