Month: June 2006

I’ve gotten a lot of questions regarding the weight and cost for vegetable oil, (particularly bulk vegetable oil), corn oil, and the like, so I’ve decided to put a little more effort into the research and firm up the numbers. In order to get the widest range of subject matter, I took a trip to my local Wal-Mart to take some measurements.

This post details the price and weight by volume of bulk vegetable and corn oil (our primary subject matter) as well as the price and weight by volume of motor oil and gasoline.

Since I’m taking all of the measurements in-store I don’t have the benefit of being able to measure the liquid by itself, or to weigh the empty containers for reference. Instead these numbers are intended to give veggie-oil fuel enthusiasts a ballpark figure for purchasing fuel from their local superstore.

The first stop on the tour was the sporting goods section where I picked up a five pound weight and a 25 pound fish scale. I used the weight to calibrate both the produce scale and fish scale before taking any measurements. Thanks to Emma for helping out!

With tools in hand I headed over to the automotive section to pick up a little motor oil and a one gallon gas can. I grabbed a one quart bottle of Havoline 5W30 and a five quart jug of the same.

Havoline 5W30	1 quart	$1.97/unit	$7.88/gallon
Havoline 5W30	5 quart	$8.95/unit	$7.15/gallon

After that, I moved to the food section of the store and picked out a one gallon jug of Great Value brand vegetable oil and a 1 gallon container of corn oil.

Bulk Vegetable Oil	1 gallon	$4.57/unit	$4.57/gallon
Bulk Corn Oil	1 gallon	$4.96/unit	$4.96/gallon

CWP Veggie Oil	48oz	$1.68/unit	$4.48/gallon
Crisco Canola Oil	48oz	$1.84/unit	$4.91/gallon

All of these I took over to the produce section and weighed them individually – again using the 5 lb. weight to ensure the scales were accurate.

Products	Amount	Total	Ounces	Weight of a gallon
Vegetable Oil	1 gallon	8 pounds	128 ounces	8lbs
Corn Oil	1 gallon	8 pounds	128 ounces	8lbs
Motor Oil	5 quarts	9 pounds, 7 ounces	151 ounces	7.55lbs
Motor Oil	1 quart	1 pound, 15 ounces	31 ounces	7.75lbs

After leaving Walmart I went to their gas station with my 1 gallon gas can. Using the fish scale, I was able to measure the gas can both empty and full.

Empty Gas Can	13 oz
Gas Can with 1.046 gallons	7 lbs, 3 oz (115 ounces)
One Gallon of Gas weighs	6.10 pounds (97.52 ounces)

The results of this experiment were very interesting. I was surprised to learn that a gallon of gas weighs so much less than a gallon of vegetable or corn oil.

DieselEarth.com is seeking donations of used or new diesel vehicles that can be converted to run on vegetable oil. We want to make the needed modifications, drive it daily, and write about the experience to promote the use of alternative fuels.

If you have a vehicle or other resource you would like to donate in exchange for a little free advertising and the opportunity to save the planet, please contact us for sponsorship information.

I think I’ll be car shopping for a while. This is a pretty big investment and I’m not worried about taking it slow. I’m checking ebay for listings containing the word “diesel” price $0-$5,000 within 200 miles of my zip code and ending in 24 hours. Here’s the link.

I’m skimming ebay today still looking for the perfect car. I’m going to be driving this thing a lot, so the car has to meet not only the mechanical requirements, but also my own personal tastes.

I’m looking for something:

• That has a diesel engine (obviously)
• Runs reliably without significant modification
• Won’t be embarrassing to drive to work.
• Fits my budget of $2,000 (preferred) to $4,000

This is turning out to be a pretty tall order. I’m mostly just window shopping today, but here are some of the considerations from ebay:

1) 1982 Mercedes-Benz : 300-Series 300SD diesel

Pros: The price is right, currently at $2181.00 with 1 hour to go.
Cons: Needs some engine work, some rust, located in California.
Verdict: Pass

2) 1982 Mercedes-Benz : 300-Series

Pros: A beautiful car! I love the shape of the 80’s model Mercedes Benz. The owner record on this one is excellent as well.
Cons: The care is in Iowa. Why am I doing this to myself?
Verdict: Bookmarked while I look for something closer to home.

