There are at least three methods to run a diesel motor on biofuel using vegetable oils, animal fats or both. All three are utilized with both fresh and used oils.

1. Use the oil simply as it is-- generally called SVO fuel (straight grease);

2. Mix it with kerosene (paraffin) or petroleum diesel fuel, or with biodiesel, or mix it with a solvent, or with gas;

3. Convert it to biodiesel.

The first two approaches sound most convenient, however, as so frequently in life, it's not rather that easy.

1. Mixing it

Grease is much more thick (thicker) than either petro-diesel or biodiesel. The function of blending it or mixing it with other fuels is to decrease the viscosity to make it thinner so that it streams more freely through the fuel system into the combustion chamber.

If you're mixing veg-oil with petroleum diesel or kerosene (very same as # 1 diesel) you're still utilizing fossilfuel-- cleaner than the majority of, but still unclean enough, lots of would state. Still, for every gallon of

grease you use, that's one gallon of fossil-fuel saved, which much less climate-changing carbon in the environment.

People use numerous blends, varying from 10% veggie oil and 90% petro-diesel to 90% veggie oil and 10% petro-diesel. Some people simply utilize it that method, start up and go, without pre-heating it (which makes veg-oil much thinner), or perhaps use pure grease without pre-heating it, which would make it much thinner.

You may get away with it with an older Mercedes 5-cylinder IDI diesel, which is a very hard and tolerant motor-- it won't like it however you probably will not eliminate it. Otherwise, it's not wise.

To do it properly you'll require what amounts to an SVO system with fuel pre-heating anyhow, preferably using or biodiesel for starts and stops. (See next.) In which case there's no need for the mixes.

Blends with numerous solvents and/or with unleaded fuel are "experimental at best", little or nothing is understood about their impacts on the combustion attributes of the fuel or their long-term results on the engine.

Higher viscosity is not the only problem with utilizing grease as fuel. Veg-oil has various chemical residential or commercial properties and combustion attributes from the petroleum diesel fuel for which diesel engines and their fuel systems are created.

Diesel engines are modern devices with really accurate fuel requirements, specifically the more modern, cleaner-burning diesels (see The TDI-SVO controversy).

They are difficult but they'll just take so much abuse. There's no assurance of it, however using a blend of as much as 20% veg-oil of great quality is stated to be safe enough for older diesels, specifically in summer.

Otherwise using veg-oil fuel needs either a professional SVO option or biodiesel. Mixes and blends are normally a bad compromise. But mixes do have a benefit in winter.

As with biodiesel, some kerosene or winterised petro-diesel fuel blended with straight veggie oil lowers the temperature level at which it begins to gel. (See Using biodiesel in winter) More about fuel blending and blends.