Forget Gas, Drive you Car using Vegetable Oil Forget Gas, Drive you Car using Vegetable Oil, because over the last few years, months, weeks, days, hours, minutes and seconds, it’s impossible to not have noticed that filling up your gas tank at the pump has become more and more $$$ expensive.  There have even been recent advertising campaigns centered around taking public transportation just to save money on gas.  This rise in gas prices has even taken its toll on our energy bills to heat our homes.  So, even for the few people that do not drive a car, the fact that gas prices have been steadily rising is unavoidable and affects all of us.

So exactly why has the price in gas been going up and up?  In brief, you have various corporations, CEO executives, business leaders, sheiks and even presidents that have high mortgages, car payments, Golf club membership dues, boat and jet detailing, gold sink faucet replacements, vacations and an array of other expenses that need to be met.  As citizens you know as well as I do that it is our duty to pay for these things, so one of the ways to pay for them is to charge extra for gas, which is very good for everybody. WOOT! On the technical side, the rise in the price of gas is a direct result from the steady increase over the last few years in crude oil prices.  The crude oil prices have been driving upwards due to conflicts and threats centered among the Middle East region as well as a few other oil producing areas around the world. mmmmmmm……

Basic economics tells us that when the price of something goes up, people then generally try to find some alternative good to replace or substitute good that is increasing in price. (I’ll just insert this here>>>Monsanto http://www.organicconsumers.org/monlink.cfm <<< we can deal with this another time, now back to regularly scheduled programming)   So it seems natural that people have been trying desperately to find alternatives to gasoline and other means of energy production.  Environmentalists have also jumped onboard this bandwagon in hopes to collaborate in the search for alternatives to gasoline.  However, their incentive is not based on money.  Rather, it is the clear evidence that cleaner alternatives to gasoline are necessary to reduce pollution and carbon monoxide emissions in order to help save the ozone layer.  Even though the ozone layer is a recent 19th century discovery, ( and for some strange reason I thought the sky was always around) air pollution has long been known as bad for the environment.  In fact, even as early as 1273, the first air pollution regulations were issued in England by Edward the First to ban burning soft sea coal found on England coasts.

Through the search for alternatives to gasoline, there have been a few contenders.  One of first contenders was biodiesel.  Biodiesel is a renewable fuel designed for diesel engines and burns cleaner.  So it almost seemed like the perfect answer.  Yet, biodiesel is difficult to store and transport in cold climates and that helps to increase the price of biodiesel.  This keeps it from being seen as the alternative to gasoline.  Even though it’s less than ideal, it still maintains a large market share and loyal customers.  The government also offers several tax incentive programs to those that wish to make the switch to biodiesel.  More information about biodiesel and the tax credits can be found right on the official biodiesel site, http://www.biodiesel.org/.

Vegetable oil happens to be another less well known, possible energy source and possible fuel substitute for gasoline.  One of the best cases behind vegetable oil (Straight Vegetable Oil, or SVO) as a fuel substitute is that it is not limited in any way by industries since vegetable oil is not a by-product.  Like many other topics nowadays, the online wikipedia, , has a very good explanation of SVO as a fuel substitute.  Any possible limitations in producing vegetable would come mostly from any possible agricultural constraints.

The Pros of Vegetable Oil

Some car owners have notably identified one big advantage of vegetable oil as a fuel substitute.  Vegetable oil can be used “straight”, as the acronym SVO implies.  To say it more simply, it is not necessary to convert vegetable oil into biodiesel fuel to be actually used as fuel in your car!  When you really stop to think about it, the concept almost seems incredulous and certainly too good to be true, but it is true.

For further reading about the details of exactly how it is made possible, the Wikipedia has an entry on vegetable oil as an alternative fuel at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_vegetable_oil, which provides a lengthy layman’s explanation.

Another almost obvious advantage is the fact that the vegetable oil market supplies vegetable oil in abundance, where the only limitation in supply is capped by agricultural production.  This is one of the primary reasons that it costs significantly less than crude oil and likewise, gasoline.  So when it comes time to fill up your tank, it would also cost much less.  Imagine the possible savings!  Plus, gaining the satisfaction that you are helping the environment.

