First, here are the abbreviations & what they mean:
SVO - Straight Vegetable Oil. Also can be called VO. Usually it has never been used. It may still need to be dewatered & filtered. Other times it refers to any pure vegetable oil, whether it's new or used. Some times VO was mixed with diesel, kerosene or other petrol fuels as additives, & then SVO meant that it was just lone VO with no other additives. SVO needs to be heated in our BELIZEL Tank to lower it's viscosity so it can burn in a diesel motor.
WVO - Waste Vegetable Oil. Usually collected for free from restaurants. It has been used & is dirty. It needs to be filtered & dewatered. WVO needs to be heated in our BELIZEL Tank to lower it's viscosity so it can burn in a diesel motor. Formerly called UCO (Used Cooking Oil).
VO - Vegetable Oil. Can be used to imply either WVO or SVO. It may also need to be filtered & dewatered depending on how clean it really is. VO needs to be heated in our BELIZEL Tank to lower it's viscosity so it can burn in a diesel motor.
Veggie Diesel - Can be used to define all of the above.
Bio-Diesel - Vegetable oil that has been chemically transformed. It starts out as VO, & then Sodium Hydroxide & Methanol are added to chemically transform it to lower it's viscosity to make it burn in a diesel motor. It also needs to be filtered, separated from the glycerin, & then "washed" to remove traces of left over Methanol before it can be used in a diesel motor. Can be burned in any unmodified diesel motor (may eat away your rubber hoses & gaskets if they are not Viton).
Diesel, Petro Diesel, Mineral Diesel, Dino Diesel, Regular Diesel, etc. - Petroleum based diesel fuel bought at gas stations to run Diesel motors, vehicles, generators, tractors, etc. This is the stuff you are already familiar with. Can be burned in any unmodified diesel motor.
NOTE: SVO, WVO, UCO & VO can, have been & are used interchangeably. Usually SVO means straight VO, & WVO means used VO. But not always. & it really doesn't matter too much, they all are VO's. It's just where your obtain them from is what's the difference & how much your will need to filter/dewater them. Don't worry about getting confused about which is which. They all mean VO.
Ok, now that we got that out of the way, there still is a lot of confusion out there on what really is Bio-Diesel & what does BELIZEL use.
Our BELIZEL kits use PURE VEGETABLE OIL & ANIMAL FATS. This is called WVO/SVO/VO. IT IS NOT BIO-DIESEL.
There are no dangerous chemicals needed for using SVO or WVO in our BELIZEL kit. It just needs proper filtering before it gets poured into our custom BELIZEL tank. This type of oil is called SVO (straight vegetable oil) or WVO (waste vegetable oil), depending on it's source. It is a bio-fuel, but it is not Bio-Diesel. It just is pure vegetable oil! They are similar (in fact, as you'll read below, Bio-Diesel requires the same SVO/WVO to be manufactured).
Basically, to use vegetable oil in a Diesel motor, you need to lower it's viscosity. There are 2 ways to do this. Chemically (as in Bio-Diesel) which is called transesterfication. The other (& much simpler!) method is by heating the SVO/WVO/VO which is what we do with our BELIZEL kit.
Bio-Diesel:
Bio-diesel takes the same vegetable oil (SVO or WVO) as a starting point, & then by a chemical process, removes the glycerin by cracking the tri-ester molecules of the vegetable oil with Sodium Hydroxide (this is a very dangerous lye & is the most commonly used agent. It is severely caustic), & then using Methanol (again, this is what is most commonly used, & can cause death or blindness just by absorbing it through your skin) to extract the glycerin out & separate it from the remaining oil. Methanol is also highly flammable & it's gas can cause an explosion if ignited, even by a single spark.
Then you drain off the glycerin which contains the methanol & needs to be evaporated off before it can be used (very rarely) or disposed of properly. Roughly 25% of the overall batch turns into glycerin. The remaining bio-diesel requires further processing & needs to be "washed" to remove any remaining methanol which could eat away your fuel line hoses & gaskets in your vehicle. Even after this washing, there can remain traces of methanol, so you really need to replace all of your rubber fuel lines with Viton, or similar) synthetic hoses that can h&le this without being eaten away. Then, after all of this work, then & only then can the bio-diesel can be poured directly into your diesel fuel tank, & even mixed with regular diesel in most any amount. It does not need to be heated like SVO/WVO/VO.
I have known people who have gone to the hospital from getting chemically burned when making bio-diesel, & met 2 people that have blown up their houses while making bio-diesel in their garage. Unless you really know what you are doing, making your own bio-diesel is an extremely dangerous process! We're not saying bio-diesel is bad, we're just saying for the average person, it needs a certain amount of respect, knowledge & safety(!) if you want to make it.
