Waste Vegetable Oil as Fuel

We began traveling in March 2017 from Oregon, USA down into Latin America in our vehicle that functions with used vegetable oil fuel that we collect from restaurants. This used kitchen oil pollutes sewers, streets, rivers and water sources as there often isn’t an appropriate way to dispose of it, causing big environmental hazards. When we planned the trip, we wanted to travel in a more environmentally-friendly vehicle. What better way than recycling hundreds of gallons of waste vegetable oil from restaurants?

In order to do this, we needed to find a vehicle that fit both our travel needs and the requirements to convert to vegetable oil fuel. It seems incredible, but very true and satisfying once we were able to figure it out!

Vehicles that work with Waste Vegetable Oil 

Before adapting a vehicle to work with vegetable oil (aka “waste vegetable oil” or WVO), it’s necessary to know what type of cars are able to work with this system. Here are some of the basic requirements for this type of conversion: 

• The vehicle must be diesel, not gasoline.
• It should preferably be an older car model, before the year 2002. These older models are easier to adapt and tolerate the WVO easier than newer cars. 
• The vehicle will need two tanks, if the car only has one tank it will need to have a second one added.  One tank is for the WVO and the second for diesel. Note that the car starts on diesel and switches to WVO once it’s warm.

These are some of the basic requirements to help you get started in the world of WVO vehicles, providing an eco-friendly fuel alternative. You can find out about other details you may need by searching on online forums and other websites. Remember that once you have the right diesel vehicle, you will also need to have some basic knowledge about your vehicle and mechanics. (Note: We didn’t know much about our vehicle or mechanics, so it took us a while but we figured it out and did the conversion ourselves. It’s not impossible!)

How our Van Works

We have a 1987 Ford E350, Econoline 7.3. It’s big but it’s exactly what we need for our trip. It already had 2 tanks, which made the conversion a bit easier. One of our tanks is for diesel and holds 23 gallons. The second tank is for WVO and can hold 46 gallons. We store WVO in 5 containers of 5 gallons each on our rack, which means we have a reserve of 25 gallons of WVO on the road. Each of our tanks has a separate fuel line feeding the motor.

The WVO fuel line connected to our second tank is where we did all the WVO conversion work on our vehicle. We got a conversion kit from WVO Designs. The main parts are various preheaters that keep the WVO fuel line hot by using water from the motor. We always start our car on diesel and with an electrical switch change to WVO once the water temperature or the fuel temperature (depending on your preference) reaches 160 °F. Then automatically the motor starts working with WVO fuel.  Another important thing we do is switch back to diesel the last 5-7 miles before turning off the car. This cleans the motor of WVO and leaves it with diesel so that it’s easier to turn on the motor next time we use the van.  

Collecting Vegetable Oil

There are many aspects to take into account when searching for vegetable oil. There are certain precautions to take into account or elsewise you can ruin the vehicle.

• The oil needs to be vegetable oil; some examples are sunflower oil, canola oil, peanut oil, etc. If you use animal fat, you could ruin the motor.
• Ask if the oil has been in contact with water or other products used to cook, such as soy sauce or other condiments. If this is the case, the vegetable oil won’t work for you.
• Make a visual inspection of the oil. If it has sit for some time, there will be a visual separation of the “good” oil and the “bad” oil. Also note if the oil looks milky, if so, this oil shouldn’t be used.
• Test the veggie oil. This is the most important step. Heat up a frying pan until it is smoking, pour a small amount of veggie oil on the pan. If the veggie oil reacts with a “crackling” sound or if it splashes DO NOT USE IT. This means the veggie oil has water. If the veggie oil has no reaction, but continues to smoke or produces bubbles then it has passed the test and you can continue to the next step.

Whenever we arrive to a new destination on our trip, the first things we do are search for veggie oil and collect as much as we can. It is a process that takes time and patience. Each place is a different experience in our search and we never know what we are going to find. Frequently, restaurants tell us that someone “just came by” a few days earlier to collect their oil. Even though sometimes it is difficult, we have always found enough veggie oil to continue the route.

The Filtering Process

Filtering can be messy and takes a few hours, especially if we are filtering between 20 and 30 gallons, which is our average. It also takes some logistics to filter on the road. We have to find both an electrical outlet and an appropriate space for the filtering process.

Once we have figured this out, we begin by pre-filtering. We pour the veggie oil through a piece of cloth to separate the big particles, such as leftover food particles. After this, we pour the veggie oil into the centrifuge. It’s a small machine we bought from WVO Designs that separates the bad particles from the good oil. Once the oil comes out of the centrifuge, we can pour it into our tank and drive off on ALTERNATIVE FUEL. The advantage of filtering with a centrifuge is that it filters quickly. It takes about 30 minutes to filter 5 gallons. For us, this was the most practical solution for filtering on the road even though there are many other methods for filtering waste vegetable oil. You can find many more ideas on the internet, blogs and forums related to waste vegetable oil as fuel.

- Aidan A.

• Filtering can be messy Filtering can be messy
• First time filtering on the road First time filtering on the road
• Our centrifuge Our centrifuge
• Filling up our tank Filling up our tank
• Filtering takes time Filtering takes time
• Collecting vegetable oil Collecting vegetable oil
• Filtering with sunny weather Filtering with sunny weather
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