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multiple words and phrases SVO basics
- Alphabet soup
Please support - The choice -- biodiesel or SVO
Journey to - Fuel quality
Forever - Titration for SVO
- click here - Filtering
The SVO problem
- 'Just put it in and go'
- Mixing fuels
- Veg-oil blends
En español Two-tank SVO systems
Biocombustibles, Single-tank SVO systems -- recommended
biodiesel
Two-tank SVO kit resources
The SVO vs biodiesel argument
Biofuels Oil extraction and oilseed presses
Biofuel mailing list -
subscribe
SVO references
Biofuels Library Diesel information
Biofuels supplies and Fats and oils
suppliers The TDI-SVO controversy
Biodiesel Introduction
Make your own
biodiesel Vegetable oil can be used
Mike Pelly's recipe as diesel fuel just as it is,
Two-stage biodiesel without being converted to
process biodiesel.
FOOLPROOF
biodiesel process The downside is that straight
Biodiesel processors vegetable oil (SVO) is much
Biodiesel in Hong more viscous (thicker) than
Kong conventional diesel fuel or
Nitrogen Oxide biodiesel, and it doesn't burn the
emissions same in the engine -- many Journey to Forever uses an Elsbett
Glycerine studies have found that it can single-tank Straight Vegetable Oil fuel
Biodiesel resources damage engines. system from Germany.
on the Web
Do diesels have a BUT it can be done properly and safely -- IF you get a professional engine
future? conversion. (See below.)
Vegetable oil yields
and characteristics There are other approaches, here are the main ones:
Washing
Biodiesel and your 1. Just put it in and go.
vehicle
Food or fuel? 2. Mix it with diesel fuel or kerosene then just put it in and go.
Straight vegetable oil
as diesel fuel 3. Blend it with an organic solvent additive or with what some
Heaters, burners, companies call "our secret ingredient that we'll tell you about if you
stoves pay us" (several versions) or with up to 20% gasoline (petrol), just
-
put it in and go.
Ethanol
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Ethanol resources on 4. The only way to use veg-oil is in a properly installed two-tank system
the Web where the oil is pre-heated and you start up and shut down on diesel
Is ethanol energy- fuel (or biodiesel).
efficient?
--
Wood gas -- We've never had much time for Nos. 1 to 3 (more below), and we've had a
producer gas two-tank SVO kit for a couple of years that pre-heats the oil and switches
the fuel, but we never used it. They do work, but we just didn't think it
solved the problem very well, and the more we learnt about it the more we
Home didn't think so. (More about two-tank SVO systems.)
What people are
saying about us Along with many others, especially in Europe, we think pre-heating the oil is
About Handmade still not enough to ensure that it will combust properly inside the engine. It
Projects needs a complete system including specially made injector nozzles and glow
Sitemap (text only) plugs optimised for veg-oil, such as the professional single-tank SVO kits
from Germany. Then you really can just put it in and go.
Projects
Community In March 2005 we installed a single-tank SVO system from Elsbett
development Technologie in our TownAce (1990 Toyota TownAce 1.9-litre 4-cyl
Why we're doing this turbo-diesel 4x4 van). The kit includes modified injector nozzles, stronger
Rural development glow plugs, dual fuel heating, temperature controls and parallel fuel filters,
Fixing what's broken and it does just what it claims to do.
City farms
Edible cities There's no waiting or switching fuels from one to the other, just start up and
Organic gardening go, stop and switch off, like any other car. It starts easily and runs cleanly
Everyone can grow their from the start, even at sub-freezing temperatures. It can use SVO or
own food
biodiesel or petro-diesel or any combination of the three.
Composting
The Wheel of Life
The professional single-tank SVO kits are the only SVO kits we
Small farms recommend. Read on and we'll tell you why. We'll tell you about the other
The way forward
available options too.
