As a youth, I was very much into cars and airplanes. For most people my age, the automotive allure was with fast cars. Not me. I was into finely engineered cheap vehicles. My first car was a Volkswagen. It checked all the boxes: inexpensive to buy, superbly engineered, cheap to maintain and operate. In the 1970s, I discovered diesel-powered Mercedes-Benz cars. I’ve owned many of them and very few others in the years since. Mercedes also introduced me, indirectly, to the versatility of the diesel-powered vehicle. It will burn practically anything.
The wonders of diesel engines were driven home to me in the 1980s at the airport. I worked at a flying service that also sold aviation gasoline and jet fuel. Three trucks dispensed the fuel into aircraft. Each day, all three trucks plus the main storage tanks underwent a safety inspection that included draining their fuel sumps and checking for contaminants. Employees drained about three gallons of fuel from the various tanks every day. Pouring the liquid samples into the fuel truck or an aircraft was prohibited, so samples went into 55-gallon waste barrels behind the hangar. The company then paid a hazardous materials service to haul the waste fuel to a disposal facility periodically.
Page Contents
No chicken bones, just oil
I drove a Mercedes-Benz diesel sedan that was fueled with restaurant kitchen waste oil, carefully sifting out the chicken bones and French fries before pouring it into the tank. One day it occurred to me that because the Benz would run on anything, why not try the discarded jet fuel? After all, it’s nothing more than kerosene, a slightly refined relative of diesel. I rounded up a hand-crank pump and filled my tank. It worked. I’ve been experimenting with waste products as fuel ever since.
You can too.
Make your own diesel fuel out of plants
While I have addressed diesel fuel alternatives here, there are ways to make diesel fuel out of plants and other waste products, such as coal slag and wood biomass.
Others are making use of diesel fuels that they have made using varying degrees of sophistication. Here’s a story of a rancher who addressed his high-cost of diesel fuel by making his own out of vegetable oil.
The benefits
There are also tax incentives involved in DIY diesel, due to the federal government’s efforts to promote alternatives to fossil fuels.
Restaurants, bars, aviation fixed-base operations (FBOs), grocery stores, bakeries are all businesses that are potential sources for fuel that can run, or be made to run, in your diesel engine.
(Note: Diesel engines new enough to require “Diesel Exhaust Fluids” may not be able to run on homemade biodiesel.)
Making your own diesel fuel, whether it be biodiesel or synthetic, will not only dramatically cut your RV fuel bill, but you will enjoy a good feeling from recycling waste, reducing reliance on petroleum and reducing America’s reliance on foreign oil.
“The second type of synthetic fuels, commonly referred to as Fischer-Tropsch liquids, use feedstock that can be converted directly into commercially viable liquid fuels, essentially skipping the syncrude step. The most common feedstocks used to produce Fischer-Tropsch synfuels include natural gas, coal and biomass (plants and plant waste). In F-T synthesis, the feedstock is subjected to very high heat — 1,900 degrees Fahrenheit (1,037.7 degrees Celsius) or higher — and pressure to produce a mix of carbon monoxide and hydrogen called synthesis gas (or syngas) [source: Van Bibber]. This step of the process makes Fischer-Tropsch liquid fuels much cleaner than fuels produced from crude or syncrude. Impurities like heavy metals can be easily removed from the gasifier after the syngas is filtered out. Gases like carbon and sulfur can be filtered out so they don’t become pollutants when the fuel burns.”
More on this topic next Saturday.
##RVT1035
Every innovation throughout history has had its skeptics and critics. I was skeptical of biodiesel until I spent the last twenty years in research, testing, and use of it. I use biodiesel in my own cars and motor coach and have for many years.
Biodiesel from vegetable- and other waste oils, and synthetic diesel, distilled from waste products such as coal slag, or using other biomass, such as wood pulp or other plant matter, are being produced every day. Some fuel is being produced successfully by home brewers like me and there are industrial producers of diesel fuel from waste products, such as the successful gasification programs undertaken by British Petroleum, Exxon, Mobil and Conoco-Phillips. They are turning out >240,000 barrels of synfuel a day. It’s not fake news.
If we are ever to make progress in motor fuel availability and affordability, it’s likely going to be in the use of biofuel and synfuel. If you do not wish to use bio- or synfuel don’t. It’s up to you.
There is no way I would run “homemade” diesel fuel in a modern diesel engine. You would have no idea what the cetane rating is (Similar to an octane rating for a gas engine). The turbocharger is very sensitive to Exhaust Gas Temp. And you would destroy any warranties for the engine and pollution control equipment. Ask yourself if you are willing to risk a $20000.00 diesel engine to save a couple of bucks on fuel.
Diane – I’m surprised you let this article slip through?
Ha! I’m amused (and flattered) that you think I have that much control over what’s printed here, Bill. As I like to say (tongue in cheek), “I just work here.” I appreciate your, and others, concerns on this subject. But please read Randall’s response to you and the other naysayers which he posted about an hour after your comment. And also watch for his next post on this topic next Saturday. Have a good night. 🙂 –Diane
Don’t forget to pay your state and federal fuel taxes as you complain about the highways.
“(Note: Diesel engines new enough to require “Diesel Exhaust Fluids” may not be able to run on homemade biodiesel.)”
Your side comment says it all. MODERN diesel motors are MUCH MORE highly refined than what was used decades ago in “the good old days”. DEF diesels became mandatory in 2010 and several years prior to that, all sorts of “emission reducing technologies” were commonplace.
NO WAY I’d risk a $20,000 diesel motor to save a few bucks.
How much did you get paid for your “Clickbait” article?
Put a bottle of vegetable oil in the refrigerator overnight and look at how it turns to semisolid at 37 degree’s. That what homemade diesel will look like in your fuel tank so better have a tow service on speed dial. You’ll need it.
What A Crock! Iam a diesel mechanic…This is Fake News, (rvtravel.com YOU are loosing credibility) with alot of stuff you allow to be published! Shame on you…
The days of going around and ‘collecting’ McDonald’s and Wendy’s old deep fryer grease ARE OVER. There’s no way in heck today’s diesel engines will run on this trash no matter WHAT you do to it. One bad tank of commercial diesel fuel could leave you limping along on the freeway – or worse, on desolate two-lane somewhere. Trying these ideas is the worst idea I’ve heard in years.
Bad information for any RVer to take this seriously. A retraction should be issued.
Fake News!!
This is the most irresponsible article I’ve read in recent years. Pure nonsense on a modern Diesel engine….
Not very useful. Went from “this can be great” to “modern engines can’t use it anyway” to very obtuse and techno babble while skipping all detail.
I agree. Totally useless article for most rvers, especially fulltimers, or anyone driving a truck newer than 2010, which is the vast majority of rvers. I tried making my own diesel back in the late 2000’s, using discarded restaurant vegetable oil. I researched it carefully & used a recommended method at the time, using vegetable oil, gas & a couple of other ingredients. It worked for a few months, until one day the truck wouldn’t start. Upon inspection, the crank case oil had turned to thick jelly, destroying the engine in the less than one year old truck. I was able to convince the dealer that the engine was defective & they replaced it under warranty ($16,000) with a new crate engine off the production line.