The short answer is no. I read an article in The Western Producer, an agricultural weekly, on this subject a while ago. I'll try and find it and post a copy. Can't remember all the details but there can be problems with veg oil in a diesel engine.
The Western Producer
Experts advise against heated veggie oil as fuel
this document web posted: Thursday April 10, 2003 20030410p10
By Sean Pratt
Saskatoon newsroom
Inventor Rudolph Diesel used peanut oil to run the diesel engine he unveiled to the public at the 1900 Paris Exposition.
More than a century later, vegetable oil should again be considered a viable fuel for diesels, said Edward Beggs, president of Neoteric Biofuels Inc.
His company, located in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley, makes kits that transform vegetable oil into a workable fuel for diesel-powered motors by heating the oil before pumping it through the engine.
Beggs said with a small-scale processing plant and one of these kits, farmers can use the canola they harvest each year to run their tractors and combines.
But two leading biofuels experts advise producers to steer clear of using vegetable oil in their vehicles.
"That's almost a guaranteed way to wreck an engine," said Agriculture Canada researcher Martin Reaney.
He said the engine that Diesel showcased in Paris was a simple machine compared to modern diesels, which have sophisticated pumps, injectors and pistons that can be damaged by vegetable oil.
"Even if their system works 99 times out of 100, it's the hundredth time that's going to cost you a $20,000 engine," said Reaney.
Barry Hertz, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Saskatchewan, has examined engines that have used 100 percent canola oil as a fuel.
"The results have been disastrous. The pistons basically seize. And I don't think heating the oil would be of much benefit."
Beggs disagrees. He admits that using untreated oil off the grocery store shelf will eventually create numerous problems — coated fuel injector tips, sticky piston rings and glazed cylinder walls with goo left over from incomplete combustion.
But he and his colleagues say they have devised a way to overcome those problems. They sell a kit that includes a "pre-heater" that heats pure vegetable oil to 70 C before it is pumped through an engine. The heat decreases the viscosity of the biofuel, creating a lighter liquid that won't gum things up.
The Neoteric kit requires a two tank system that uses standard diesel during start-up and shut down.
"This is the key really to the whole thing, is starting and stopping on diesel fuel and running hot vegetable oil through the injectors the rest of the time while you're operating," said Beggs.
Reaney insists heating the oil is not enough to overcome the problems.
"The life of the engine would be significantly decreased if you put hot oil into it," said the scientist.
Direct inject engines are particularly vulnerable but he also cautions farmers not to use hot or cold vegetable oil to fire the more forgiving indirect engines.
Roy Button, executive director of the Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission, said it experimented with a system similar to what Beggs is selling.
He said the fuel burned fine, but over time it led to soot in the oil and increased engine wear.
Instead of promoting the use of pure canola as a diesel fuel, his group is backing the biodiesel industry, which uses a chemical process to convert canola into fuel, said Button.
Beggs said farmers who want to create their own diesel fuel can buy a small-scale cold press for $15,000 to $30,000.
The Neoteric kit that includes everything a producer would need to run a diesel on homegrown canola oil (except the extra fuel tank) costs $1,000.
Beggs said the process is still more expensive than buying regular diesel but as fuel prices rise the economics are getting closer.
http://www.producer.com/articles/200...410news08.html