Small farms library
Classics on organic
See: Single-tank SVO systems.
growing, soil and health
(full text online)
Biofuels SVO basics
Fuel for the future
Solar box cookers Alphabet soup
Sun power saves lives
and trees SVO - straight vegetable oil used as diesel fuel (usually new oil, fresh,
Trees, soil and water uncooked)
Healthcare for mountains
Seeds of the world PPO - pure plant oils, same as SVO: PPO is the term most often used in
No seeds, no food Europe
Appropriate
technology WVO - waste vegetable oil (used cooking oil, "grease", fryer oil, probably
What works and fits including animal fats or fish oils from the cooking)
Project vehicles
The workhorses UCO - used cooking oil (what we called it in the first place until everyone
started calling it WVO, even if it wasn't necessarily all vegetable)
Internet
Why it really matters IDI - Indirect Injection diesel engines: the fuel is injected into a pre-chamber
Internet interaction or swirl-chamber before going on to the combustion chamber. Pre-chamber
Finding your way engines are more tolerant of SVO than swirl-chamber engines.
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Schools projects DI - Direct Injection diesel engines: the fuel is injected straight into the
combustion chamber. DI diesels are less tolerant of SVO than IDI engines
Introduction
(see The TDI-SVO controversy). Types of DI diesels:
Biofuels TDI - Turbo Direct Injection
Solar box cookers CDI or CRD - Common-rail Direct Injection
Backpack stove PDI or PD - Pumpe Düse Unit Injection (Direct Injection, each injector has
PicoTurbine its own pump)
Low-tech radio
What to do with a The choice
cardboard carton
Sisters of silk The basic choice for running diesels on biofuels:
Silkworms in a
shoebox ● make biodiesel and just use it, no need to convert the engine, or
School gardens ● convert the engine so you can run it on SVO -- no need to process
School composting the fuel.
Trees and forests
The Beach House It's not quite that simple. For instance, if you want to use waste vegetable
fish pond oil, which is often free, you're going to have to process it anyway, though
HOMeR less so than to make biodiesel. And it still might not be very good fuel.
Eco-footprint
School and youth More on the choice between biodiesel and SVO.
programs on the
Web One of the great advantages of biodiesel is that it will run in any diesel
Education engine. The same claim has been made for two-tank SVO fuel systems:
resources on the "Ready-to-install kit that will allow you to run any diesel on waste vegetable
Web oil." Also in any weather.
Vendor's claim:
"The Racor filter that comes with the Greasel kit filters down to 28
microns. If the oil being used is dirty, the Racor will do its job and
protect your pump and injectors."
"I wouldn’t do it. They put that original 5-10 micron rating on there
for a reason."
"We do not recommend using the 30 micron as the final filter at any
time. As the final filter, that micron rating will cause problems with the
injection equipment in terms of wear/injector plugging, etc. We
recommend using the Fuel Manager 5 Micron element (there are
many lengths to choose from) as the final filter. If the system is Generated by www.PDFonFly.com
'common rail' then we recommend using the Fuel Manager 2
Micron."
Diesel engines last a long time, half a million miles or more is not unusual,
and there are not many thorough, long-term studies of the effects of using
straight vegetable oil in diesel engines. What is clear is that "any diesel" is an
exaggeration.
The older IDI diesel engines are generally more suitable for SVO use,
especially 1980s Mercedes and VWs. Newer DI engines can be converted
for SVO use, but not just any SVO system will do the job properly. See
Single-tank SVO systems. See The TDI-SVO controversy.
Avoid SVO systems containing copper parts -- not because the oil will
damage the copper but because the copper will catalyse the oil. See
Copper and SVO.
Fuel quality
But suspended particles and water are not the only impurities in used oil.
There are serious contaminants that filtering won't remove.
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For instance, acid contamination can and will damage your engine. Filtering
has no effect -- zero effect -- on the acid content of the oil.
● The German PPO fuel standard (see above), the only existing quality
standard for SVO, sets a maximum acid value of 2.0 mg KOH/g.
● Elsbett Technologie says oil that's too acidic can affect the lube oil.
● Engine damage of a car using the BioCar SVO system was traced to
a supply of soy oil which was not the usual food-grade oil and had a
high acid content. "An examination of the defective sections found
substantial surface erosion of the hardened steel high pressure parts,
which are not acid-proof."
http://biocar.de/info/warnung1.htm
The acid value depends on how much Free Fatty Acid (FFA) the oil
contains. The standard level of FFA for food-grade oil (new oil) is low, but
with used oil the amount of FFA it contains depends on how long it was
cooked and the temperature it was cooked at, and it varies widely. See
What are Free Fatty Acids?
