Burning waste cooking oil

[Mark]

That person is in Connecticut. The story was in the UL.

The National Park Service tested biodiesel and veg oil for use in their trucks. They tested with bears between biodiesel and "bear food" and then between veg oil and "bear food". They (rangers, not bears) said biodiesel is OK but not veg oil.

I missed the UL story -- the one I'm thinking of happened in VT. I would imagine that the waste grease smells pretty good to the bears.

[Pat McCotter]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/connecticut/articles/2005/05/30/cars_alternative_fuel_said_to_attract_bear/

Car's alternative fuel said to attract bear
By Associated Press  |  May 30, 2005

WINSTED, Conn. -- A Winsted man believes the sweet smell of the vegetable oil he uses to fuel his car attracted the bear that damaged the vehicle white trying to get at the biodiesel.

Larry Joy, a 53-year-old electrician, said the bear shattered a window on his 1981 Volkswagen Rabbit, tipped the plastic fuel tank on its side, and gnawed on car hoses about two weeks ago. He said the evidence included muddy paw prints around the broken window and a pool of cooking oil on the rear floorboards.

''I knew what it was after," Joy told The Sunday Republican of Waterbury. ''I think it's cool that bears do whatever they want."

Joy uses a combination of diesel and vegetable oil left over from restaurant fry vats to power his car. He says it gets 44 miles per gallon.

The car needs to be started using regular diesel, because vegetable oil is too thick for the engine to handle. When a gauge indicates the engine coolant is at 90 degrees, it is warm enough to thin the biodiesel, and Joy can flip a switch to change fuel tanks.

When the coolant hits about 150 degrees, Joy said, there is a sweet smell.

''My neighbor said it smells like cheeseburgers," he said.

The state Department of Environmental Protection told Joy he should discourage the bear from returning by using bad-tasting bait. The agency recommended the placement of a balloon filled with water and ammonia and covered in cooking oil on his car.

Joy said he had no plans to get rid of the Volkswagen. ''I love this car," he said.

[Russell Kanning]

Pat - what kind of filtering did you do for the oil you put in your car?

[Pat McCotter]

I would settle the oil to get the chunks and the hydrogenated oil to the bottom.

I would then pump the clearer oil from the top (usually about 80-90% of the total) into a "sock" or "bag" filter. The ones I used were a double filter with a 5 micron inner bag and a 1 micron outer bag. This would allow the outer bag to be used more.

The containers I used for filtering and storage was 30 gallon plastic trash cans in the basement where we lived in CT. Here I will be using 55 gallon plastic drums.

Some people heat the oil when settling and filtering. This allows the chunks to fall faster to the bottom. It allso "melts" the hydrogenated oil for filtering. Hydrogenated but needs higher temperature before the injection pump in the car.

[Michael Fisher]

This is insane.? Now I'm becoming obsessed with diesel engines!? I blame you, Russell!? ? Don't make me sell my car!

So theoretically, fuel is nearly free for a car that runs on filtered waste vegetable oil.
And it's even cheaper when the weather is good.
AND even if I decide not to get a conversion kit, if I can convince a nearby gas station to carry biodiesel, the average price of my fuel may not go above $2.40 per gallon, so it's already cheaper than gasoline.? Hoping for the price to stay low is wishful thinking though.  Demand could increase significantly and that would put a lot of upward pressure on the price. 
AND an engine running on biodiesel pollutes 50-90% less than a regular diesel, with NOx as the only exception as it can reduced by 25% over diesel according to various sources.
AND a diesel engine is far more efficient than a gasoline engine.

And I've been reading about algea as an extremely efficient source of biodiesel.? ?? But what would that smell like?? ?

[Pat McCotter]

This is insane.? Now I'm becoming obsessed with diesel engines!? I blame you, Russell!? ? Don't make me sell my car!

So theoretically, fuel is nearly free for a car that runs on filtered waste vegetable oil.
And it's even cheaper when the weather is good.

Just the missed opportunity cost of using your time to collect and filter.

Why do you say cheaper when the weather is good? If you can get the restaurant to give it to you in the original container (a 5 gallon plastic jug in a cardboard box) then you don't have to worry about water, if that is what you mean.

AND even if I decide not to get a conversion kit, if I can convince a nearby gas station to carry biodiesel, the average price of my fuel may not go above $2.40 per gallon, so it's already cheaper than gasoline.? Hoping for the price to stay low is wishful thinking though.? Demand could increase significantly and that would put a lot of upward pressure on the price.?

The $2.40 price is for 20% biodiesel (B20). This price will follow the diesel price because of the 80% petro-diesel. 100% biodiesel (B100) delivered in bulk would be cheaper, yes. I will call Rymes today about the price.

AND an engine running on biodiesel pollutes 50-90% less than a regular diesel, with NOx as the only exception as it can reduced by 25% over diesel according to various sources.
AND a diesel engine is far more efficient than a gasoline engine.

