Cooking Oil Substitute For Diesel

[Andrewcook]

 I have notice MC Donald's uses Cooking Oil that can be used as substitute from Diesel could this be a way forward to keeping the Diesel Engines s on the Boats for the future?

[grendel]

to use 100% cooking oil it needs to be processed to bring it to the correct specifications, a modern diesel car probably wont like cooking oil as it will upset the emissions control systems (and may clog up the fuel pump / filters.

you are allowed to manufacture diesel from cooking oil at a personal level, but there is a 2500 litre limit, before you will need to start paying excise duty on the fuel. if you share a vegetable oil processing plant then the limit is still 2500 litres a year.

I have been known (when sunflower oil was both cheap and available) been known to throw the odd 5l of it into the tank (that was when you could get 5l for £4.50) now, if you can get sunflower oil, at all, its probably more expensive than diesel.

the diesel engine was originally designed to be run on peanut oil.

the difference in viscosity of vegetable oil to diesel means that to run it neat, you would need to do some modifications to the systems, you would need a pre-heater in the pipework, some vehicles have a system to start up on normal petrol pump diesel, and then switch over to veg oil once the engine has warmed, then you need to switch back to normal diesel before shutting down.

its a nice idea in principle, but currently nearly everywhere is selling their waste cooking oil on already, mc donalds presumable collect it and process it, then pay duty on it as I imagine they use more than 2500 litres a year. once you exceed that amount then the regulations you need to follow also become a lot more stringent.

if you do useless than 2500 litres a year, it is still best to keep records for the tax people as they will require proof that you have not exceeded your quota.

@MauriceMynah would be the chap to ask as he used to process his own fuel.

to summarise - yes it can be done, but its not as easy as just filling your tank with cooking oil, there are a lot of other considerations to be made first.

[annv]

Hi And in older engine rubber seals might not cope. John

[Vaughan]

And as the cooking oil comes from Ukraine it might be in short supply. All the shops large and small, here in France, have already run out of mustard, for the same reason.

[grendel]

yes, no sunflower oil to be had here for love nor money, still vegetable oil on the shelves but not too sure which vegetable.

[TheQ]

In the summer I often put vegi oil in the Landrover, up to 50%. It's too thick for the winter..

Vegi oil has gone up in price but not as much as diesel.. so I'll probably continue this summer.

[MauriceMynah]

16 hours ago, grendel said:

yes, no sunflower oil to be had here for love nor money, still vegetable oil on the shelves but not too sure which vegetable.

It really doesn't matter which veg oil you use, though olive oil is just showing off.

Having said that, it is good practice to have a doorstep sample. When that starts to cloud, fill your tank to full. with pump diesel and stop using veg oil. Keep topping your tank up to dilute the veg oil for a while and all will be peachy and rosey. When your doorstep sample has remained clear for a while, return to up t a 50/50 mix.

If you have been caught out by a sudden cold spell, you can put petrol in as long as you don't go over about 15 to 20%

[Vaughan]

14 minutes ago, MauriceMynah said:

If you have been caught out by a sudden cold spell, you can put petrol in as long as you don't go over about 15 to 20%

This sounds more like "With a couple of sticks of jelly-ger-nite an' me old alarum clock"!

[annv]

Hi You should not put petrol in with diesel ! You can dilute with Paraffin up to %25 this was a BOAR army directive for cold weather to resist waxing. John