With experience you can tell quite a lot about the quality of oil from its
appearance, colour and smell, but the only way to know the FFA level is to
test it. The easiest and best way is to use the same titration test used in
making biodiesel. (See below, Titration for SVO.)
The titration test measures how much alkaline lye (NaOH, sodium
hydroxide) is required to neutralise the acid in the oil. The less lye it takes,
the lower the acid level and the better the oil quality.
It's said that oil with a titration of more than 3.5 ml NaOH solution should
not be used with an SVO system, it's too acidic and will contain too much
water, both of which can damage the fuel system, and the water might not
be easy to boil off.
We think 3.5 ml NaOH solution is too high, the limit should be 2 ml. There
are standards for petroleum diesel fuel and for biodiesel fuel, as there should
be, but for SVO there's only the German PPO fuel standard, which
excludes WVO altogether. Use oil with low acid levels.
The higher the titration result, the more water the oil is likely to contain, and
the more difficult it will probably be to remove the water. Used oil that
titrates at 2.0 ml NaOH solution or less will contain little or no water.
Don't take chances, learn to titrate your oil, and if it's too acidic find better-
quality oil.
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Titration for SVO
Titration is the best and easiest way to check the quality of used cooking oil.
It measures the acid content of the oil (Free Fatty Acid or FFA). It's quite
simple and easy to do.
Chemicals
Caution: Pure lye is used as drain cleaner, it's very caustic and can burn
your skin. The 0.1% lye solution you'll use in the test is very weak, not
dangerous. Lye quickly absorbs water from the atmosphere, close the
container as soon as possible and keep it tightly sealed. Always keep all
chemicals away from children.
Equipment
Procedure
Unless you have very accurate scales, it's not easy to measure exactly 1
gram of NaOH. It's much easier to measure 5 grams accurately than 1
gram.
Measure out 500 ml of distilled water into the measuring beaker. Add the 5
g of NaOH. Stir until clear. (This is still a very weak solution, but avoid
breathing in any fumes formed while it mixes.)
This is called a stock solution. Keep the stock solution in the 500 ml glass or
HDPE bottle with tight-fitting cap, mark it clearly: "Lye stock solution".
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Before doing the titration measure out 5 ml of the stock solution into the 50
ml measuring beaker, and add 45 ml of distilled water. This makes 50 ml of
0.1% NaOH solution. Pour it into one of the small beakers. Stand the
beaker in warm water in one of the basins.
Using a syringe, add exactly 1 ml of the used cooking oil you're testing to
the isopropanol.
How to use a syringe: First draw the syringe plunger back about
1/8" (2 mm) to take in some air. Then put the end in the oil and fill the
syringe.
Hold it up level with your eye, preferably with a well-lit white wall in
the background, keep it vertical, and carefully empty a few drops,
drop by drop, until the bottom of the surface meniscus is level with
the 1 ml mark.
When emptying the syringe into the titration vessel, don't empty it
completely -- the one millilitre volume ends at the end of the scale,
which leaves a little extra in the spout. Empty the syringe only to the
end of the scale, with the bottom of the surface meniscus level with
the 0 mark.
When the mixture has warmed up, stir until all the oil disperses and it
becomes a clear mixture.
Using the third syringe, add the warmed 0.1% NaOH solution drop by drop
to the oil-isopropanol-phenolphthalein solution, stirring all the time. It might
turn a bit cloudy, keep stirring.
Keep a close check of exactly how much of the NaOH solution you're
adding. Keep on carefully adding the NaOH solution until the solution starts
to turn pink and stays pink for 15 seconds. The pH of the solution is now
8.5.
A result of less than 2 ml 0.1% NaOH solution means it's good oil, safe to
use as fuel. Oil that titrates at more than 3-3.5 ml is too acidic, find a source
of better quality oil.
Filtering
We use WVO with our SVO fuel system (Elsbett), but we don't pre-filter it.
We think filtering is a waste of time and it doesn't work very well anyway
(see above re Free Fatty Acid, for example). If you use good quality waste
oil there's no need to filter it, settling it works just as well or better.
