Talk:Straight vegetable oil

For what purpose does the author let the reader know that vegetable oil will now be referred to as (vegoil) in the last sentence of the article?

Mixing in Petrol bad idea or not

According to publicly availible info I have at the moment, mixing petrol to reduce viscosity might not be a good idea for all or atleast fuel injected diesel engines. However, the info I read for this relates to reducing viscosity of summer diesel, not specificly vegetable oil. I will attempt to ask the local automobile association (ANWB) to see what they think on it, in the mean time, if any expert knows about this any input would be welcome.

In Reply--

The use of Vegetable Oil as a fuel for Diesel engines is as old as the Diesel engine itself, there is nothing new to this.

The requirements of modern diesel systems however mean that vegetable oil as it is, is not as suitable for these engines as the fuel they were designed to use...... The inclusion of a % of Unleaded Petrol, can improve the combustion compatability of Vegetable oil with some current Diesel technology.

The inclusion of petrol can assist in the cold-starting of the Diesel, where Vegetable oil is the sole fuel in a single-tank scenario.

It must be noted however, that most newer diesel systems and some older systems cannot be used without modification on Vegetable oil even with the inclusion of petrol, as the sole fuel. This is due in part to the vegetable oil's viscosity or 'thickness' in comparison to standard diesel fuel. In these cases a 'Twin-Tank' system is needed, where the engine is started and warmed up on Diesel fuel, then switched over to vegetable oil and prior to shut-down is switched back to diesel where the system is flushed through ready for the next cold start. The use of Vegetable oil as Diesel fuel is very application specific in these issues, due to the differing technology used in the fuel injection systems of different makes and types. The use of Vegetable oil in some systems where modifications have not been carried out will cause severe damage to the diesel injection pump.

H.C.II, www.doctordiesel.co.uk

The bottom part of the article should be fixed to something more encyclopedia-like, but I lack the knowledge necessary to do so.