Veggie Car Promotes Use of Alternative Fuels

The Manhattan College Veggie Car Project started as an independent study course for Graham Sharkey and I in the spring of 2006. The goal of the course was to modify the engine on an existing vehicle to allow it to run on an alternative fuel: particularly, vegetable oil. To start, Graham and I raised nearly $7,000 to purchase the car and equipment necessary for the conversion. Only a diesel powered car would accept such a conversion. Over the past 18 months, the Veggie Car project has evolved from a conceptual idea to a fully functional 1974 Mercedes-Benz 240D that runs on used vegetable oil. The car has been taken all over the tri-state area to promote environmental issues and the environmental engineering profession. Although the car does not represent necessarily new or groundbreaking technology, I have been able to use the car as a tool to increase awareness about growing environmental concerns and the use of alternative fuels.

Once the car was converted, a cheap source of waste vegetable oil had to be found. Just like many wastewater treatment plants, restaurants pay to have their fats, oils, and grease removed. With this in mind, I negotiated with the food services department at Manhattan College to pay me a small fee to remove their waste vegetable oil (WVO). The payment has been used to supplement some of the costs to maintain the car and conduct experiments on its efficiency. The oil is stored in a 55 gallon (208 L) drum and is then filtered to remove large particles. The barrel seen in Figure 1 shows the barrel of oil as it sits outside of the cafeteria before being processed. