Ecoliving business development manager, Iain Thomas, shares his experiences of running a car on biodiesel. Iain explains that there were 3 main hurdles identified:
- Sourcing a reliable and plentiful supply of used vegetable oil
- Initial research locally seemed to suggest that the majority of used vegetable oil was already spoken for. Although small quantities were still available it was not clear if this would be dependable enough to run a family car driving an average of 25,000 miles per annum. In speaking to the various manufacturers of the conversion plant, it was discovered that given their vested interest, they had secured many options for direct supply in large quantities.
- Satisfying the tax requirements
- Recently the government has relaxed its tax burden. You can now privately produce up to 2500 litres per annum before tax. Based on a typical diesel car, this equates to 16,000 miles at 30mpg or 22,000 at 40mpg per annum.
- Finding an environmentally method of disposal of the main by-product, glycerol
- Make soap!
- Some geothermal drilling companies use glycerol as a drilling lubricant
I have converted somewhere in the region of 1200 litres of used vegetable oil since the turn of the year and run this in both our cars successfully. I have also donated some to relatives for them to try with great success.
I have had only one issue and that was during a cold spell in January of this year. The temperature overnight dropped to around -22degC and as biodiesel is not best suited to temperatures below -12degC, I could not start the car. Once the day had ‘warmed’ to around single figures minus, the car would have started, had I not flattened the battery at 6am…
Biodiesel in general:
Biodiesel is a perfectly suitable replacement for fossil diesel, in fact it has better lubrication qualities than fossil diesel and recent tests by Porsche on behalf of Mercedes proclaimed that the qualities of Biodiesel could extend an engines life considerably.
As well as being a good lubricant Biodiesel acts as a solvent and cleans out the contaminants and dirt left by fossil diesel in your engine. These are deposited on your fuel filter, which may mean that when you start to use Biodiesel you should change your filter after the first few hundred miles.
Each car manufacturer has their own recommendations as to whether you can use 100% or a mixture of biodiesel and fossil diesel. German manufacturers tend to be a lot more clued up about its use as it is widely available at the pump in Germany.
For those still unsure about putting 100% biodiesel in your car it mixes perfectly well with fossil diesel so you could try that first.
There are several companies that manufacture and sell domestic biodiesel processors from 50 litre units to 400 litre units. They will also sell you all the products associated with Biodiesel production such as Methanol, Caustic Soda, Titration kits etc. It is also the case that some sell extra storage tanks, waste drums, dispensing pumps, hoses and dispensing nozzles, basically, anything you require.
Production costs at domestic level work out at approximately 15p per litre plus the cost of your oil. If you collect your own from local chip shops, cafes or restaurants (currently they have to pay people to take it away) you could get it for free. If you buy in recycled oil, there are good reputable waste oil dealers throughout the country and your total production costs per litre should not exceed about 40p, considerably cheaper than fossil diesel!
Aside from its better running qualities, biodiesel is more importantly better for the environment. Biodiesel is biodegradable and non-toxic and typically produces about 60% less net carbon dioxide emissions than petroleum-based diesel, as it is itself produced from atmospheric carbon dioxide via photosynthesis in plants.