The final fuel filters in our Toyota TownAce last a long time using this
method, and we've had no problems.
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First, for SVO fuel we use high-quality WVO, with low Free Fatty Acid
levels. Our WVO comes from several sources, and titrates at between 0.5
and 3.5 ml 0.1% NaOH solution. The oil we use for SVO titrates at less
than 1.5 ml (we use the rest to make biodiesel).
The higher the titration level, the more water, impurities and suspensions the
oil's likely to contain, and the longer it will take to settle. Gravity settling
works well with oils titrating up to 3.5 ml NaOH solution and more. At
higher levels than that you shouldn't be using that oil anyway, it's too acidic.
If you don't have time to wait for the oil to settle, usually 1-2 weeks, it could
be worth increasing the WVO supply and reserves to make the time.
The restaurants here in Japan get their cooking oil in standard-sized 18-litre
metal cans, and that's how we get the used oil from them, in the same cans.
Other countries use similar sized plastic containers or plastic "cubies" for the
same purpose.
Whether cans or cubies, store them somewhere the oil can settle
undisturbed for up to 2 weeks.
I allow the WVO to settle in cubies for a week. (A cubie is the 4.5
gal (17.7L) plastic container that veg oil is delivered to restaurants in.)
I then pour the top 80% of each cubie into a 55 gal drum and
consolidate the bottom 20% of 5 cubies into 1. Most of this will be
ready for the barrel the next week. I have 4 WVO barrels. One is
settled, two are settling, and one is being filled. I pump WVO out of
the settled barrel from the top 3/4. This oil is very clear and requires
very little drying.
I recently helped someone get off the ground making biodiesel. He's a
tinkerer, and came up with an elaborate filtering/dewatering system. I
repeatedly suggested that he trust gravity. He was away for about 10
days and when he came back he called to tell me that he couldn't
distinguish the oil from the top half of an unfiltered cubie from his
filtered oil. Getting rid of his filtering setup has made room for a
settling tank.
We do it much the same way, settling the WVO in the metal cans, then
pouring it from the top. What's left at the bottom is re-settled.
We use a 55-gal (200-litre) steel drum for storage, but we don't pump the
WVO out from the top. The drum has a bottom drain fitted with a 6"-high
3/4" standpipe (15cm-high x 1.9cm), which leaves any sediment on the
bottom of the drum undisturbed. Every now and then we drain the drum to
the top of the standpipe, then remove the standpipe and drain the drum
completely, sediment and all. The "bottoms" are resettled the same way, first
in 18-litre metal cans. Generated by www.PDFonFly.com
The final sediment can be used as fire-starter, or added to the compost pile.
Avoid drying oils or semi-drying oils with a high iodine value (see Iodine
Values), which can polymerise to form tough epoxy deposits, not good for
engines.
Raw oil straight from the oilseed press has to be degummed and deacidified
before use. See Fats and oils.
Many SVO users fit an extra filter upstream with a coarser grade, with the
final filter the same rating as the original. Check fuel filters often, especially in
cold weather when waxes can clog up the fuel system.
SVO is less winter-hardy than biodiesel (which itself isn't very winter-
hardy). Vegetable oils have higher cloud-points at which they start to gel
(turn solid) than biodiesel made from the same oils. See Oils and esters
characteristics. The same cold-weather solutions apply for SVO as for
biodiesel -- see Biodiesel in winter. See Winterized biodiesel for
preparing WVO for winter use.
With diesel engines unburnt fuel can mix with the engine lubricating oil, and
SVO can degrade the oil. Check the engine oil often. Some SVO users pay
for regular engine oil analyses.
If the fuel is too thick it will not atomise properly when the fuel injectors
spray it into the combustion chamber and it will not combust properly -- the
injectors get coked up, leading to poor performance, higher exhaust
emissions and reduced engine life.
There are many different approaches to solving the problem -- including not
admitting that there is a problem in the first place:
Myth: Just put it in the tank -- any inline injection pump is happy on
cold veg-oil, they don't mind starting on cold oil, especially with an
older Mercedes.
