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  #1  
Old 08-26-2006, 06:00 PM
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Animal fat as fuel?

Has anyone tried animal fat as fuel instead of WVO? I am asking here since I want to try it in my SD, and no more Mercedes owners reside anywhere but here. I went to my butcher today for some meat and we got talking about vegetable oil and he asked me about burning animal fat. They have an abundance of the stuff that has to be hauled away for a cost. It is basically food grade pig lard that had been heated/boiled for 24 hours, strained and then put into tubs and refrigerated. A small amount of customers cook with it but most of it is discarded. They have several hundred pounds of it every time they process pork. It is shelf stable, they say, and looks just like Crisco. At room temperature it has a consistency of butter and heated a little will be liquid. I got a 5 pound tub to play with. Anyone tried it? I am thinking a fuel system to handle it would be heated at every point. Thanks for the info. Eric.

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Old 08-26-2006, 06:08 PM
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i dont recomend it.. if its solid at room temp then dont even think of running it
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Old 08-26-2006, 06:40 PM
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Animal fat does make a better fuel than veggie oil, but it needs to be prepared more than WVO.

Anything that's thicker than liquid hand soap at room temp needs to be processed or mixed to thin it out.
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Old 08-26-2006, 07:48 PM
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Try your question here...

Quote:
Originally Posted by VegiBenz View Post
Has anyone tried animal fat as fuel instead of WVO?
I think it's possible - I've read some posts here: http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/forums

This a very definitive forum especially dedicated to WVO and biodiesel - ask your question there or search the forum and you should find some stuff on the subject.

Good luck -
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Old 08-26-2006, 07:56 PM
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VegBenz,
Germany mobilized their entire army in WWII on diesel made from a concoction of animal fats, veg. oil and dino oil extracted from coal....they had no petrolium resourses of their own. So it is possible to use animal fats if you get the formula right. Totally impracticle to try and use
100% animal fats even with a heating system. Any oil that congeals or solidifies at room temps during the summer in Ohio presents a big problem.

Think about it...the fat solidifying overnight turning to lard in your tank, fuel lines, filters, Injection pump and injectors would require a very elaborate system to heat and liquify every inch of it and a considerable amount of energy. Even if using a two tank system....one with diesel and one with animal fat... there is bound to be a lump of residual lard left somewhere in the system when shuting the car down for the evening and sitting over night...then only a butter knife can help you.

If you come up with good blended formula to really lower its solidifying temp...let us know
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Last edited by F18; 08-26-2006 at 08:08 PM.
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  #6  
Old 08-26-2006, 08:02 PM
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Mine runs best on whale oil.
Animal fat has a higher btu content than veggie oil but as already stated is more cumbersome to burn. I guess if you never shut the car off then you could run it without alot of problems.
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Old 08-26-2006, 08:02 PM
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It might be worth experimenting with a blend of animal fat and dino diesel. Start with 10% and see what happens. Warm the pig fat until it melts completely. Measure the temp using a candy thermometer. Warm the diesel to the same temp. Mix the two thoroughly (thrift shop blender, maybe? don't get air in the mixture). Allow to cool, see if it's still liquid. Test in the refrigerator, see how cold it will get before it gels. Make sure the pig fat doesn't separate out and end up as a lump at the bottom! Let us know how you get on.
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Old 08-26-2006, 08:10 PM
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I have no real idea about animal fats suitability. My guess is that it would be fine if heated so that it is the right viscocity.

Most systems more or less ignore having a complete, second, HEATED fuel system where it gets tricky (like in the tank, the fuel filter, small sections of line, etc). But a real quality conversion will burn just about anything, including shortening. Filtering it may be an issue, so all you'll need is a heated filter system. I bet if you get that stuff up to 160 it will do fine. Try www.frybrid.com for a high quality conversion, maybe add their new lift pump at the tank in order to help push any small unheated sections through until they get hot. That way, except for the first few seconds after switchover, you'll have liquid fuel all the way from inside the tank to the injectors.
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Old 08-26-2006, 08:32 PM
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Using animal fat is a fast road to fuel problems. I guess if someone comes up with a way for our cars to not get clogged arteries, then it could be ok.
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  #10  
Old 08-26-2006, 08:34 PM
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make some biodiesel with it and see at what temperature that gels at
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  #11  
Old 08-26-2006, 09:51 PM
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Actually methyl-ester (biodiesel) made with solid fats (@ RT) is very viscous or even solid @ RT. The easiest way to run lard in the MBZ and the only practical way i found is to dissolve its long chain methyl-ester it is with gasoline. so not only you have to process it into biodiesel, but to must thin out considerably with a strong solvent....Not worth it.
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  #12  
Old 08-26-2006, 09:55 PM
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"refining procedure"

Just off the top of my head, one way to refine it might be to heat the mass to a certain temperature, say 115°, that is safely below the coldest point of your veg system (my tank, the coldest point, runs at 130ish), and strain off the chunks so you only have liquid oil. Also be sure to filter it to 10 micron, or whatever your veg filter is rated, at this temperature. That way you won't have any congestion problems.

--EDIT-- After seeing Rashakor's post, you could also cut it with some, like 10% I think, RUG, and do the process I described above.
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Old 08-26-2006, 10:41 PM
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I am Canadian and my father has spent a few years in the extreme northen part of Canada as a government contractor.

The natives over there kill belugas(these are cute little white whales you see on TV) and they use the fat as a fuel. The fat has to be heated up until it turns into a liquid and then it is run thru a screen and is used for lanterns or small outdoor furnaces and other things.

I think it's possible but maybe not worth the hassle since it has to be heated to break it down and screened to be used as a fuel.
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  #14  
Old 08-27-2006, 08:23 AM
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Thank you all so far. The general consensus says not to do it. I have been messing with it in the kitchen a little, though. I put two cups or so in a saucepan and had it melted comepletely in 2 minutes on the stove. I know the stove focused the heat a lot more and it was not a good test but I was amazed at how long it stayed liquid even after it was cool to the touch. I also drilled a hole in some fins of an old Pentium 2 heat sink and put in a glow plug. I laid this thing in a pie tin and put a pound or so of lard on top and within 20 seconds of applying 12V, there was liquid flowing out. It took 20 minutes to completely melt the lump but the glow plug wasn't even all the way in the pie tin, it was all in at an angle and only a small percentage of the heat sink was in, so it wouldn't short out. I can see with a small 5 gallon fuel system (maybe underhood) that is heated well with 2 glow plugs and coolant and some nichrome wire on the injector lines, it may work. Probably not the best stuff when WVO is still easy (relatively) and plentiful. I may still work on it a little. Thanks again.

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