Here’s an excerpt form the Q&A regarding bio-diesel :

Q: Hello… Looks like a fine car. First, all the work for bio-diesel has been done, correct? Second, could you be just a tad more specific about the car’s location than ‘Midwest US’ so I can figure in whatever shipping or driving hassles there are? Thanks a lot… Warren

A: Hi,, The reason MB’s of this era are so highly sought after for using alternative fuels like SVO (straight vegetable (virgin oil) or WVO (waste vegetable oil) as they use glow plugs and a prechamber. These cars only need their fuel lines replaced, and frequent inexpensive transparent fuel filters run until the fuel system is cleaned out, as all bio-diesel, particularly WVO (Greasel) is an aggressive cleaner that will over time remove all contaminants in the fuel tank, lines, and and eventually conventional rubber. Tigon and viton are two high tech materials used for this, and the critical lines on this vehicle have all been changed. For optimal burning and easy winter starting it is a good idea to blend bio diesel with varying amounts of petro-diesel. I generally run 50-70% during the nice weather and as little as 20% in the winter. WVO tends to thicken below about 30 degrees, so it needs to be pre-heated or have a chemical added with the fuel to lower its gel point, and cold pour point. I use a chemical that lowers that point 40 degrees and use mostly SVO in very high concentrations, just to see how far you can push it. I do this on my VW Jetta 170K miles, my 82 Benz wagon, 750K, (same exact engine and trans as the car in the auction), and all my heavy equipment, from tractors to road graders and bull dozers, even a MB bus I use as a mobile home. For three years I’ve floundered around with Bio-D and have never once had a problem. I still have straight soy oil in the MB bus from three years ago, 100% plus the additive and it starts easily. Nearly 20 below is the coldest I’ve tried. Circuitously, this is to say the vehicle has had the minimal work done on it needed for Bio-D and it loves it. Nothing else is a necessity. I am currently experimenting with pre-heating the fuel just before injection using a small heat exchanger using coolant heat. If you want to know more find Journey to Forever on the net. Car is at Iowa City Ia 52240, right off I-80

3) 1993 Ford : F-250 7.3L V8 DI

Pros: This one is nearby and I like the truck utility aspect…
Cons: My current truck is already pretty big and I’m dealing with the carseat problem for my little girl already. This is one heifer of a truck and it could get pricey as well. It’s already at $3,250 with the reserve not met.
Verdict: Pass

Download a free copy of the USDA report on Bulk Vegetable Oil Commodity Requirements now.

So here’s a problem I’m running into – where do I get the vegetable oil I’ll need to run the car and will it be cheaper than gas?

Finding a bulk vegetable oil distributor is difficult. I’ve called the local McDonald’s/Burger King/Wendy’s restaurants and the managers there have been surprisingly helpful. I was very surprised that they not only gave me the names of their suppliers (and in some cases their phone numbers), but not one of them asked me what I was doing. I was prepared to lay out my whole story so they wouldn’t feel uncomfortable that they were helping their competition, but none seemed to care!

Armed with the contact information from the fast food joints, I called around but none of the suppliers has called me back. Granted, I was doing my shopping on Memorial Day which might not have been the smartest move…

In the meantime, I’ve been looking at the local grocery stores as a last resort. I also joined both Costco and Sam’s Club (for unrelated reasons) so I looked into those as well. If you’re going cross country in your greasecar and aren’t planning on filling your trunk with a supply of oil, here’s what you can expect to pay in my area:

Albertsons has a “Club pack” of soybean oil – 128 fl oz (1 gallon) for 6.29. That’s $6.29/gallon.

Sam’s Club has a 1.25 gallon jug of Wessson vegetable oil for $5.09. That works out to $4.07/gallon.

Finally, the listing that has me most intrigued is also at Sam’s Club – a 35 pound jug of clear frying oil for $13.97. Based on some quick internet research, I’ve found that rapeseed oil weighs about 7.6 pounds per gallon. Assuming the same for the fryer oil, the jug contains about 4.6 gallons of oil. That works out to just over $3/gallon. Edit: Here’s some post-publication research on how much vegetabel oil weighs.

The $3/gallon figure doesn’t quite measure up to today’s gas prices, but keep the following in mind:

• Gas will be going over $3/gallon in the next year. Drivers in Amsterdam and other parts of Europe already pay well over $6/gallon.
• This pricing is based off of local store shelf prices, not bulk retailers. Buying in bulk has the potential to bring the price down dramatically (more on that to come).
• Vegetable oil is a renewable resource as opposed to petroleum of which there is a finite amount. While we can expect petroleum prices to rise as the sources deplete, it’s possible that prices for vegetable oil will decrease as it becomes a more mainstream fuel alternative – increased production efficiency, distribution refinement, etc.
• Finally, wouldn’t you rather pay American farmers for vegetable oil than Arab sheiks for petroleum? Dependence on foreign oil is slowing diplomatic gains for America across the board. I won’t bore you with the politics, but take a moment to think on the big scale what would happen if the price of a barrel of crude wasn’t all we heard about on the news.

My apologies for the rant. If you hear of a good source of veggie oil, please let me know.