Grease Powered Cars

[peckman28]

So I recall reading an article in a car magazine about converting cars to run on fast food style grease instead of gasoline. The dude in the article was able to run around to Chinese restaurants and fast food places and fill up his car for free, since they normally would have had to pay to have it disposed of. The only drawback was that his car smelled like french fries all the time. I believe he also lost some horsepower from it and there was the possibility that his engine would not last as long as it would have otherwise. What does everyone think of this? Anyone actually try this or know anyone who has?

[PointnClick]

I actually know something about this... and the days of free grease are long gone. It has become a commodity, as it makes excellent diesel fuel. Any diesel car or truck can run on vegetable oil. There is something about biodiesel that rots modern rubber/plastic fuel lines, so you have to change them out to a thicker, different material (can't remember offhand, but I have tons of info if you need it). Once that change is made, your Dodge 4x4 or Mercedes E-Class Cabriolet will run on biodiesel or conventional diesel.

Turning restaurant sludge into fuel is pretty easy... filter the chunky stuff out and blend in a little lye, and you've got Mad Max diesel... think you need a little methanol, too... been a while since I went over this stuff. But like I said, the free grease is no more, and now restaurants put locks on their grease or people will steal it.

I had the idea a while back to buy an old (I mean antique) gas station, with the old-school mechanical pumps and the rubber hose that rang the bell... set up a giant biodiesel mixing system in the "office", offer the conversions of the fuel lines in the mechanic's bays for 50 bucks, in-and-out in 45 minutes (a la JiffyLube), and have them come back to "The Gas Station" to get filled up with "environmentally friendly biodiesel"... make it like a microbrewery where you see the beer being made... snappy young men in crisp uniforms that come out and pump your fuel for you, and check your oil and clean your windshield... for 1.50 a gallon...

I think that would fly in my little metropolis... wish I had that kinda capital...

Originally, cars ran on batteries and biodiesel made from peanut oil... then somebody figgered out a use for that gooey black crap in the water wells in Pennsylvania...

[Patti]

it makes excellent diesel fuel. ..

That is correct.

A friend of mine uses it to heat his shop.

[Bumper]

I saw a truck a couple of weeks ago that had a sticker on the back saying it was fueled by cooking oil but who knows whether he really was or not. I can tell you he was blowing some really black smoke when he accelerated and it didn't smell like french fries.

I guess I'm not surprised that it would become a commodity once people started using it....