We have a number of emissions labe tests that have been conducted. Below is an overview but the tables would not paste into the post. I'll have to figure out a way to either save them as an image file or post a PDF.
Vegetable Oil Emissions
As with all internal combustion engines, diesels produce many gases and substances that can cause serious health problems. In 2007, ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel and on-board emissions controls on new vehicles have greatly reduced the emissions of many of these substances. But diesels are very durable, and vehicles without these emissions controls will remain on the roads for decades to come. Vegetable oil has have been proven to reduce overall emissions of the key pollutants in diesel vehicle exhaust.
• Hydrocarbons: Also known as aromatic hydrocarbons. These include the carcinogenic byproducts of burning diesel fuel, like benzene and its derivatives. Hydrocarbons stick to particulate matter (PM), which in turn lodges in the human body, where the hydrocarbons can cause asthma, cardiovascular problems and cancer. Hydrocarbons also react with nitrogen oxides and sunlight to form smog, which is a serious health threat in congested urban areas.
Vegetable oil and Hydrocarbons: Vegetable oil shows substantial decreases in HC emissions in all kinds of driving conditions. Depending on the vehicle and driving situation, reductions can reach 35%.
• NOx: Nitrogen oxides cause a huge number of major public health concerns. Along with hydrocarbons, NO2 is a major component of smog (that’s why smog looks brown). It has been linked to lung diseases and other respiratory failures, especially in combination with other vehicle emissions. Nitrogen oxides can also turn into nitric acid, and they also turn sulfur dioxide, another vehicle emission, into sulfuric acid. Nitric acid and sulfuric acid are the two ingredients of acid rain.
Vegetable oil and NOx: Vegetable oil is the only alternative to diesel fuel that shows consistent, across-the-board reductions in nitrogen oxides in all driving conditions. Emissions tests have shown reductions up to 25%. Biodiesel actually shows a consistent increase in NOx emissions.
• CO2: Carbon dioxide’s greenhouse effects are well-known and well-documented. Petroleum fuels take buried, harmless carbon, in the form of petroleum, and spew it into the atmosphere, increasing the level of carbon dioxide and contributing to global warming.
Vegetable oil and CO2: Vegetable oil is what’s called carbon-neutral, which means that it does not add anything to the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. This is because the plants that the oil came from absorbed that same amount of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere while they were growing. Using vegetable oil as fuel does not contribute to global warming.
• CO: Carbon monoxide is highly toxic and impairs the ability of blood to transport oxygen to the brain. Through chemical reactions with other gases in the atmosphere, it also slows the dispersal of ground-level ozone.
Vegetable oil and CO: Although vegetable oil shows increased CO emissions over diesel, they are still well below even the cleanest gasoline engines. This is due to a relatively lean fuel-to-air mixture, even at full load. This quality is inherent to diesel engines. Gasoline emissions of CO can be over ten times that of diesels.
• PM: Particulate matter, also known as aerosols, is essentially the vehicle that carries the carcinogenic aromatic hydrocarbons into the body. The particles in diesel PM are very small, about 100 nanometers, and they easily pass into the lungs and can sometimes pass straight through them and into other organs. Particulate matter is mostly soot, or unburned carbon. Diesel particulate matter also contains sulfur, which cause acid rain as well as asthma and other respiratory problems.
Vegetable oil and PM: Vegetable oil contains no sulfur, so vegetable oil PM does not cause acid rain. And there is some indication that the particles in vegetable oil PM may be much larger than in diesel fuel and may be safely filtered out by the nose and throat. Vegetable oil has also shown vast overall reductions in particulate matter, although it does show an increase in PM emissions during stop-and-go city driving. Preliminary studies have shown that this tendency can be easily reduced with simple computer module tuning.
Another overall advantage inherent to diesel engines is their efficiency – by some calculations, they are 40% more efficient that gas engines. In our many years of experience, we have found that vegetable oil has no effect on fuel economy or power.
While the vehicles tested represent only a small cross-section of the national diesel fleet, straight vegetable oil as fuel has shown consistent and considerable reductions in tailpipe emissions. In addition to being clean, it’s also renewable. And vegetable oil can be produced domestically, increasing our energy independence and the stability of our energy infrastructure.
Oil tested: Non-hydrogenated canola oil settled and filtered to 10 microns.
Source: Restaurant waste oil dumpster
Parameter: Results ASTM Method
API Gravity @60F 22.0 ASTM D-287
Ash% <0.005 ASTM D-482
BTU/Gal 130,660 ASTM D-240
BTU/Lb 17,001 ASTM D-240
Carbon, % 77.9 ASTM D-5291
Flash Point, F <230 ASTM D-93
Hydrogen, % 11.4 ASTM D-5291
Nitrogen, % <0.10 ASTM D-5373
Oxygen, % 10.7 ASTM D-5373
Pounds per Gal 7.685
Specific Gravity @60F 0.9218 ASTM D-287
Sulfur, % <0.05 ASTM D-1552
Viscosity, KinematicCST @40C 33.7 ASTM D-445
Topic: svo emissions (Read 3930 times)
