Details of my veg filtering setup, including my new plans

I have been asked recently about my filtering set-up. To save me re-jigging it too look right I have decided to just post a link to details I posted on a forum. You don't need to join, you can just view it without.

http://bit.ly/aaJehn

Basically its a 120L barrel with a 7 inch hole cut in the lid. I hang a 5micron filter in it (1 micron when filtering for a trip just to be safe). I pour 20 litres into the sock and then go in the house and leave it to filter (placing a second lid over the first and a brick on top to hold it there. All filtering is done outside. I want it to pass through the filter at the same temperature that it will pass through the cars filter. Otherwise, in my opinion, there is a risk that fats will get through the home filtering which will then get stuck in the cars filter because of the lower temperatures.

As you will see from the thread I am currently working on upgrading so I can let the veg flow direct from the barrel into my fuel tanks. It saves me tapping it into containers and then pouring them into the car.

Where shall I go on my next veg holiday

The fuel tanks are getting low so I have started work filtering the 300L or so of waste oil that I have stored up. I have a bit of a trip to do this weekend but the rest will be filtered and then stored for my next big trip.

Still looking for ideas on where to go. The only limits are I would like to avoid France (as much as possible) and Italy. Its illegal there and I don't want to have to buy too much diesel/bio.

I was thinking possibly Poland, Czech republic, Slovakia or perhaps Sweden. If it wasn't for France in the way I would love to drive to Morocco.

Any recommendations ?

Site updated with more info for new folk

It has been mentioned that for those new to the blog its hard to get an idea of what the project is about and how its progressing, so I have done some work re-arranging the pages, adding pages and adding a 'Story so far' page to help people see the project at a glance. The links are over to the right hand side.

http://www.carbon-neutral-car.com/p/story-so-far.html

Oops, still car doesnt miss a beat even when covered in snow !

This pic is a couple of weeks old but I was outside measuring something up to provide info for a mate. It started to snow so I went inside. Obviously I forgot to go back out and finish up so next morning this is what I found !!!



I closed the bonnet, it started fine and got me to work without a hiccup. I have to admit, I was slightly concerned. Running on 100% veg oil !

No problem in the snow for the seasoned veggie machines

Its been snowing on and off here for weeks and I am glad to report that neither cars have had any problems caused by the snow and the choice of fuel. At the peak I did have to abandon mine as I couldn't get up a hill due to ice but at no point did the fuel cause any problems. It was extremely cold so I thank the coldflow 350 for that. So far its allowed be to run the car down to at least minus 6 degrees without any worry. I am sticking about 15-20ml in with each 10 litre container, then shaking the container for about 5 minutes. It then gets a further mix while in the tank.

My fuel filter is due a change soon, the last change was on the hard shoulder, in the middle of the night, in the pouring rain on a german in Germany on my last trip to croatia which is over 6 months ago, I normally try to change it at least every 6 months.

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Stevens 190d back on the road with a new diff

I am pleased to inform that after a while off the road Steven's 190d, the white car in the very first road trip is now back in action. The whine from the diff had got worse and worse until it was decided to retire her until a replacement diff could be found. This happened just before christmas when I bought a car that was getting scrapped and used that diff.

We have also had a bumper collection of used oil so stocks are currently high, I really must start planning another veg powered trip !!!

Anyone got any ideas or suggestions ?

Ideas so far have been Iceland although I would probably rather avoid the problems cold weather could cause, Morocco (up through spain), and Malta. We can't go through Italy because its not legal and we will of course have to check with any countries the trip will go through.

Treatment for cold weather

Its getting pretty chilly now so I have been looking into ways to ensure the fuel doesn't wax up and clog the filters.

I stumbled across an additive called coldflow350 which claims to lower the point at which the fuel waxes by stopping the crystals from forming. My fridge test was pretty conclusive as you can see in this video, the first pour is treated and the second isnt :-

It works out pretty cheap as you only need a very small amount. The batch used in the video was mixed for a few minutes at room temperature.

Since this video was made I have been on a trip over to Bruges for the Bruges beer festival using treated veg. We stopped off in Poperinge to visit our favourite beer shop and dropped in on the monks at the Abbey of Saint Sixtus in Westvleteren. They brew some mighty fine beer which can only be obtained by visiting them in person. Well worth the trip though.