If there is a call for it in Belize, we will considering making a micro bio-diesel refinery, but I think you'll agree with us that our method used in BELIZEL is really the better way to go!
SVO/WVO/VO:
This is filtered & dewatered vegetable oil, either new or used. No chemicals needed! Just pure veggie oil, filtered & dewatered & then heated in a special BELIZEL tank.
BELIZEL kits use this second method, since it's much simpler, safer & easier. Also, there is no re-occurring costs (such as buying Bio-Diesel if you can find it, or buying the dangerous chemicals & manufacturing it). It is simpler & safer for the average person. While we are all for Bio-Diesel, & think that is a good thing, we also think that for the average person, using VO is much simpler, safer & much easier than you trying to make Bio-Diesel yourself with little to no experience. For VO, all you need to do is to buy & install our conversion kit, find & collect the VO, filter & dewater the oil. Then pour it into our BELIZEL Tank.
We found it much easier (& safer!) to design & build our BELIZEL kits to use regular vegetable oil. If it spills on you, it's just cooking oil. Its what you fry your chicken in!
FAQ: (Frequently Asked Questions)
Will this work on my gasoline vehicle?
No. Only diesel motors can be converted to run on VO. For gasoline motors, your only currently available option is to buy a butane conversion kit & have it installed. Check out WestTrac, LP Gas or Trac Pac in Spanish Lookout (there are others, but those are ones that I am aware of). Also look in the Yellow Pages.
Why will it only work on water cooled diesel motors?
It can be made to work on air cooled motors, such as the h& crank ones used for corn mills, but installation is a bit harder for them. BELIZEL taps into the coolant line of the water based diesel motors to get the free waste heat generated by the motor to heat the VO to lower it's viscosity. With an air cooled diesel motor, we have to either use an electrical heater, or tap into the exhaust heat to lower the VO's viscosity. It can be done, but you'll have to contact us for an estimate on your specific application & needs. We'll be making a conversion kit for these diesel motors as more people start requesting them.
How long will it take for the BELIZEL kit to pay for itself?
That depends on how much you drive & how much diesel you used to use. If you collect it for free from a restaurant & you drive a lot, then it'll pay for itself pretty quickly. You'll still have to buy diesel for starting & stopping your engine, but your regular diesel fuel costs will go way down. If you do a lot of long distance driving (i.e. from PG to Belize City), you'll start up on diesel. In about 5 minutes, you'll be switching over to VO. You switch back to diesel about 5-10 minutes before parking the vehicle for the night or for an extended stop. All told for this long trip, you will have burned less than .10-.25 gal. of diesel. That's about 5-10 minutes of total diesel driving. The rest of the 5-6 hour trip was basically driven for free on WVO! When I make this monthly drive in my truck, I used to burn 17 gallons of diesel (a full tank) to reach Belize City, & then when I reach back to Belmopan on my return trip, I needed to fill up again. With BELIZEL, I burn about the same amount of WVO & my diesel fuel gauge barely moves!
If you drive around town & make lots of long stops, then you'll burn more diesel, unless your stops are for a short amount of time. If you plan on stopping long enough for your motor to cool down, then you'll need to switch it back over to diesel to keep the injectors from clogging & making it harder to start the next time. If you stop for lunch, & your engine will still be warm when you start it up again, there is no need to switch over. It'll start just fine on warm vegetable oil. If it does cool down, it'll still start, just leave the glow plugs on a bit longer & you may have to crank it a few times.
What happens if I forgot to switch back to Diesel when I stop for the night?
If this does happen, let the Glow Plugs stay on longer than normal to warm things up before starting. Down here in the Tropics, this really isn't that much of a problem unless you keep doing it over & over. It'll start a little bit harder, but keep cranking & it'll go. If you have a block heater, simply plugging it in for 45 min will warm the engine block back up so it can start easily. If not, it'll start after several tries. If you use more animal fats, then they can wax up the injectors more than plant oils when cold & make it harder to start than on just lone vegetable oil. As a test, I went for two weeks down here using no diesel at all, & started & stopped just on WVO. Only once was it hard to start after a very cool night. I don't' recommend doing this! This was just to test it to see what would happen.
What additional costs are there after I get my BELIZEL Kit installed?
Except for your time to collect & pre-filter the WVO, the only thing that will require additional costs will be when you change the Heated VO fuel filter, the clear inline filter & for replacing the filters that you use when you pre-filter the WVO before it gets pumped or poured into the BELIZEL Tank. When you change the VO fuel filter, we recommend that you fill it with ATF (the red automatic transmission fluid) or filtered WVO, so that would be an additional (but very small) cost to purchase a quart of it. Replacing the VO Fuel filter costs approx. $20-40bz, depending on size of filter, about the same price as a regular diesel fuel filter & widely available through out the country. You should change your filters when you change your vehicles oil, approx. every 3000 miles. I have run over 10,000 miles on 1 heated filter change when my WVO is properly pre-filtered.