"I am tired of hearing people say that they can dump veg-oil in an old
Mercedes, do nothing, and it will be fine. It's abuse of a fine engine, it
causes poor, smoky cold starts, the emissions will not be as favorable
as they should be, and the starter, glow plug, lift pump, battery, and
injection pump will all be subjected to higher than usual stresses."
We agree.
Mixing fuels
Myth: Mix it with diesel fuel or kerosene, then just put it in and go.
Examples:
● "I use 90% WVO and 10% kerosene as my standard summer fuel."
● "Your cold starts will begin to deteriorate, your filter will probably
start plugging, your injectors will get coked up, setting the stage for
ring sticking, glazing of the cylinder walls, increased lube oil
consumption and eventual engine failure -- if you can continue to get
the thing started in the morning. More than 20% or so veg-oil in the
diesel is not a good plan for more than short term 'experiments'."
● "Mixing veg-oil and diesel isn't advisable unless you heat all the fuel."
We've said much the same: "You'll need what amounts to an SVO system
with fuel pre-heating anyway."
Veg-oil blends
The solvent was white spirit (mineral turpentine), with 3% added to the veg-
oil to lower the viscosity and also to lower the flash point so the engine
would start easier.
"The often mentioned 3% mix of white spirit does nothing other than
make you think your 'modified' fuel is doing no damage to your fuel
pump." (Oct 2005)
More details here from some folk who believed it and paid their money:
http://greasecar.com/forum_topicview.cfm?frmtopicID=3349
The recipe: mix WVO with 10% kerosene, 5% unleaded gasoline, a cetane
boost additive and the secret ingredient, which as SVO users discovered
turned out to be... xylol paint-stripper and moth balls, long touted as miles-
per-gallon improvers for gasoline engines.
Maybe it even works, but again, for how long? Where are the long-term
test-results for safe use of these chemicals in "almost any engine" as
claimed? As one source rather kindly puts it: "Long-term durability and
detailed exhaust emissions data is incomplete." The same comments still
apply: "experimental at best" and "steer well clear".
Adding gasoline to veg-oil is a more recent trend, with some people using
mixes of 10-20% unleaded gasoline/petrol to 80-90% veg-oil.
The more important point is not so much how freely the fuel might move
through the fuel lines and injector pump but how it burns when it reaches the
combustion chamber, and little is known of the effects of these additives or
of gasoline on combustion in a diesel engine along with unheated (or heated)
veg-oil. As usual, there are no long-term results.
One user damaged the injector pump of his Vauxhall Astra TDI after using
only 100 litres of a mix of 80% WVO, 10% denatured ethanol, 5% butanol
and 5% gasoline. Injection pump manufacturer Bosch prohibits the use of
any alcohol-blended fuel with the Bosch VP44 injection pump. Whether
such cautions apply to other solvents being used as veg-oil fuel additives is
unknown.
"Just put it in and go" methods might make some sense for someone out to
save ready cash on fuel bills without much concern for possible longer-term
costs. But biofuellers should be finding the best ways, as most are, not just
the easiest and cheapest ways.
Apart from the cash costs to the user, what are the ecological costs of
replacing a diesel engine 20,000 miles or 50,000 miles or who knows how
many miles sooner than it should have been necessary, starting from raw
materials extraction through each step of manufacturing and supply, with
heavy fossil-fuels use every step of the way? You wouldn't be doing
anybody any favours.
The more people use straight vegetable oil, with whatever system, good or
bad, the more likely it is that the car manufacturers will start to take some
notice and begin to realise that there is a market for true multi-fuel capability
diesel engines, and put some research & development effort into it at last.
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But in establishing what works and what doesn't work, some are likely to be
left along the wayside with the remains of what didn't work. They'll be
heroes in the cause of real straight vegetable oil diesel engines that anyone
can use, not just enthusiasts -- manufacturer-made, supplied and warranted
diesels that can run on petro-diesel, biodiesel or straight vegetable oil, in any
blend, without any fuel-switching or fuss: fill 'er up, switch on and go, stop
and switch off, like any other car.
The engine is started on the petro-diesel tank and runs on petro-diesel for
the first few minutes while the vegetable oil is heated to lower the viscosity.
Fuel heaters are electrical or use the engine coolant as a heat source. When
the fuel reaches the required temperature, usually 70-80 deg C (160-180
deg F), the engine is switched over to the second tank and runs on SVO.
