biotuning

Basically when you heat oils - they become less viscous. Cooking oil can be made to flow and combust with similar properties to diesel fuel if it is heated sufficiently. So, by heating vegetable oil, it can be burned in a diesel engine.

So that's it in a nutshell, however there are some hurdles to cross, since vehicles are not designed to run on vegetable oil. The main obstacle is cold starting; how to start a cold vehicle with cold thick vegetable oil in it's fuel tank, filter and injector pump. There are a number of ways to overcome this issue, including a) blending the oil with diesel to thin it, b) converting the vehicle to start and run on cold oil (known as single tank) and c) starting and warming up on diesel then switching over to a second tank with vegoil when the engine is warm enough (twin tank). There are advantages and disadvantages with each method.

Some vehicles are more agreeable to being powered by vegoil than others - generally the older the vehicle, the more likely it is to run on vegoil without problems - many pre '98 cars will quite happily run on vegoil with only very minor modifications, this is where significant financial savings can be made. Other cars of the same vintage have components (typically LUCAS/CAV injector pumps) which are particularly sensitive and may break (especially if run on cold or insufficiently heated oil) requiring expensive repairs. Newer vehicles typically have higher fuel pressures and complicated engine management systems which make them more difficult to convert successfully. So certain cars will require more extensive conversion and more care and attention to prevent damage.

Next is the servicing of a vegoil vehicle. The service intervals should be reduced - the engine oil and filter should be changed more regularly to prevent engine damage while the fuel filter should be changed more regularly to avoid it clogging. It is good practice to always carry a spare fuel filter in the vehicle...

And finally this leads us on to the fuel. The biggest savings by far, both financially and environmentally are to be had with used cooking oil. This is a case of collecting the oil from a local restaurant, pub, hotel, canteen etc. filtering it to remove the microscopic particles (to say 5 microns) and pouring it straight into your fuel tank. You need to make sure the oil is 'lightly' used to prevent it from being fatty, watery or acidic. It must also be kept clean and dry. It can take some effort to start with but this can be a slick operation with the cooperation of an understanding chef. You visit regularly to drop off some empty containers and collect some full ones. Good clean dry oil with no waste at all. The oil is collected for free and since you can use 2,500litres per year before paying duty then it is potentially completely free, a saving of £50 to £80 per fill up in a typical diesel car.

Another option is to buy vegetable oil in bulk like you would heating oil (either pumped into your storage tank or delivered in a 1m³ container). We do not recommended that you buy cooking oil from the cash and carry or supermarkets (for many reasons including the amount of waste packaging, extra journeys, inconvenience to other shoppers and for ecological reasons).

Much more info regarding conversion requirements for specific vehicles and issues to consider before converting to vegoil can be obtained from the UK's most active messageboard http://www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/forum/index.php

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