My partner and I are making our own biodiesel to fuel a Powerstroke, an older Ford pickup, two Mercedes and a tractor.

It's a bummer in the winter when we have to blend.

If you have more than one diesel vehicle it's a big advantage to make the fuel rather than convert each vehicle. It is a much cleaner burning fuel too.

 

This is true, i only have the one truck and I do have a tractor but i don't use it often to justify converting it.

 

Running veg oil straight is a risky move.. the folks who do it claim you just heat it up.. well ya.. but it leaves huge amounts of deposits in the engine and is very hard on the injector pumps.
I've seen two diesels myself that were for sale.. both run on straight veg oil and both had fuel system problems.

Vegetable oil is not recognized as anything but food stuff.

BioDiesel is recognized by the US Department of Energy as a "Direct alternative to regular diesel" and it is also approved in various percentages by almost all manufacturers.

Nothing wrong with running straight veg oil in an old diesel.. but anyone who buys a $30,000 or $40,000 truck and puts straight veg oil through it, isn't playing with a full deck of cards if you ask me.

 

powerstrokes don't have injector pumps... ever heard of heui?

 

If you heat it to the proper temp (160 degrees) then it will atomize properly and it will burn completly. It will leave carbon deposits IF you don't heat it properly. soy bean oil at 160 degrees has the same viscosity as diesel fuel and will inject the same and burn the same. I personaly can offer evidence of a motor with over 100k miles running straight vegi oil with NO coking.
For the most part that is true but it is becoming more known as a diesel fuel, after all, Rudolf engineered the first diesel motor to run on oil, not petro diesel.
My truck cost $32k so i'll assume you mean me? I admit it was a bit of an experiment and i was unsure of what might happen but I did enough reseach to a point i was 99.5% comfortable doing it that i pulled that trigger and 20k miles later on my 03 6.0 with no problems and free fuel and i wouldn't go back. I drive 2500 miles on a tank of diesel, how far do you go on a tank?
I do have the best (IMO) conversion out there as i don't want to compromise my $14,000 dollar motor.

 

I think burning wvo sounds interesting.
CHenry, what's the process? Do you drive to different places, fill a tank, go home and filter it or what?

 

Yes, sorta, I have two different resturants that I collect oil from, both are on my way home from the city so they call me when they change there oil in there fryers and I stop by on my way and pick it up. They put the oil back into the 5 gallon jugs it came in new and I toss those in the truck and go. I get about 50-60 gallons a week from them.
Then i take it home and pour it into a barrel where it heat it, let it settle - water and particles settle to the bottom and heating it speeds this up - then i pump it through a 5 micron filter to clean it up good and its ready to go in the tank.
Pretty simple the way i have it set up. My buddy and my dad just got started doing this too so they bring me oil and I filter it for them. Kinda like a little co-op.

 

what about in the winter time?

 

What do you mean? Collection in the winter? No issue with that.
The fuel system on the truck is heated to 180 degrees with waste engine heat via engine coolant so there is no issue with outside temps. It just takes longer in the winter for the truck to reach full operating temp to switch it from diesel to vegi oil.

 

That sounds pretty cool actually. I think the winter might pose more problems here though as it will stay below zero for awhile.