Project Green Bus Committee
Project Coordinator: Claire Long
Members: Hannah Flake, Colin Husson, Claire Long, Ben Tremper
Purpose: To convert a vehicle to run on Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO). This vehicle will be used as an educational tool in promotion of green energy and community issues.
Current Activities: Fundraising to aquire sufficient funds to purchase the vehicle and convert the engine.
-for donations make checks payable to:
Green Bus Fund
SUB Office 1024
Student Activities Center, Box 57
Albuquerque, NM 87131
Details:
Convert Diesel Vehicles to Run on SVO
Our first project is a small bus. Once it is converted to run on SVO, this bus will be used during the school year as an educational tool to visit different schools around Albuquerque and other areas of New Mexico. During the summer and on the weekends the SVO vehicle will be used for SVO publicity on road trips and for other educational purposes yet to be identified.
History
Using heated vegetable oil as an alternative fuel is not a new idea. It was invented and patented by Rudolf Diesel in 1892. Dr. Rudolph Diesel showed his diesel engine, an engine that was capable of running on a variety of fuels including peanut oil, at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900. Dr. Diesel believed that it was possible that vegetable oil as a fuel would be as important as petroleum and coal tar products.
"The diesel engine can be fed with vegetable oils and would help considerably in the development of agriculture of the countries that use it."
-Dr. Rudolph Diesel
SVO has been used successfully in Europe for a number of years. In Germany, there are actually small groups of farmers who grow rapeseed, crush the oil themselves with their own oil expeller, feed the meal to their own livestock, and then use the oil in their farm machinery.
Biodiesel is a great alternative fuel with lower emissions and can be used in an unmodified engine, but the real economic and ecological savings come when running on Straight Vegetable Oil (SVO). Vegetable oil will burn in a diesel engine but only if its viscosity (how thick a liquid is) can be brought down to a level similar to petro-diesel. To do this you can mix it with another fuel such as kerosene or petro-diesel (to produce biodiesel), but you can also do it by heating it to about 160 °F. This allows you to run
on pure vegetable oil, including waste vegetable oil.
Internationally, there are a large number of people using SVO systems.
Driving an SVO Vehicle
The key to running a diesel on vegetable oil is heat. This is done by a special tank and fuel line, heated with the hot coolant that your engine is already producing. The engine is started and then brought up to temperature on regular diesel. When the engine and tank of vegetable oil are warm you simply flip a switch on your dashboard. The fuel solenoid switches you from diesel to vegetable oil and your vehicle will start running on SVO. During this process there is no power loss, only cleaner exhaust, and a more lubricated engine. About 5-10 minutes before you get to your destination, switch back to diesel to clear the injection pump and fuel lines of vegetable oil.
Harvesting SVO
SVO can be harvested from any fast food restaurant with the help of a pump and a good pair of cover-alls. Most restaurants are glad not to have to dispose of the oil. Currently there is very little competition for SVO, however as more people pursue this as a viable fuel source, shortage of used vegetable oil could become an issue. Finally, the excuse you've been looking for to go eat fried food!
Want more info? Check out these sites:
www.oilpress.com/drive_your_diesel.htm
www.greasel.com
www.dancingrabbit.org
www.libertyvegetableoil.com/products.htmlIn the News