One of the few truly scientific studies available found that veg-oil must be
heated to 150 deg C (302 deg F) to achieve the same viscosity and fuel
performance as petro-diesel: "Atomisation tests showed that at 150 deg C
the performance of the rapeseed oil is comparable with that of the diesel
oil." See the European Advanced Combustion Research for
Energy from Vegetable Oils (ACREVO) study:
http://www.nf-2000.org/secure/Fair/F484.htm
That's double the temperature the two-tank SVO systems use. At only 70-
80 deg C. veg-oil is still much more viscous than petro-diesel -- six times
more viscous in the case of rapeseed oil (canola), the oil specified in the
German SVO fuel quality standard.
Some two-tank kit vendors in North America admit that their systems are
still experimental. They point to rising mileage figures by an increasing
number of users, and the data is becoming quite impressive, but few cases
yet approach the high mileages to be expected of diesel engines.
For long-term use, two-tank SVO kits are probably adequate for some or
possibly many IDI (Indirect Injection) diesel engines with suitable injection
pumps. Not recommended for Direct Injection engines. See The TDI-SVO
controversy.
Whatever their technical merits and shortcomings, two-tank kits are better
for longer-distance driving than for short stop-and-start trips.
Single-tank SVO systems are suitable for both Indirect Injection (IDI) and
Direct Injection (DI, TDI, PDI) diesel engines.
Journey to Forever uses a single-tank SVO system. They're the only SVO
kits we recommend.
Elsbett Technologie
Elsbett began investigating vegetable oil as an alternative fuel with the Oil
Crisis of 1973. In 1979 it started production of a pure vegetable oil-fueled
engine, the Elsbett Multi-Fuel Direct-Injected passenger car diesel engine, a
3-cylinder, oil-cooled engine with Direct Injection and an integrated
injection system (unit injectors, each with its own fuel pump) which ran on
petro-diesel or straight vegetable oil. Elsbett began converting other diesel
engines to run on vegetable oil or diesel fuel in 1980.
Elsbett says a "technically skilled owner" can install the kits. You can do it if
you're used to working on engines, have the usual mechanic's tools and can
follow a wiring diagram, though you'll need access to an injector pressure
tester (0-400 bar) to check the opening pressure of the injectors, or find a
diesel mechanic to do it for you, or to do the whole job for you.
WOLF Pflanzenöltechnik
"Using SVO in TDIs and PDIs it not an issue when using proper
conversion technology and proper SVO fuel quality, meeting the
limits specified e.g. in the German RK standard. Proper conversion
includes injectors, glow plugs, timing and other fuel settings.
"We have converted several TDIs and one PDI with SVO single-
tank systems plus heater (boiler) for winter starts. The PDI is a Lupo
3L 1.2, and has been running on Faroe Island for more than a year
now.
"Some of the TDIs have passed two years and about 100,000 km.
We have imported one TDI from Germany with more than
330,000km on SVO with a single-tank system.
"Two weeks ago I tried the new VW Touran 2.0 PDI (4 valves/cyl)
with a single-tank SVO system. It was very convincing, both the start
and driving. The German company who converted it (VWP) claims
that they make the type emission approval for all their conversions,
which for this car is EURO4.
"SVO professionals claim that the high injection pressure with PDIs is
not an issue. If you study the German '100 tractor
programme' (VWP) you will see that some of the most successful
conversions use PDI technology.
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"The 'original' 3-cyl 1.5 liter Elsbett Multi-Fuel engine had a PDI
system 30 years ago, so it is not new."
The professional single-tank systems are the only SVO systems suitable for
"any diesel".
We've emphasised that these are professional SVO systems. Not all
single-tank SVO systems available can be termed professional.
It can be done, some of the DIYers have built efficient single-tank SVO
systems this way. But in other cases some of the OEM injector nozzles have
resulted in broken glow-plugs. The professional single-tank SVO injector
nozzles are specially made, there are no OEM versions available.
