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Why don't we all use diesel engines with kitchen oil as fuel?

A

archcommus

Diamond Member
I just saw the Mythbusters where they successfully drove an old Mercedes-Benz diesel car with nothing but filtered kitchen oil as fuel and got 30 MPG with it. Diesel engines are already in a bunch of passenger vehicles. If this is possible and so easy to do and requires no modifications, why don't all passenger cars use diesel engines to eliminate the need for fossil fuels? I'm not sure if it'd be any cheaper or not, but at the very least it eliminates foreign dependency.

I'm sure the answer is simple, I'm just curious as to what it is.
 
Originally posted by: Kalvin00
where are you going to get however many million of gallons of fuel americans use every day in cooking oil from?
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I'm sure it could be produced in enough quantity specifically for that purpose.

Originally posted by: KillerCharlie
Do you really want to smell french fries while you're driving?
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They could devise a fix for that.
 
Originally posted by: Bootprint
One issue is how put a road usage tax on it.
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They could mass produce it and sell it and deliver it through fuel pumps the same way we do today. Then the government could tax it.
 
Originally posted by: Kalvin00
where are you going to get however many million of gallons of fuel americans use every day in cooking oil from?
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Better question - how are you going to magically produce the land needed to grow that much organic matter to make the oil?
 
Originally posted by: adairusmc
Originally posted by: Kalvin00
where are you going to get however many million of gallons of fuel americans use every day in cooking oil from?
Click to expand...

Better question - how are you going to magically produce the land needed to grow that much organic matter to make the oil?
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Yeah, there are lots of biofuel choices. How many of them are energy positive and otherwise feasible to produce on a large scale still seems to be heavily debated.

I think people do that though, go around and collect used cooking oil and run their cars off of it. As they pointed out in the show though, if everyone starts doing it, it won't be free for long.
 
Originally posted by: Skeeedunt
Originally posted by: adairusmc
Originally posted by: Kalvin00
where are you going to get however many million of gallons of fuel americans use every day in cooking oil from?
Click to expand...

Better question - how are you going to magically produce the land needed to grow that much organic matter to make the oil?
Click to expand...

Yeah, there are lots of biofuel choices. How many of them are energy positive and otherwise feasible to produce on a large scale still seems to be heavily debated.

I think people do that though, go around and collect used cooking oil and run their cars off of it. As they pointed out in the show though, if everyone starts doing it, it won't be free for long.
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I don't care about it being free, just something that could be produced 100% domestically would be nice.
 
Because it takes more fossil fuels to produce a gallon of corn oil, then to burn a gallon of fossil fuel directly in the engine. Duh.
 
Originally posted by: paulney
Because it takes more fossil fuels to produce a gallon of corn oil, then to burn a gallon of fossil fuel directly in the engine. Duh.
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If that's true then I guess that's the simplest answer I'm going to find.
 
there are algaes which have a very high oil content that may be the future of bio diesel. There are a lot of problems between the present and a fossil fuel free USA, but it is absoultly necessary that we make it happen.

Given even a fraction of the resourses currently being wasted in Iraq we could make it happen inside of 15yrs.
 
Originally posted by: paulney
Because it takes more fossil fuels to produce a gallon of corn oil, then to burn a gallon of fossil fuel directly in the engine. Duh.
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What if all the farm equipment and production facilities used bio-diesel?
 
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: paulney
Because it takes more fossil fuels to produce a gallon of corn oil, then to burn a gallon of fossil fuel directly in the engine. Duh.
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What if all the farm equipment and production facilities used bio-diesel?
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Who would make THAT bio-diesel fuel then? 😕

 
Originally posted by: archcommus
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: paulney
Because it takes more fossil fuels to produce a gallon of corn oil, then to burn a gallon of fossil fuel directly in the engine. Duh.
Click to expand...

What if all the farm equipment and production facilities used bio-diesel?
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Who would make THAT bio-diesel fuel then? 😕
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Roadkill 😉 or people. :Q

Shell bio-diesel is people.
 
Originally posted by: archcommus
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: paulney
Because it takes more fossil fuels to produce a gallon of corn oil, then to burn a gallon of fossil fuel directly in the engine. Duh.
Click to expand...

What if all the farm equipment and production facilities used bio-diesel?
Click to expand...
Who would make THAT bio-diesel fuel then? 😕
Click to expand...

Once the ball gets rolling, it's just a question of whether the fuel you create can produce more energy than was required to grow and harvest it. If the answer is yes, you keep what you need and sell the excess... if the answer is no, then it's not going to go very well.
 
What we need to focus on developing is algae-based biodiesel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algaculture

Currently most research into efficient algal-oil production is being done in the private sector, but if predictions from small scale production experiments bear out then using algae to produce biodiesel may be the only viable method by which to produce enough automotive fuel to replace current world gasoline usage.

Microalgae have much faster growth-rates than terrestrial crops. The per unit area yield of oil from algae is estimated to be from between 5,000 to 20,000 gallons per acre, per year; this is [b[7 to 31 times greater than the next best crop[/b], palm oil (635 gallons).
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Originally posted by: Bootprint
Originally posted by: archcommus
Originally posted by: Amused
Originally posted by: paulney
Because it takes more fossil fuels to produce a gallon of corn oil, then to burn a gallon of fossil fuel directly in the engine. Duh.
Click to expand...

What if all the farm equipment and production facilities used bio-diesel?
Click to expand...
Who would make THAT bio-diesel fuel then? 😕
Click to expand...

Roadkill 😉 or people. :Q

Soylent bio-diesel is people.
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😛
 
It may not be viable as a total substitute for diesel everywhere, but it certainly could be used MORE than it is now and be beneficial, since there are so many places with fryer oil that could be converting it to fuel.
 
Originally posted by: mugs
What we need to focus on developing is algae-based biodiesel.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algaculture

Currently most research into efficient algal-oil production is being done in the private sector, but if predictions from small scale production experiments bear out then using algae to produce biodiesel may be the only viable method by which to produce enough automotive fuel to replace current world gasoline usage.

Microalgae have much faster growth-rates than terrestrial crops. The per unit area yield of oil from algae is estimated to be from between 5,000 to 20,000 gallons per acre, per year; this is [b[7 to 31 times greater than the next best crop[/b], palm oil (635 gallons).
Click to expand...
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See my post a little bit up thread!

It may well be that the oil we are pumping out of the ground is due to primordial algea.
 
it's much cheaper to stick a pipe in the ground and extract black gold than grow enough crops to extract veggie splooge
 
Originally posted by: RossGr
there are algaes which have a very high oil content that may be the future of bio diesel. There are a lot of problems between the present and a fossil fuel free USA, but it is absoultly necessary that we make it happen.

Given even a fraction of the resourses currently being wasted in Iraq we could make it happen inside of 15yrs.
Click to expand...

Throwing money at problems rarely solves them fast, if at all. There are obvious exceptions, but it's not simply cost that is an obstacle for biodiesel.
 
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