Can I run an old Volvo truck (1947-1957) on palm oil 2

[Swedishrigpig]

Dear All

Asked a few days ago on how to get a hold of Ethanol powered motorbike engines.

Today I would like to know if I can run an old diesel engine on Palm oil (in Africa).
It is my understanding that it might be difficult to do this in colder climates, but are there other challenges I might face.
I can picture the following obstacles:
1. Sediments and dirt particles requiring extra pre filtering units.
2. High water content. This might require settling tanks. Any method that does not use electrical power or complicated
Automatics will be best suitable.

Any other conversions or issues that I need to think about please let me know.

See pictures attached. Anyone knows any details on the truck, model, year, power etc, please let me know.

Regards,

SRP

 

[loafer09]

Is that engine IDI? It looks like it, but I'm not familiar with that engine. The older IDI engines are more forgiving then modern DI engines for vegi use. Most vegi oil and heavy oil conversions here require heating the fuel with waste heat from the engine coolant to drop the viscosity. That means starting the engine on diesel or biodiesel to get it warmed up. Fuel atomization will still be a problem and, as a result, excessive carbon buildup in the cylinder and rings may result. Would it be possible to convert the palm oil to biodiesel? That would be your safest route.

 

[rmw]

Have you thought about mixing palm oil with Diesel in ever increasing porportions to see how it would work and to see what the threshold of it not working might be?

rmw

 

[Swedishrigpig]

Mixing with diesel makes sense. Is there any special pocess that needs doing? Like mixing it in some sort of blender to stop them settling out?

Loafer09

Regarding the temperature. What temperature should I aim for:
30-50, 50-70, 70-90 degrees Celcius? Just to get a rough idea.

Not sure what IDI means, but it looks like the normal setup with a common fuel pump and separate injectors.

Regads,

SRP

 

[dgallup]

IDI is indirect injection as opposed to DI which is direct injection. Direct injection is straight into the combustion chamber. Indirect injection goes into a pre-chamber which has a restrictive throat communicating with the main combustion chamber. This creates a great deal of swirl and helps mix the fuel and air for better combustion. IDI is a relative obsolete technology used to allow lower pressure (cheaper) rotary pumps and higher engine speeds. It is characterized by lots of clatter, smoke and smell.

 

[19Delta]

I spoke with a research engineer at Southwest Research Institute, he didn't recommend using straight vegetable oil because the combustion causes contamination in the lubrication, he called it polymerization.

In addition to that palm oil is much thicker than most vegetable oils. I would expect complications from that.

 

[WGJ]

....and don't forget all the joints and seals in the fuel system that may not be happy with non-oil derived fuel.


Bill

 

[j2bprometheus]

Hi-

Copper / bronze seals or sealing components are usually damaged by bio fuels.

I suspect that the engine you have is equipped with seals made with copper or bronze.

So expect some leaks to develop.

j2bprometheus

 

[winfieldblue]

I've been running various Japenese IDI diesels on used veg oil for around 5 years now, there are plenty of traps to fall into. The most important question is how much does it cost to replace/rebuild the engine versus how much you will save on fuel costs over that time. The veg oil doesnt burn as well as diesel, and the quality of fuel is variable. In my experience if the engine operates at part load for too much of the running time then thats when the rings coke up, and blowby appears. The dilution of the engines lube oil is also a big problem, some of the unburnt veg oil will find its way into the sump, and then virtually every rubber seal that the engine oil contacts loses some of its effective sealing ability. Regular oil changes are a must, as is a good thrash to blow the accumulated carbon out of the exhaust ports.