Fuelpod2

[Devinda_Z]

imagine having your own "oil refinery" (of sorts) and fuel pump in your own home...

better yet how about a device that would turn your used vegetable oil into something you can fill your tank up with!

enter the FUELPOD2

http://greenfuels.co.uk/FuelPod_2_Quick_Guide.pdf

http://greenfuels.co.uk/fuelpod2.pdf

all these years BioDiesel has never really had mass appeal but this contraption certainly makes it easy enough for even the not so daring to give it whirl!

This got massive publicity after it made an appearance on Fifthgear a few weeks back

...with crude hovering in $100 a barrel region, i'd say $ 3000+ seems like a very sound investment

anyone wanna pool & buy one?

Edited February 18, 2008 by Devinda_Z

[Devinda_Z]

.....hmmm looks like the bulk of AL's active forum users all drive petrol vehicles...

i'm suprised that no one find this Fuelpod contraption to be of some interest.....

apparently Thailand , has taken the initiative to promote BioFuel to the masses - the result is that approximately 80% of the vehicles there run on some form of BioFuel (E20,BioDiesel,natural Gas)

i can't help but wonder why no one is picking up on this in SL ~ afteral some of these don't need much in terms of heavy investment...

[madmax]

.....hmmm looks like the bulk of AL's active forum users all drive petrol vehicles...

Satisfied diesel user here for well over 2 years and many more years to come!

[Devinda_Z]

...i was toying with the idea of the AL crowd collaborating and investing in one these machines

[Pericles]

.....hmmm looks like the bulk of AL's active forum users all drive petrol vehicles...

i'm suprised that no one find this Fuelpod contraption to be of some interest.....

Ur posting in the middle of the night! Give the chaps some time.

Its actually very interesting, Specially when you consider that Koeniggsegg (hope thats spelled right) runs on bio fuel. So the chances of the tech filtering down into more affordable performance cars in the future are there.

As for me, Question. Requirements to convert vehicles to use bio fuel? Assume you can't just dump it into a petrol car and run. Or is it diesel vehicles you convert to this?

[maithri]

Guys,

Bio fuel is sold in some UK petrol stations at nearly 1/2 the price of normal petrol, it's called Bio Ethanol and has a higher octane number so is more suitable for very high compression performance engines. How ever not all cars can run on it as the fuel is corrosive and need special components within the fuel system to work-I am told. So look out for cars that is produced as suitable for bio fuel-will save you a fortune at the petrol pump and save the planet into the bargain.

Bio diesel is different, most diesel cars will work with bio diesel with a small amount of modifications if any. Main problem in the cold climates is fuel viscosity, as veg oil becomes thicker-so will not flow unless a heater is used to keep it liquid. Even then best to use a mix of normal diesel and veg oil. I tried out a conversion kit for a customer, it ran well when warm but when the weather turned really cold he had problems-he used pure veg oil without mixing despite the instructions to not run on pure veg oil only.

I await the results when the weather warms up.

Maithri

[Overdrive]

all these years BioDiesel has never really had mass appeal but this contraption certainly makes it easy enough for even the not so daring to give it whirl!

This got massive publicity after it made an appearance on Fifthgear a few weeks back

...

i saw the episode wher this guy drives his run down merc on chip fat. you know he's been using that W124 merc (250D)running on this alternative fuel for over a year now. only drawback is you end up smelling like a chip shop. he does 200 miles for nothing!! and totally eco friendly..

this vedio pretty much tells it all

chip fat car vs. apple powered (methane)

Edited February 23, 2008 by Overdrive

[Devinda_Z]

...the best video outta the lot was the last one from this seasons fifth gear...waiting for someone to put that portion up on youtube...

@Peri : Mainly for diesels cuz its very striaght forward as nothing majory mechanical needs to be done to the vehicels...

its simply the veg oil that needs to be purified a bit - i remember that somtime back ppl simply used 'spirit' to thin the Veg. oil out and simply put it in the tank

known issues are simply a fuel filter tthat cloggs a tad sooner than normal cuz of the viscousity of the oil...

@Maithri : you mention a conversion kit ? what apparatus are included in this and whats the financial outlay like?

[Supra_Natural]

One of your better ideas I must say mate... certainly much more doable than the Carmichael! very interesting concept IMO... and i wouldnt mind putting some bread in if we actually can bring one down....

[Overdrive]

One of your better ideas I must say mate... certainly much more doable than the Carmichael! very interesting concept IMO... and i wouldnt mind putting some bread in if we actually can bring one down....

but where do you source that sort of volume of discarded veg oil/chip fat in colombo? unless you approach kfc's and mc'd's and maybe some fast food outlets..

in that first video that other guy merely filters the oil and uses some sort of chemicle to reduce the viscosity of the oil which helps starting up in the morning. however i would imagine this should'nt affect vehicles in sunny srilanka.

wiki says..

