DISCLAIMER: This article describes the use of vegetable oil as a substitute fuel in a diesel engine. If you attempt this yourself, you do it entirely at your own risk. The authors disclaim all responsibility for any adverse consequences.
Fancy driving across Europe for free? Fuel cost ZERO? That's exactly what Antony Berretti has done this Spring. Not just across, but around - from Calais to Brindisi the hard way, around the west coast, via Brest, Bordeaux, Biarritz, Bilbao and so on all the way to Bari and Brindisi. He drove a Fiat Scudo 1.9 Turbo Diesel and fuelled it almost exclusively with waste vegetable oil from restaurants along the way. The van's fuel system was converted to start on ordinary diesel then switch to heated vegetable oil using a conversion kit from Dieselveg.com. Everything Antony does in this project is done by "Garden Shed Technology" - as many of the parts as possible come from recycled materials and can be found anywhere in Europe.
Click here to link to DieselVeg.com to find out how it works. There is also a comprehensive discussion of the use of vegetable oils as replacement motor fuels on the Journey to Forever website. If you're thinking of putting chip oil in your Skoda, read this first! Oh, and by the way - there are UK Goverment Regulations about using waste oil as a fuel substitute, just as you'd expect.
FILTERING - Health Warning! Using waste vegetable oil in a diesel engine does work. However, if you don't filter it carefully enough before putting it into the fuel tank, the engine fuel prefilter will clog and no more fuel will reach the engine. You may also permanently destroy the distributor and the injectors. Antony intends to filter his fuel, preheated to over 55 degrees C, down to 1 micron using a pressure filter constructed under "Garden Shed" principles.
About Antony: Click here for some biographic details about Antony. If you'd like to contact Antony, click this email link: Email Antony.
Thanks to:
- MKM Agriculture, Bedford for support during development
- Dieselveg for help with the conversion
- MacharSoft, Newton Stewart, for the website
- Quercus for a warm welcome to Portugal
- The Galloway Gazette - first with the story
- All the restaurants who gave Antony their waste oil!
You can follow Antony's progress on this routemap. Or click here for a postcard trail.
The first half: Click here for the outward leg of the run from Calais to the Italian border, 24th April to 11th May.
: Friday 12th May, evening: Italy. Arrived at Genoa (Liguria, Italy) after another 350 mile run via Marseilles, Monaco, and San Remo. Overnight with eco-friends in the village of Sori, 10 miles SW of Genoa. Being able to speak Italian makes things much easier here than they were in Spain or France. Tuscany tomorrow!
: Saturday 13th May, evening: Barga. In Barga, in the foothills of the Appenine mountains (North Tuscany, Italy). Enjoying a beer after short run, 120 miles, having had filtering problems in the morning. Running on oil found this morning. Two days rest now, off again on Tuesday.
: Tuesday 16th May, evening: Arezzo, south of Florence. A short run, visiting friends in Florence, doing some maintenance, ready for the big test down the Appenines tomorrow.
: Wednesday 17th May: To Matera (Puglia, Italy), second last day's run.Today was the final test of the engine - a huge 420 mile run down the spine of Italy, all day in the Appenine mountains, really hard work for the engine and fuel system. No problems of any kind, performance excellent, arrived only a short hop from Brindisi after a superb day. If any further proof of the system were needed, today was it! Tomorrow finishes the run off in Brindisi, but the van and I will carry on down to the Capo Santa Maria di Leuca, the very heel of Italy, for some final photographs. I wonder if there's any way to make her swim over to Tunisia? Maybe next year...the amphibious chip?
21 : Sunday 21st May: On the way home, run completed. Driving north up the Adriatic coast.
22 : Monday 22nd May: 30 miles east of Verona. Spent yesterday talking to Legambiente Toscana, an Italian environmentalist group, and doing radio and TV interviews in Tuscany. On the road, at a restaurant somewhere in Italy, a stash of at least 700 litres of waste frying oil was found! This particular restaurateur, it seems, gets his oil picked up annually... No problems over fuel for the next many days! Into Verona tomorrow to talk to the press, then north via Bolzano and Innsbruck to Austria, then Germany, Belgium and back to Britain on Friday.
23 : Tuesday 23rd May: Back in Barga, Tuscany, Italy, getting ready for the long drive home. Heading north into Austria this afternoon.
24 : Wednesday 24th May: Overnight in Innsbruck, Austria.
25 : Thursday 25th May, early evening: Quick message, I am in Ravensborg, stopped for coffee and strudel. Everything here closed for itīs a national holiday. Last night stopped in Innsbruck, great at night, found place to sleep at the only "Bio" pub in town, my head must have Bio Radar installed! Unlikely to get internet access after this so back to TXT messages.
27 : Saturday 27th May, noon: Itīs saturday and I am in Hauenstein, near the French German border, I thought I might be back home Sunday but I have found "Mecca" by accident as
usual! There is a veg oil rally on Sunday in Bad Bergzabern (west of Karlsruhe, Rhineland), plus other Solar products it should be interesting. Am staying with one of the original Magnificent 7 from the late 60īs, explain later, will get on a ferry on Monday if all goes well.
30 : Monday 30th May: Back in Calais where it all began. The round trip is now complete.