Details of the monks and the beer can be found here :-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westvleteren_Brewery

Winter running

I was recently asked about the obstacles to running on vegetable oil in winter, so even though it is still nice an warm (here in the U.K.), I though I'd post an explanation.

All fuels suffer problems at extremely low temperatures, including Petrol,
Diesel and Vegetable Oil. Petrol works to lower temperatures than Diesel
and Diesel works to lower temperatures than vegetable oil. Different
types of vegetable oils work to different temperatures. I have found it
difficult to use neat Soyabean oil below about 0 celcius. Rapeseed oil
seems to work a few degrees colder. The problem with all fuels is that
they first go cloudy, which clogs the fuel filters, and then at lower
temperatures, they go completely solid.

There are a number of ways to work around the cold problem. The easiest
way is to mix in a small amount of Diesel with the fuel. Other things we
have done include putting electrical heating tape on the fuel injection
lines and a heated wrap around the fuel filter. You can read about both
of these elsewhere on this website. Another solution which we haven't
tried personally is to get a twin tank conversion, where the car runs on
diesel until it is warmed up, and then it runs on vegetable oil that has been
passed through a heat exchanger.

The retro car show and Kenny's trip to Criatia

Kenny has just got back from his latest trip to Croatia.
He drove nearly all the way there and back using vegetable oil but they did have to put a little Diesel in the tank at one point.
There were a few problems with leaks in the fuel system, but I'll let him explain those once he's had a chance to catch up on some rest.

Yesterday was the Retro Car Show at Santa Pod. This is the third year I've taken my vegetable oil powered 190 to the show. We showed it off on the mercedes190.co.uk stand, amid other, shinier cars. This year, two of the 190s on the stand were running off vegetable oil - fewer than in previous years. For anyone reading who owns a 190, I'd recommend mercedes190.co.uk, which is a free owners club and Internet forum. There's lots of good information exchanged on the website and they use the annual Retro Car Show as a good excuse to meet face to face and try out the cars on the quarter mile strip, and on the handling circuit.

The modifications continue

The 300td has been running very well for quite a while now and another Europe trip is planned for the end of June 2009. A few modifications have been made to make it more comfortable as a Euro cruiser.

A second tank has been added in the cubby hole where the rear facing 6th and 7th seats would retract to, giving a total of 110 litres, or about 800 miles range. It has a large inspection lid which can accept a sock filter so I can filter on the move if needed.


I have also managed to squeeze in 2 batteries in with a cutoff switch on each earth. This enables me to run on one, the other, or both. I can remove both the knobs and make it impossible for anyone to steal. The idea behind this is that I can happily run the battery flat using the fridge, music, or lights, knowing that in the morning I have a fresh battery to start the engine. I can then charge up the first while on the move.


And finally, I changed the 4 rear interior lights for LED festoon bulbs. I chose the Large 2W ones which work out about twice as bright as the standard 10W that came with the car. More importantly they wont get hot and they wont run the battery down. The left in this pic is 1 new 2w LED, the right is 1 old 10w standard. I left the front interior light as standard because I prefer the warm glow from the old bulb. The front light is controlled separately to the rear bulbs.

Veggy thief

I now collect regularly from three restaurants/take-aways and occasionally from others. Recently, I went to collect from one place and discovered there was less oil than expected. Apparently, someone has been taking it without permission, and they got there before me.

The restaurant used to pay to have the oil taken away, so they aren't too concerned about the value of the oil, but it does mean that they don't have the paperwork to prove to the environment agency that their waste has been disposed of responsibly.

Brrrrr

During the cold snap last week, when temperatures were around -5C, we had a few problems with the fuel waxing. We temporarily solved it by blending it with thinner fuels. Both Kenny and I ran our cars last week on roughly 70% waste soybean oil and 30% fossil fuel. It runs very well on this and I suspect it only needed about 10% dino juice. This is the first time I've had to resort to this since I bought the car in 2007.

I was caught out by the difference between the waste soybean oil and clean rapeseed oil, which we had tested previously in cold weather. I am making a few improvements to my fuel lines and thinking about switching to rapeseed oil during cold weather.

Company cars

Now that Kenny and I are both running our cars on waste vegetable oil, it shows a company really can have a carbon neutral transport policy without using offsetting.

Most "environmentally friendly" cars are not carbon neutral, although many are better for the environment than the petrol and diesel equivalent.

I don't believe that carbon offsetting is good for the environment - it is just a way to "pass the buck" without doing anything constructive yourself.

