Blending with Unleaded

[mosheshimon Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mosheshimon]

Hi all contributors!

If filtered WVO is thinned with 10% unleaded petrol (gasoline) and the cetane level is then raised with a suitable additive, do engines/pumps need any alterations or enhancements or heater-gadgets whatsoever?

I'd be grateful for any advice/comments.

Many thanks

[tbird650 Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close tbird650]

Re: Finally!!!

WVO is thinned with 10% unleaded petrol

In my opinion this wouldn't be enough to thin the fuel. I have used 20% ULP blend with only a small 2metre HIH before the filter.
The problem was with restrictiveness of the filter due to the viscocity.
Thinning helped, as did the HIH. It meant I could run for almost a year with that set up.
A 2metre HIH will do little more than make the fuel luke warm because of the high volume drawn through, most of which gets returned to the tank. (VE rotary injector pumps)
My WVO always looks a lot thicker than the new cooking oils you buy in bottles. So be cautious about this difference.
High melting point fats are another problem and you must get ALL the fats out with an unheated WVO blend.

[mosheshimon Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close mosheshimon]

Re: Finally!!!

Thanks for the reply. I'd appreciate some wise opinions on the following!

It looks as if I could eliminate the worst of the issues if:

1. I installed a single glowplug-powered fuel heater just before the filter. This would only use about 15 amps I guess, which is well within the capabilities of even the most feeble alternator (I hope!). The oil should still be warm-to-fairly-hot by the time it reached the injector pump, which should also help. Once it was all thoroughly warmed through, the heated oil would presumably also wash away any fatty/waxy deposits left from when it was still cold inside the filter?
2. I guess that I could eliminate most of the high-melting-point fats by cooling the stored oil slightly in an extra settling tank and decanting the thinner liquid from the top (or underneath? Would the solid fats sink or float?). However, considering the practical difficulties of refrigerating a big tank, is there any additive that would achieve an equivalent protection from these fats? Or any other easily-applied solutions to the problem? Is it actually necessary if petrol-thinning and/or using an electric pre-heater just before the filter? I'm trying to reduce the engine/pump modifications to the absolute minimum without jeopardising it, and I might prefer a cheap easy chemical-additive solution to a less-easy physical one.
3. Another thought: as the WVO will be finely-filtered before entering the vehicle, would swapping the normal fuel filter for a coarse gauze-mesh (low-resistance) one solve anything or merely transfer fatty/waxy problems to somewhere else?
4. Any comments, ideas and further advice would be EXCEEDINGLY welcome! Thanks again for advice already offered...

[pangit Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close pangit]

Re: Blending with Unleaded

I've moved this to a new topic, as you are more likely to get replies than adding a post to a 3 year old thread titled "Finally!"

[pangit Moderator Find all posts View Profile Close pangit]

Re: Finally!!!

It looks as if I could eliminate the worst of the issues if:
I installed a single glowplug-powered fuel heater just before the filter. This would only use about 15 amps I guess, which is well within the capabilities of even the most feeble alternator (I hope!). The oil should still be warm-to-fairly-hot by the time it reached the injector pump, which should also help. Once it was all thoroughly warmed through, the heated oil would presumably also wash away any fatty/waxy deposits left from when it was still cold inside the filter?

Some people use glow plug heaters but they are not that effective, particularly on vehicles that have a lot of fuel returning to the tank, i.e. it spends very little time next to the glow plug so temperature increase is very slight. Also the load on your electrical system is considerable. FPHE's are much more suited to this purpose.

I guess that I could eliminate most of the high-melting-point fats by cooling the stored oil slightly in an extra settling tank and decanting the thinner liquid from the top (or underneath? Would the solid fats sink or float?). However, considering the practical difficulties of refrigerating a big tank, is there any additive that would achieve an equivalent protection from these fats?

Just leave the WVO to settle in your garage for a few weeks and the fats will settle at the bottom, so you can decant the good stuff off the top. Do your filtering at night when temps are cooler.

Or any other easily-applied solutions to the problem? Is it actually necessary if petrol-thinning and/or using an electric pre-heater just before the filter? I'm trying to reduce the engine/pump modifications to the absolute minimum without jeopardising it, and I might prefer a cheap easy chemical-additive solution to a less-easy physical one.

A cheap easy solution may end up costing you a lot more if you ruin your engine! There aren't really any good short cut solutions to a proper heated 2 tank system without increasing the risk to the longevity of your engine. By all means experiment with blending on a old bomb, but not with a new Beemer!

Another thought: as the WVO will be finely-filtered before entering the vehicle, would swapping the normal fuel filter for a coarse gauze-mesh (low-resistance) one solve anything or merely transfer fatty/waxy problems to somewhere else?

NOT RECOMMENDED!!!! Even though you should filter as much as possible before filling your car there are still contaminants that could end up in your fuel system, and you don't want them in your engine.

[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

Re: Blending with Unleaded

I have already posted the technique to remove the high melting point oils from the filtered oil in your first post o nthis forum - cold filtering.
Please search for that term, on this site, using the Google search engine.

I support what others have said, especially that you need to do significantly more research before you use vegetable oil or blends in your income earning vehicles.
Regards,
Tony