Bio Diesel and Lubricity ? Ratio ?

[R C Cola]

Best lubricity in test mentioned on this forum shows Bio Diesel as follows...



1) 2% REG SoyPower biodiesel

HFRR 221, 415 micron improvement.

50:1 ratio of baseline fuel to 100% biodiesel

66. 56 oz. of 100% biodiesel per 26 gallons of diesel fuel

Price: market value



I would like to continue using Soy Oil as an additive to my fuel. So the question is... What Ratio of Soy Cooking Oil would I come up with. I would need to know the makeup of Bio Diesel and how it compares to Soy Cooking Oil (new in the jug) Is it thinner (lower viscosity) and if so how much. I do know it will start and run on the pure stuff (just like it will on red trans fluid) when the lube guys replace the fuel filter and prefill it they both work.

Presently using the same ratio that I use with Lucas.

 

[R C Cola]

Who Knows - Moderator

This must be a tough question or in the wrong place ?

 

[Midnite]

The problem with unprocessed vegetable oil is that it contains glycerin. When you make biodiesel you add chemicals to the oil that causes the glycerin to coagulate and settle out leaving the biodiesel behind. Glycerin is thick and goopy and not something you want building up in your injection pump. Somebody posted pictures here awhile back showing a VP44 injection pump from a 2nd gen truck that burned vegetable oil (but it was never revealed in what concentration, or how frequent the owner burned it). The pump was all gooped up with a sticky residue that apparently caused the pump failure.

I don't mention that to try to scare you off from burning soy oil--just take some steps to mitigate the potential difficulties of the glycerin. By that I mean don't burn 100% oil unless you heat it really hot. This is what all the aftermarket waste veggie oil systems do. You have two tanks, one for diesel and one for veggie oil. You start and shutdown the truck on diesel fuel, but when it's up to temperature you run it on veggie oil. The veggie oil lines are typically heated by engine coolant.

I have nothing to back this up, so take it with a grain of salt--but I think you'd be fine burning a couple quarts of soy oil per tankful. In the summer time in hot weather you could probably safely use more. I think I'd avoid it if you have cold weather, or if you can't get the engine running good and hot.

Mike

 

[Blakers]

I would not use used restaurant oil either, unless it's processed, as it contains free fatty acids from the meat that is cooked in it. Not good.

 

[Gary - K7GLD]

Probably no help - but so far, *I* have settled on a 5% mix of commercially supplied Biodiesel...



According to several test reports, even 2% is better than most aftermarket additives will provide - and it's lots cheaper too...

 

[Midnite]

Blakers--when I mentioned "unprocessed" I didn't mean unfiltered or raw. I was speaking of clean, filtered oil that hadn't yet been processed to remove the glycerin. My point was that when using oil, do so in small quantities because of the presence of the glycerin.



I totally agree that dumping any amount of raw, unfiltered fryer oil in your tank would be a bad thing.



Mike

 

[Blakers]

I don't think any amount of filtering will remove free fatty acids. I used to work in a fatty acids plant where we processed animal fats and vegetable oils into several products. We split glycerin out of fats with a 100 foot tall splitter tower and 800 psi steam pressure and water. We then refined the glycerin to pharmaceutical grade. Some of the split fat was hydrogenated by heating it and injecting hydrogen and a nickel catalyst. This made it hard at room temperature. Most of the fats and oils were then run through one of three 8-story high stills which used vacuum and 600 degrees to distill it. The free fatty acids were actually taken out in the distillation process, which also removed many impurities. The final product came out crystal clear.