Two years ago North American two-tank SVO kit suppliers Neoteric
Biofuels (aka PlantDrive.com), having bought single-tank kits from Elsbett,
announced their own new "SINGLETANK© systems, available for many
VW and Mercedes models". The kit included modified injectors and was
claimed to be easy to install, with an expensive Racor filter so you didn't
need to pre-filter the oil (WVO) -- "better than Elsbett", they claimed at
various Internet mailing lists.
Two years later the Neoteric single-tank kit is available only for the older
pre-chamber Mercedes IDI diesels and apparently now includes only the
filter and a fuel pre-heater. The Neoteric website now says "special injectors
are not needed" and warns that their single-tank kit is only for use in above-
freezing weather. It seems to be just a two-tank kit with only one tank.
Nothing further has been heard of the first Neoteric SINGLETANK©
systems with the modified injectors or of any diesels that used them.
More recently, new single-tank SVO kits emerged in Japan, for using WVO
in older swirl-chamber IDI diesel engines. They were marketed by WOI
(Waste Oil Injection), run by an electronics engineer and the owner of a
small diesel injection workshop. They had bought an Elsbett kit and helped
install two others. WOI's dual heating system is similar to Elsbett's, they also
use longer glow-plugs, but instead of replacing the injectors the WOI
method is just to raise the injector pressure by 20 bar (Elsbett raises it 5-10
bar).
WOI's original technology has in fact been in the public domain for quite a
while. Pity about the massive-gauge 60-micron final fuel filter, you might as
well filter it through a tennis racket.
There are likely to be more such single-tank SVO kits emerging on the
market as the biofuels message spreads. For the time being at least, best
stay with the professional German single-tank SVO kits.
German company Aetra makes two-tank SVO systems with automatic fuel
management via micro-computer controls.
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http://www.aetra.de/index.php
Yields from soybeans are about 60 gallons per acre, from coconuts more
than 200 gallons per acre, and from oil palms more than 500 gallons per
acre. (See Vegetable oil yields.)
The Sunflower Seed Huller and Oil Press -- by Jeff Cox (from
Organic Gardening, April 1979, Rodale Press): Vegetable oils used to be
one of those items you just HAD to buy. Now here's how to make your
own. In 2,500 square feet, a family of four can grow each year enough
sunflower seed to produce three gallons of homemade vegetable oil suitable
for salads or cooking and 20 pounds of nutritious, dehulled seed -- with
enough broken seeds left over to feed a winter's worth of birds. Online at
the Journey to Forever Biofuels Library.
SVO vs biodiesel
See The SVO vs biodiesel argument
References
Report of the European Advanced Combustion Research for
Energy from Vegetable Oils (ACREVO) study of the use of straight
vegetable oil as diesel fuel. Investigates the burning characteristics of
vegetable oil droplets from experiments conducted under high pressure and
high temperature conditions. Very interesting study, worth a thorough read
(4,400 words).
http://www.nf-2000.org/secure/Fair/F484.htm
Copper and SVO: "I'm not so worried about the copper but what the
copper does to the fuel. Did you ever check what happened to your fuel
properties like oxidation stability and acid value? A lot of research has been
done in Germany on VO (and biodiesel) fuel properties, and who I consider
as the leading experts clearly warn against using copper in connection with
VO because of the catalytic effect it has on the VO. The laboratory ASG
Analytik-Service (http://www.asg-analytik.de), who were involved in the
research leading to the "Rape Seed Oil Fuel Standard", says that just a few
PPM of copper in VO will change the oxidation stability... [In SVO
systems] with a catalytic metal, I think you have the best conditions and
environment for decomposition of the VO, and the effects it has on the fuel
properties again have an impact on the engine performance, engine
conditions (lifetime) and emissions composition." -- Niels Ansø,
Folkecenter, Denmark
Diesel information
How Diesel Engines Work
http://www.howstuffworks.com/diesel.htm
Food Fats and Oils (2006), Ninth Edition, Institute of Shortening and
Edible Oils -- 44-page online book, 580kb Acrobat file:
http://www.iseo.org/FoodFatsOils2006.pdf
This on-line class on fats and fatty acids explains some of the
properties of saturated and unsaturated fats and oils. Structure of Fats,
Variations in Fats and Oils, Functions of Triglycerides:
http://dl.clackamas.cc.or.us/ch106-06/fatsand.htm
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