What if I run out of Vegetable oil?
You still keep your regular diesel tank, & if you run out or don't have time to collect & pre-filter the WVO, you can run your vehicle as you already do on regular diesel. You can switch between tanks as you drive with our simple switch. You can even add diesel to the BELIZEL Tank.
Can I switch my BELIZEL Tank to another vehicle?
Yes. As long as it's diesel. You might need some extra hoses, wires & mounting accessories. When you switch, your old diesel will still run as a normal diesel vehicle, as it always has.
Will the BELIZEL Tank blow up if it's near an open flame or spark?
No. It is regular cooking oil. Even dropping a lighted match into the tank will just put the match out. The vapors aren't flammable (like gasoline), & the oil would need to be light with a wick (i.e. like a c&le) & even then it would just burn via the wick like a c&le or a lamp. If you spill it, & hold a lighted match or cigarette to the VO spill, it won't light. If you were boiling a 55 gal drum full of VO, & it spilled over into an open flame, then it could catch fire. But with the BELIZEL kit, we aren't doing that! Using VO is much safer than gasoline & even safer than diesel. What you see on TV & in the movies is Hollywood special effects (usually dynamite & gasoline) when a car catches fire & explodes. This won't happen with a BELIZEL Kit!
Gasoline is highly explosive, & 1 gallon of gas can be as explosive as 11+ sticks of dynamite. I once was burning some brush in a pit, & had some old, left over gas that I needed to get rid of. There was less than 1/2 gallon in the container, & I poured it on. I knew that it was potentially dangerous, so I positioned myself behind a huge boulder & threw a lighted match into the hole. Before the lighted match reached the gasoline soaked pile, it's vapors blew up & rocked houses 1/2 mile away. A hard wood pallet was blown up 75 feet in the air! My neighbors called to make sure I was all right, (after they first checked to see if it was an earthquake). They thought it was my bio-diesel refinery blowing up, until I told them it was just lone gasoline. Diesel & vegetable oil are MUCH safer than gasoline!
Do I need to add any chemicals to make it work?
No. Just plain old, filtered vegetable oil is all that's needed for the BELIZEL system. There was some misinformation out a few years ago about a special "magic" chemical that you added to the vegetable oil to make it work better. But the "secret" ingredient in that formula was just white spirit (mineral turpentine), with approx. 3% added to the vegetable oil to lower its flash point. In reality, it didn't do much, except make the user think he was protecting his engine, when in fact, he wasn't! Our BELIZEL system is time tested on hundreds of vehicles with over 100,000 thous& of miles of road tested proof. No extra additives are needed or recommended.
Side Note: If you have extremely "wet" WVO, & aren't sure if you properly dewatered it, you can add some "Dry Gas", which is the pure, clear isopropyl alcohol. This will cling to the water molecule & let it burn, but it is just a b& aid! Always properly filter & dewater your WVO! Don't make using dry gas a habit. This is information only if you are traveling & not sure of your WVO's water content. It is not a replacement for properly dewatering your WVO!
I installed my BELIZEL Kit, but the engine keeps stalling when I switch to VO:
Most of the problems have to do with an air leak getting into the VO fuel line or a clogged VO filter. Recheck & tighten all hose clamps, from the tank, & up near the VO Fuel Filter & Fuel Selector Switch. Air leaks are responsible for most of the problems first time users have with our BELIZEL System. When first installed, there can be pockets of air in the VO fuel line, so switching back & forth between diesel & VO will help pull out the air. Also, a 1-h& vacuum brake pump will pull the VO all the way up to the VO filter, & even through the VO filter ensuring no air pockets.
Air pockets can also occur later on if you draw down the BELIZEL tank & run it dry (or clog a filter). The next time you fill it, there are large pockets of air in the VO fuel line that will need to be pulled out. These can also cause the motor to stall because it's starved of fuel or run rough until it all gets pulled out.
The other common problem it could be is one of your VO Fuel Filters are clogged. If you have run for more than 2-3000 miles, than it's probably time to change the VO fuel filter. If it clogs much earlier, then you need to pre-filter the VO better & make sure it's dewatered before it gets pumped into the BELIZEL tank. First check the clear inline filer back by the BELIZEL Tank, & then the main heated filter. The last filter to clog should be the heated filter up front.
