I ran from Norway to Africa on B100
An old diesel engine will run on B100.
Diesel engines was made in the late 1800`s by Rudolf Diesel. They originally ran on peanut oil, but since that was hard to come by in Northern Europe at the time, a waste product of petrol production (now called diesel because of the engine) was superb to use in a slow going engine. The diesel engine was priarily used for tractors and tanks. Things that at the time was ment to go slow with a relatively slow RPM who did not need the explosive power of gas.
I am not a mechanic, nor an engineer, but I wanted to make my 1999 Land rover defender run on B100 on the TD5 engine. All but a few told me they "knew a guy" who tried it and broke his engine, but none could name him.
I decided to try, and a local company named bio 8 (
Bio8) funded the project. A friend of me who are going to live aboard an old landrover ambulance helped me do the project. We fitted a 300 liter truck fuel tank in the back of my car with a metal coil in it. We ran the coolant water from the engine through it and warmed up the biofuel that way to about 70 degrees. After the fuel was warm enough, I switched from regular diesel to bio fuel on my engine.
Norway is a cold country and B100 tend to get like wax when it is cold. The solution is to have two tanks. A small regular diesel tank to start the engine and warm up the biomass (and to "flush" out remaining bio fuel 5 minutes before i stop the engine). I start and stop my engine on regular fossile diesel, so there is a need for a two tank system for this to work in colder climate.
A friend of mine drives on b50 during the winter months (unmodified engine and fuel system) and b100 during summer months. I had a bio-fuelpump dedicated to my b100, so I turned off the normal diesel pump and used my biopump when using bio. I had a switch for that in the front seat of my car, and it would change seamless and actually reducing RPM when I changed to bio. Engine ran smoother on it.
To get FREE bio fuel, you just go to the local burger joint and get their old used frying oil for free. You prefilter it down to 10 microns (who is what most diesel filters filter). You can get washable filters on ebay for 10$.
We ran 10.000 km + on this. All across Europe, from Norway to Morocco in Africa.
There is no need to buy biofuel. The used vegetable oil is better than new oil, cause used oil contains less water as it has been boiled out. The fumes will smell exactly like the things cooked in the oil. If it was made chips in the oil, your car/boat will smell like chips while driving it, but hey... is the guy behind you that is going to smell that, not you
To make biofuel get it in cans, let them sit for a couple of weeks to let the gunk sink to the bottom, and then prefilter it. Thats it. Free fuel.
Downsides:
1. Hoses will crack after a while
Solution: Replace hoses with acid proof ones when they crack.
2. Filters will probably clog
Solution: Repace filters. Problem will only sustain while the biofuel (solvent) cleans out old carbon chunks of the engine. After 1 or 2 filter changes, your engine should be fine. Anyway, the price of a couple of filters are cheaper than diesel and a bit of acid proof fuel line when your fuel is free.
Another option is to have a dedicated bio pump and put a t-piece right where the engine block intake is and have diesel in one and bio on the other side of the inlet.
3. You loose about 10% power.
Solution: You can use additives to get more power. Recipes at youtube.
If power-loss is acceptable, you still get free fuel.
I want to eventually run my trawler on b100 that I make my self.