The higher emission reductions are with B100. NOx is a function of combustion - 78% nitrogen in our atmosphere. ya' know. It only increases slightly over the diesel amount because of the higher oxygen content of the biodiesel. Retarding the injection timing slightly will reduce that somewhat with a trade-off being a slight loss of power - and the older Benz diesels are already a problem in the performance category.

And I've been reading about algea as an extremely efficient source of biodiesel.? ?? But what would that smell like?? ?

Algae sounds like it would be a great source of oil. If we could get the government out of the way - or with the higher fuel prices now a compay would start researching it. I don't know what oil producing algae would smell like but it can be done in areas where people do not want to live. It has a very high oil content - 10,000-20,000 gallons/acre compared to soybean at 40-50 gallons/acre.

BTW, Hemp is about 40 gallons/acre. Hemp, though, has 2-1/2 growing seasons per year. The stalks can also be used for cloth and paper. It does not require the pesticides that cotton does. It doesn't take a couple of years to grow that trees for pulp do.

[Lloyd Danforth]

The University Of New Hampshire is doing a lot of experimentation turning Algae into Biodiesel.

http://unh.edu/p2/biodiesel/

[Russell Kanning]

This is insane.? Now I'm becoming obsessed with diesel engines!? I blame you, Russell!? ? Don't make me sell my car!

I don't have a diesel right now either ..... I want to find cheap heating oil for now.

Pat .... what are you going to do with the oil you collect?

[Michael Fisher]

Just the missed opportunity cost of using your time to collect and filter.

Why do you say cheaper when the weather is good? If you can get the restaurant to give it to you in the original container (a 5 gallon plastic jug in a cardboard box) then you don't have to worry about water, if that is what you mean.

Because the engine heats up faster so you do not need to use as much petrodiesel.

Algae sounds like it would be a great source of oil. If we could get the government out of the way - or with the higher fuel prices now a compay would start researching it. I don't know what oil producing algae would smell like but it can be done in areas where people do not want to live. It has a very high oil content - 10,000-20,000 gallons/acre compared to soybean at 40-50 gallons/acre.

BTW, Hemp is about 40 gallons/acre. Hemp, though, has 2-1/2 growing seasons per year. The stalks can also be used for cloth and paper. It does not require the pesticides that cotton does. It doesn't take a couple of years to grow that trees for pulp do.

How is government in the way of growing algea?

I meant what would algea exhaust smell like, not algea production.   

[Pat McCotter]

Just the missed opportunity cost of using your time to collect and filter.

Why do you say cheaper when the weather is good? If you can get the restaurant to give it to you in the original container (a 5 gallon plastic jug in a cardboard box) then you don't have to worry about water, if that is what you mean.

Because the engine heats up faster so you do not need to use as much petrodiesel.

Ah, yes, there is that. Unfortunately, last year I totalled my car before the winter set in. During the summer it was taking about 2 miles before I shifted. I was estimation 5 miles in moderate winter conditions. No more than 10 miles in full winter.

Biodiesel would be OK to use for the warm-up because you wouldn't need a lot of it. I was using petro diesel as my warm-up fuel and I was getting about 150 miles/gallon of diesel.

Algae sounds like it would be a great source of oil. If we could get the government out of the way - or with the higher fuel prices now a compay would start researching it. I don't know what oil producing algae would smell like but it can be done in areas where people do not want to live. It has a very high oil content - 10,000-20,000 gallons/acre compared to soybean at 40-50 gallons/acre.

BTW, Hemp is about 40 gallons/acre. Hemp, though, has 2-1/2 growing seasons per year. The stalks can also be used for cloth and paper. It does not require the pesticides that cotton does. It doesn't take a couple of years to grow that trees for pulp do.

How is government in the way of growing algea?

I meant what would algea exhaust smell like, not algea production.? ?

The government is financing the research through the universities. When government finances this research it tends to stifle private research. Please let me know if this is wrong. Lloyd, does UNH get government funds for their algae research?

[Michael Fisher]

We need to create a UNH Underground where participating students refuse government funds in all of their research. 

[Pat McCotter]

I called Rymes today. B100 55 gallon drum price is about $3.70/gallon and the price is volatile - I was told that it varies day to day. You would also need to arrange ahead of time for a barrel - they don't have them just waiting there.

Ther price for bulk delivery is by quote only. Depends on distance to deliver and quantity.

[president]

I called Rymes today. B100 55 gallon drum price is about $3.70/gallon and the price is volatile - I was told that it varies day to day. You would also need to arrange ahead of time for a barrel - they don't have them just waiting there.

Ther price for bulk delivery is by quote only. Depends on distance to deliver and quantity.

They told me between $3.30-$3.70 for bulk delivery.....and that was for off-road use.

[Michael Fisher]

I called Rymes today. B100 55 gallon drum price is about $3.70/gallon and the price is volatile - I was told that it varies day to day. You would also need to arrange ahead of time for a barrel - they don't have them just waiting there.

Ther price for bulk delivery is by quote only. Depends on distance to deliver and quantity.

Ack!

[Pat McCotter]

They told me between $3.30-$3.70 for bulk delivery.....and that was for off-road use.

Did they give reasons for saying off-road? Are they required by law to add a fuel tax?