One way to tell which one is causing the problem is by switching back to to diesel & seeing how the vehicle reacts. If the vehicle gets back to full power within a few seconds to a minute or two when you switch, then it's probably the VO filter that is clogged. If the vehicles still runs slow & very rough & stalls on diesel, then you have air in the lines. Vent off the air with the air purge on your vehicle diesel's filter, &/or through loosening the injector fuel lines until only diesel gets pumped out before tightening them back. Remember, a clogged VO filter can also induce air leaks!
If you get the BELIZEL kit installed by us or one of our certified installers, they'll make sure when you pick up the car, it is ready to go with the air already flushed out. But remember, it can get still air pockets caused by a clogged filter later on.
I can't start on either Diesel or VO:
It runs very rough:
Switch over to Diesel, & purge the air from the diesel air filter until it squirts clear diesel fluid & tighten it back down. Start it back up. That should clear the fuel return line of any air pockets. If not, loosen the fuel injectors fuel lines on each injector one by one until they squirt pure diesel with no air bubbles & then retighten all of them. Also by opening back up the Return line to the diesel tank & running it for a minute before making it loop back around will help clear most air pockets in the Return Loop. It probably happened by running the VO tank empty or a clogged VO filter & creating an air pocket, or from an air leak in the VO fuel line or Return Line or a clogged VO filter. Check all of them & find the problem.
The other problem could be your VO contains free or suspended water &/or is extremely dirty. Re-read our filtering & dewatering info & follow that to the letter!
My BELIZEL System ran great for the first few days/miles & now it runs rough or stalls:
Check for air leaks & clogged VO filters. If could be that your VO contains a lot of animal fats (beef tallow, pork fat, etc) & it's not hot enough to pass it through the filter & that's causing it to clog. Allow your motor to warm up more before switching to VO so it can melt the fats in the filter. Make sure your clear inline filter back by the BELIZEL Tank is s&wiched between the coolant hoses & gets plenty hot. Let it run a bit longer on diesel before you switch it over to WVO.
When I first switch over to VO, it runs for a short time, & then stalls. If I let it rest awhile, it will run fine on VO at first, & then stalls again.
If it runs fine when first switched over to VO, & then coughs, sputters & stalls (starves of fuel) then look at the bottom of the Heated Fuel Filter. There probably is some sediment there that gets stirred up after running a few miles that clogs it. When the filter is hot, stop the engine & let the vehicle parked for awhile, letting it settle out. Drain it with the bottom sediment drain after it has settled (but still warm). Also check the clear inline filters for the same, or possibly a particle of something that got into the tank. If it's a clear inline filter clogging, simply replace it. That's what they are there for, to keep your bigger heated filter lasting longer! Again, the clear inline filter by the tank is usually the first to clog.
OK. I'm excited & I want to do this!!! What do I do next?
Assuming you already have a diesel vehicle, your first step is to read through this entire WWW site & place your order for your kit. While you are waiting for the kit to arrive, (2nd) start finding a source of vegetable oil from your local restaurants. (3rd) Get several pigtail buckets, & 55 gal. drums, or purchase our complete home pre-filtering system. (4th) Get the BELIZEL kit installed by us, a certified installer, or you can do it yourself if you are mechanically inclined. Full directions are included with every kit. & (5th), get ready to drive on Liquid Gold, usually for free!!!
Vehicles that have been converted in the past...
(list compiled from personal experience, various WVO/SVO Kit Manufactures, Forums & SVO/WVO groups)
Audi 5000
AM General , 6.5L Hummer
BMW 524TD 2.4L
Caterpillar
Cadillac Deville 5.7lL
Chevy 6.2L, 6.5 P.U Trucks/Suburbans, 6.6L Duramax, Chevette 1.8L
Cummins N14
Dodge 5.9L Cummins all years (98.5 to 2002 not recommended ), D50 2.3L
Cummins 4BT
Ford 6.9 , 7.3 IDI , 7.3 DI Powerstroke , 6.0 Powerstroke (not recommended)
GMC
International
Jeep Liberty 2.8L
John Deere
Isuzu NPR, Trooper II 2.2L, PUP 2.2L
Massy Ferguson
Mazda B2200 2.2L
Mercedes , 190D , 220D , 240D , 300D , 300CD , 300TDT , 350SDL , E300D
Mitsubishi Mighty max 2.3L & L200 Turbo Diesel
Nissan Pickup 2.5
Oldsmobile 5.7L, 4.3L
Peugeot 2.3L
Sprinter 2.7L
Toyota Camry 1.8L, Corolla 1.8L, Previa 3.0L, L& Cruiser, PU 1L, PU 2LT
Volkswagen , 1.5L , 1.6L , 1.9L TDI
Volvo 2.4L
Winnebago Le Sharo 2.1L
Detroit Diesel , 6V92 , 8V71 , 8V92 , Series 60
Mack E-Tech
ATV's
AND MANY MORE!
Bruce Carroll, Managing Director