Run Your Diesel Truck on Grease

Diesel engines are quite capable of running on used cooking oil, grease and fat. This video documents extracting some used cooking grease from a standard grease trap behind a restaurant and pumping it directly into a diesel truck. Many people don't realize just how fuel versatile diesel engines can be. This video will sure open a few minds!

Jatropha Biodiesel

If you are lucky enough to own a diesel, you can make your own biodiesel at home and fill up really cheaply. This video shows the use of Jatropha plant biodiesel. According to the video, you can make the stuff for 35¢ per gallon.

Convert Your Pickup to Diesel - With a Tractor Engine

Here is a fellow who replaced the engine of his pickup with the diesel engine from his tractor. One way to get a more efficient diesel in your vehicle!

Diesel Energy Tax Credit

Under the right circumstances, the IRS can help you save on gas. The Feds have been offering tax incentives to increase fuel economy. One of the incentive programs is the Advanced Lean Burn Technology Vehicles credit. Here you will find a list of qualifying vehicles. So far they are all diesels from model year 2009. So if you have been considering buying a diesel car this could be you chance to do so and get a tax credit at the same time.

The IRS will only give out the money if you are the original buyer of the vehicle, so no buying used. Also the vehicle must be for your personal use and not for resale. The amount of the credit depends on the model you choose. Also the credit amount decreases as the automaker sells more and more of the vehicle. It drops to zero after the sale of 60,000 vehicles. So if you want a larger tax credit, it helps to buy sooner rather than later.

Why the "Lean Burn" in the tax credit title? It means that the engine operates with more air in the cylinder than is necessary to burn all the gas. There is extra air. This allows for higher compression ratios and lower airflow friction losses (or pumping loss) but produces NO_x pollutants. However, modern catalytic converter systems are capable of treating these. Perhaps in the next post we will talk about lean burn technology for saving on gas.

Biodiesel Burning Demonstration

It is actually pretty easy to make your own biodiesel at home. We put up a video by the Mythbusters in which they did nothing more than filter used French fry oil. The result was a sort of "biodiesel" which they then used to fuel a normal diesel car. This video shows that if you do want to make biodiesel at home you don't have to worry much about safety. Biodiesel in liquid form is very difficult to get burning. But as you can see in the ending sequence of the video, when it is atomized into tiny droplets with a high surface area to volume ratio it does burn. That atomization coupled with the high pressures in the cylinders of a diesel engine is why it works to power your diesel vehicle.



If anyone has the inclination to try making their own biodiesel, I want to encourage you. There was a time when people where much more do it yourself oriented. Today a big percentage of the population depends on buying premade stuff in department stores. If you know how to make things yourself it gives you a better understanding of how the world and our economy works. You know that products don't just appear on shelves because you have seen what it takes to make them. Also you are much more independent. If you can do it yourself you can also find a lot of chances to save too. Doing it yourself will also develop skills that you will keep forever, possibly offering you opportunities to sell your services in the future. Spending a few hours trying out biodiesel production at home will benefit you way more than sitting in front of Today's Reality TV Show for that same time.

Run Your Diesel on Used French Fry Oil

Watch as the Mythbusters take used vegetable oil that had been frying up French Fries. Then they do nothing to this oil except filter it to remove chunks. Then they put it in a diesel car with a stock, unmodified engine. The car not only ran, but it got 3.33 GPHM! The same car with normal diesel fuel got a slightly better 3.00 GPHM. Don't believe it? Watch the video!

Thinking About Diesel

What are the differences between diesel and gasoline engines? Can these differences help us save on gas? Well, first of all, diesel engines have a higher thermodynamic efficiency. When they burn fuel, they convert a higher percentage of the energy available to useful work. Basically, all else being equal, they get more miles per gallon. However, to get these high efficiencies, they run at very high compression pressures. Because of this they need to be built strong, which makes them heavier. They are also more expensive to manufacture because of the strength requirements. Another feature is that diesels don't need electrical ignition systems, because the compression pressure is enough to cause the ignition. They need complex fuel injection systems though.

One interesting feature of diesels is that they can run on very low quality fuels. Even vegetable oil is enough to run them on. Try that with a gasoline powered car engine!