Merugo, Andy & list,

Two years ago I made the positive decision of not getting involved with biodiesel or fuel additives, but instead find an engine that would run on filtered waste vegetable oil.

Waste vegetable oil is a byproduct of the catering and food manufacturing industries. It can be obtained for about US$ 0.60 per litre, making it even cheaper than home heating oil.

The engine I found was a 6 hp slow speed diesel built in Britain between 1930 and 1987, and now manufactured in India.

Modifications were minimal and the engine will spin a 3kW alternator and produce about 5kW of heat.

I accept that engines of this type have a very low power density ( 6hp from 740 lbs!) and are really only suitable for stationary applications, but perfectly appropriate for providing heat and power for my suburban home.

The results of my experiments are on my website www.powercubes.com/listers.html and in my blog http://sustburbia.blogspot.com/

I am now investigating the possibilities of using veg oil for as a fuel for engines between 20cc and 200cc displacement.


regards,


Ken