Biodiesel is used by millions of car owners in Europe (particularly Germany).

Biodiesel is a better solvent than petrodiesel, and has been known to break down deposits of residue in the fuel lines of vehicles that have previously been run on petrodiesel. As a result, fuel filters may become clogged with particulates if a quick transition to pure biodiesel is made, as biodiesel “cleans” the engine in the process. Therefore, it is recommended to change the fuel filter within 600–800 miles after first switching to a biodiesel blend.

[Devinda_Z]

but where do you source that sort of volume of discarded veg oil/chip fat in colombo? unless you approach kfc's and mc'd's and maybe some fast food outlets..

hmmm MT. has its own KFC and there’s an eatery which we frequent so hopefully some goodwill will go a long way if this were to materialize

how much oil do you recon a smallish food outlet will use up in a day?

...i know i'm really over-reaching now, but any restaurateurs on Autolanka ???

[Supra_Natural]

hmmm MT. has its own KFC and there’s an eatery which we frequent so hopefully some goodwill will go a long way if this were to materialize

how much oil do you recon a smallish food outlet will use up in a day?

...i know i'm really over-reaching now, but any restaurateurs on Autolanka ???

I think i can source the required oil

[Pericles]

hmmm MT. has its own KFC and there’s an eatery which we frequent so hopefully some goodwill will go a long way if this were to materialize

how much oil do you recon a smallish food outlet will use up in a day?

...i know i'm really over-reaching now, but any restaurateurs on Autolanka ???

MIT throws away gallons of the stuff left over from the fries and stuff

[Supra_Natural]

MIT throws away gallons of the stuff left over from the fries and stuff

could an arrangement be made to collect the stuff?

[Pericles]

could an arrangement be made to collect the stuff?

Probably. But what would the costs of converting a car to run on this in the first place?

Edited February 24, 2008 by Pericles

[Supra_Natural]

Probably. But what would the costs of converting a car to run on this in the first place.

dunno, believe D_Z's doing research on it at the mo.... he will be back with an answer shortly Im guessing

[Devinda_Z]

Probably. But what would the costs of converting a car to run on this in the first place.

investing on a fuelpod i guess - no mechincal mods necessary afaik... (awaiting the resident tech guru Maithri to concure)

[Pericles]

investing on a fuelpod i guess - no mechincal mods necessary afaik... (awaiting the resident tech guru Maithri to concure)

From what I gather, you can run diesels on veg oil without too much problems. I'm wondering about the petrols.

[Devinda_Z]

From what I gather, you can run diesels on veg oil without too much problems. I'm wondering about the petrols.

for starters we need ethanol laced E20 fuel for it which we don't have....

...so i doubt petrols are gonna benefit from the biofuel drive anytime soon

[Overdrive]

peri for the moment scrap the idea about a petrol conversion and buy a deisel banger for cheap and just make it your daily runner!! and use the P*ssy wagon for weekends!

[Pericles]

peri for the moment scrap the idea about a petrol conversion and buy a deisel banger for cheap and just make it your daily runner!! and use the P*ssy wagon for weekends!

Actually I have an idea of disposing the car and getting a jeep, so the diesel thing would be useful.

Besides, car doesn't do daily running anyway. Its already a weekend machine

[maithri]

The conversion!

The kit consisted of an Aluminium block about the size of a pack of 20 cigarettes which had been drilled through for fuel to pass with either end tapped and fitted with brass pipe fittings to plug the fuel inlet and exit from the unit. On top were two drillings to reach the fuel channel into which two normal 12v diesel glow plugs were fitted. On the side of the unit a thermo switch was fitted. The two glow plugs were wired through 2 relay(cut out) s. The relays had fused 12v supply direct from the battery.The relays were switched by an ignition fed live through the thermo switch so the fuel did not over heat. All this was mounted in the engine bay and the fuel line feeding the filter was plugged to the inlet of the unit and the outlet was connected with a new piece of hose to the filter inlet. Basically an in line heater! When we fitted and connected this kit in cold november we tested the car first using pure veg oil straight from the super market and it ran really well except the smell made you hungry! The full results cannot be determined yet as the customer has not reported back to us yet. I feel that the kit can be made very cheaply using a local engineering shop(liyavana pattale) and readily available componets from car spare shops and a thermo switch from an electronics supplier. I feel hot SL will only need 1 glow plug and the thermal cut out value of the swith can be worked out by experimenting.

Maithri.