Another look to Vegetable Oil

Let’s look at Veg oil in your engine, Now when using vegetable oil as fuel directly; and looking at  its characteristic viscosity, or rather its thickness and inability to flow smoothly, You may think, but what about pouring vegetable oil, it pours smoothly and freely?  It would be safe to compare the viscosity of vegetable oil to thin honey and the viscosity of gasoline or biodiesel fuel to water.  The higher viscosity of vegetable oil is the sole reason why its immediate use as a well received fuel replacement is a minor set back.

However;

It has been long known and documented that engines could run on vegetable oil since the Otto Company demonstrated at the 1900 World’s Fair that engines could built to run on peanut oil.  However, the engines built in today’s cars are not designed specifically to run on vegetable oil.  So what?  Well, any engine in which SVO, straight vegetable oil, was filled with would more than likely be damaged with excess waste residue and very possibly cease to function properly, if at all.

So then how do we peeps make this happen?  And why all the hype, now, over 100 years later from the first time it was done at the 1900 World’s Fair? Simple: Engine Conversions. (and $$$ had to be made along the way)

How to Get an Engine Conversion

Engines conversions are the only way to properly use vegetable oil as a fuel substitute.  Engine conversion kits may be purchased from the German manufacturer, DieselVeg at http://www.dieselveg.com/.  This engine conversion kit turns a regular single tank engine system into a two tank system.  Another great company to get engine conversions from is PlantDrive.  They have two markets, one that sells to Canada and the international market, http://www.plantdrive.ca/ , and other that sells to the US market, http://www.plantdrive.com/.

The two tank system is the key to using vegetable oil as a fuel substitute.  In a two tank system, you will still have to run on diesel or biodiesel when first starting the car, since the engine is not warmed up yet.  Then, as soon as the car warms up, you can switch tanks and then start run on SVO.  Even when you turn the car off, so long as its engine is still warm, you could start the car while switched to SVO.

The engine conversion allows the SVO to be properly consumed by the engine.  Without the conversion, using SVO would cause the engine to sustain significant damage.  Since the SVO is much more viscous than biodiesel, the SVO does not pass through the engine as fluidly as biodiesel.  This impairs the engine’s combustion system.  The engine’s combustion system breaks down the fuel that passes through it and relies on the fuel being able to pass fluidly through all parts.  When the fuel does not pass fluidly through all parts of the combustion process, some of the fuel is not properly broken down into exhaust and leaves behind unwanted residue and heavy particles of unburned fuel.  The end result is serious engine damage or complete engine failure.

Once a conversion kit has been installed into your car, it then becomes possible to use SVO as a fuel substitute.  It has been stated by conversion kit manufactures that the use of SVO provides about the same amount of power and maintains a similar fuel consumption rate to that of biodiesel.

SVO as a Fuel Substitute in the Future

Even with an engine conversion, it should be clear that it is still necessary to use biodiesel at least some of the time with the engines in cars today. You can find more info on  that here  http://www.dieselveg.com/conversion%20info.htm. “Using vegetable oil in an un-modified vehicle is not recommended as starting from cold can be problematic in terms of correct atomisation, cold veg oil can be about five times thicker than Diesel, if the fuel is not atomised correctly it can form big globules resulting in unburned fuels coming from exhaust and may cause polymerisation on the bores creating premature engine wear and increased engine oil contamination. Even mixing veg oil with diesel can cause the same problems to a greater or lesser extent, depending on the amounts used, even if the vehicle appears to start ok.” Another great resource that will enlighten you on this is http://www.greasecar.com/article.cfm?aid=30 There still have not been cars developed nor engines that can be run successfully on just SVO.

This concept is similar to cars that run partially on electricity.  They run on electricity as a means to help reduce the overall fuel consumption.  The electric cars were once thought of as a myth, or legend that couldn’t really turn into reality.  So like the electric car, the SVO car is already a myth turned into reality with the conversion kits.  It’s very likely only a matter of time before the SVO car is another staple of the car industry and is mass manufactured as another hybrid car of the future.  mmmmmmmmmmmmmm…..??