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WVO Supply / Sources

On all the Internet forums, Coops around the country and in any publications that discuss this concept of using WVO as a vehicle fuel source it is said that you can find your sources of WVO for FREE from local area restaurants. I believe this to be true in most places in the U.S.  I get my WVO from my local Grocery Store, Deli Dept. It remains true that businesses have to Pay a rendering service to come pick up and haul off their waste veggie oil. You as an individual only need from 20 to 40 gals of WVO per month - depending on your avg. miles of driving per month. Since you only use a small portion of the average restaurant waste oil, they usually don't mind at all if you take some which in most cases may save them money from their disposal service. In cases of a small volume restaurant, or if you are in a coop with other, you may use "all" the restaurants waste oil, and in that case you would definitely be saving them all the cost of having a service come pick it up for them. In many cases, you can trade the saved disposal fees for a free meal once a month!

UPDATE:  The trend has changed and rendering companys and emerging Bio-Diesel companies are paying for WVO.  The going rate is .10 - .15 a gallon.  The Bio-diesel companies are aggressively marketing the high population center.  It is now recommended to develop your own contract and get your oil accts Locked up and pay what ever the going rate is in your area.

(RH), I currently get my WVO from my local grocery store deli dept. They love me taking some of their waste instead of paying to have it all picked up. When I do pick it up they put it back in the original 5 gal plastic cubies it comes in and is often still hot from them doing a boil out cleaning on the fryers. I take it home and filter it right away because it filters easier when hot. This oil is Canola oil used for 4 days and only for chicken. I do get chicken fat (tallow), in my oil. I do have to let this oil "SETTLE OUT" for 2-3 weeks before using it to allow "ALL" impurities, water, tallow settle to the bottom of the containers before pouring the clear good filtered oil into my tank. Your conversion system will run fine on chicken tallow, but this tallow is more sensitive to temperature, which may cause some hardship if your system gets any WVO left to cool in your system - depending on your purge system.  Just make sure to turn OFF of WVO back to Diesel with time enough for your system to purge the WVO out and the Diesel (bio-diesel) Into the system.
I have switched to using a small 2 year contract and paying .10 or more per gallon for all new accts.

OILS: There are Hydrogenated and NON-Hydrogenated oils commonly used.

  • The more any oil is used the more it breaks down. 
  • Hydrogenated oils (and partially hydrogenated - creamy liquids), will set up much thicker below 70 which may make them more demanding on you to filter. These oils are said to be better fuel for our vehicles because of that hydrogenation (oxygen) that is in the makeup of the oil. Hydrogenated oil can be very, very difficult to work with. 
  • NON-Hydrogenated oils are liquid at room temperature and down to about 50 degrees. Easier on you for pickup/transport/filtering. Still, they will filter better if heated to 90 degrees or so. Olive oil, Canola oil, Corn oil, Soy oils, are the more desirable oils to work with.
  1. Scout your area - Make a list of 5 top choices of suppliers you would like to use.
  2. Pick a good time to go talk with the manager or owner (non-busy times are best)
  3. Write out what you are going to say to them: Intro, very, very brief description of what you are doing (running your car on bio-diesel is easier for them to understand than saying waste veggie oil), how much you would like to use a little of their waste oil. Or come right out and tell them you are paying restaurants in the area for used fryer oil.  You could also offer to put a sticker on your car promoting the business.
  4. Make a plan on when / how you will pick up the oil without disturbing the business.
    1. You may have to supply a barrel, drum, or get them to re-use the plastic totes they purchase the oil in.  You can "dip" from a 55 gal drum or get some fancy lids, or pump them, or replace them.

 

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