Summary of first few days

Here are some notes from the first few days of the journey. Kenny couldn't post them earlier because he had problems with his laptop.

Day 1: Long drive to Speyer in Germany

Day 2: Hung around and went to a Micro Brewery that brewed Weiss Bier - it was wicked! On the way home bumped into some German students who were about 16 years old and hanging in a Roman Church (better than the British Bus Stop!). They had earlier in the day taken their English Vocabulary exam, so they wanted to show off their English Skills. Very funny night and strolled back to camp at 4.30am.

Day 3: With very little sleep drove to Austria. The scenery was incredible, drove through a valley in the Alps and surrounded by Lakes. Arrived in Zell Am and stayed by the waters edge. That evening we were desperate to find something to do as it was pretty out of the way and we came out of campsite and walked 2km to find a bar.

Day 4: We learnt if we had walked the other way there was a Beer Festival only 500 yards away. D'oh! Anthony did his early morning run in the Alps as he is in training for a 1/2 marathon and raising money for a Nottinghamshire Hospice.

Stewing in Croatia

Kenny is in Croatia now - They arrived in Omiš yesterday, powered by vegetable oil.

He had mounted a cooking pot on the exhaust manifold so he could cook dinner as he drove, which worked up to a point. He cooked a nice vegetable stew in it but later the mounting broke, so they will have to resort to more conventional cooking facilities.

Underway

I had a message from Kenny this morning to say he is in Speyer in Germany.
He can't pick up any legal Internet connections with his wok-fi at the moment, so he asked me to post this for him.

The car is running fine, but the fuel consumption is impaired by of the roof box and extra weight. There's an electrical problem which means that occasionally the windows and sun roof open by themselves. When it is raining that is quite refreshing - just what he needs to keep him awake after getting very little sleep last night.

wokfi

I have now finished making the WokFi antenna booster for the wifi dongle. £1 for the wok strainer.

Initial tests show its a great success. Using the device from my window I can pickup 6 access points when I normally only get 1, mine. Should be able to blog from anywhere now !

Almost ready for the next big trip

Modifications to the 300td have been going well. Its now running well and ready to take us over to Croatia again on the 14th August. Not long now !!

I have replaced all the fuel lines with clear pvc ones so I can have full confidence and can see what's going on. I have also mounted a pressure cooker to the side of the engine (above the exhaust manifold) so in theory we can cook food as we drive along. I am having trouble getting the pot up to temperature due to the cold air coming in from the front but I hope to have that sorted by the time we leave by shielding it.

The route will be similar to last time although we will be staying a couple of days in the black forest in order to sample more of the weissbiers. And we don't plan to stay in Belgium or Austria.

In Croatia Last time, due to weather issues, we mainly stayed in Zadar and the inland parts of Croatia. This time we will be checking out the Croatian part of Istria. Its had an interesting history and been part of many countries over the years. The varied influences apparently go to make it quite unique.:-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Istria

From there we plan to head right down the coast down to Split and Dubrovnik. We had planned to get to Montenegro but the vegetable oil laws are proving hard to find. We may park up and walk across the border.

We are taking a laptop so blogging should be a bit easier. I am also making up a homebrew 'wok-fi' antenna for finding access points, more details of wok-fi can be found here :-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WokFi

Here is a very rough idea of the route out. Once we get to Istria we will take our time exploring the coast.

BBC Panorama / comparison with electric cars

I just saw an episode of Panorama that was first broadcast last week.
They took an electric G-Wiz up the strip at Santa Pod, a similar idea to what we did a few weeks ago with my vegetable oil car.

I bet mine was a lot quicker than the G-Wiz, although they didn't show their time.
My car is also a lot better for the environment and cheaper, which is what the TV program was about.

My car runs on a waste product (cooking oil) which was going to be disposed of in a way that produces carbon dioxide. Instead of disposing of it that way, I collect it, filter it and put it into my car. In the Santa Pod example, I dispose of the waste by turning it into carbon dioxide whilst also accelerating along a quarter mile track from a standing start. No more carbon dioxide is produced than if I had not intervened in the process. I pick up the waste oil from restaurants using my car, so there's no source of net carbon there either, and there is no cost.

The G-Wiz runs on electricity which comes from the National Grid. A large proportion of electricity in the National Grid comes from fossil fuels, which is a separate problem that I'd like to see addressed. If you plug your G-Wiz into a wind turbine, then well done - you've found a good way to power your vehicle (albeit very slowly, over a short range). If you plug it into your home power supply, then you are responsible for adding extra load to a stretched grid, burning fossil fuels, emitting carbon dioxide and costing yourself money - you are just doing it in a way that isn't immediately obvious.

Vegmobile mkII finally arrives.

Kenny here,
Since arriving back from the Croatia trip I have been on the lookout for an estate merc to run off veg oil and take back out to Europe. Finally after seeing many go way above of my price range or have problems with the expensive to fix self-leveling-suspension I have now bought a lovely 300td, which is sitting outside. Its running off vegetable oil as it is but I will be fitting the mothercare mod and bypassing the fuel thermostat. I also have a plate heat exchanger so will do some heat tests with and without to see how much difference it makes. The w124 is very similar mechanically to the 190d so I already know the car pretty well.

The car has done an amazing 380k miles and to listen to the engine you simple wouldn't believe it. The steering components are showing their age,I have replaced the steering pump and will need to do the box at some point in the future. It needs a good clean up and some niggles fixing but the all important sls is working fine and there is very little rust. The next trip is now being planned. London to Montenegro (biodiesel for the france portion due to the law). I plan to convert the back to contain a bed but for this trip I will be camping again.

The trip is due to start around the 14th August and there will be 2 passengers plus myself.

Carbon neutral dragster racing

I took the car to the Retro Car show this weekend at Santa Pod and raced it down the strip.
It is a quarter mile, from a standing start.

My car is the white one and was running on 100% recycled cooking oil (from the Bayleaf take-away). I'm racing against a similar car which is running on a mixture of straight vegetable oil and mineral diesel. The commentator also runs his van on vegetable oil.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb5eIX60VwM

Although I managed to snatch second place, I think this probably has more to do with the way I drove it, rather than the capabilities of the car or fuel. I covered the quarter mile in 22.3827 seconds. I may make a couple of modifications to the car, and to my technique, before bringing the car back to Santa Pod next year. One of the other 190D owners at the event explained how to get more power by modifying the air intake and exhaust. It won't break any records, but the performance is already perfectly adequate for everyday driving, and I might just beat the black one next year!

Today's Working Lunch

I was interviewed about the car by Simon Gompertz of the BBC's Working Lunch program. The interview should appear on today's program - 12:30 on BBC2.

Smelling like lavender

When running on vegetable oil, the exhaust has a distinctive cooking smell.
It isn't that strong, and you can't smell it when you are driving along with the windows closed.
I personally think it smells much nicer than normal diesel fumes.
When using waste oil, it doesn't seem to smell like the food that was cooked - just a general frying smell. That might just be because the waste oil I use is fairly clean.

So I tried an experiment...
I took a couple of litres of vegetable oil and infused them for a few weeks using a large bunch of fresh lavender, from my friend's garden. I then filtered it (using a new filter element) and stuck it into my near-empty tank to see what effect it would have on the exhaust smell.
The answer, disappointingly, is that you can't smell the lavender on the exhaust.

I don't think I'll try any more smell experiments, but I'd welcome suggestions of other things to try - assuming they don't involve fossil fuels, and don't damage the car or the environment.

Bhaji power

I have asked many restaurants about their waste oil in the past. Some claim they produce little or no waste oil, some give their waste oil back to their oil supplier, and some are happy to give it to us as they normally pay for it to be taken away. Our company is a registered waste carrier and can supply all of the appropriate documentation, and we don't charge for collection.

I now have a regular, local supply of waste oil, with a touch of spice.

Thanks to the following take-aways:
Curry Leaf in Barnet, Herts
Bay Leaf in Whetstone, Herts

Mothercare heated filter solution.

Its been a while since I last posted, but I now have a photo of the simple heated fuel filter solution.

Its a baby bottle warmer from mothercare (in this case babytec) wrapped around the existing canister fuel filter. Its 25w and normally allows you to heat your babies bottle via the lighter socket. It works really well and costs £8 new. Whats more it has a thermostat in it so its pretty safe. This would not be enough on its own to run pure oil during cold spells but its really just to get around the waxing problem. A very cheap and simple solution that can be fitted in 5 minutes.

Videos

We have had a few questions about the videos so I have decided to post them here rather than tucked away at the bottom of the images page.



The second one may contain swearing :)


Details of our simple filter heater mod will be coming shortly.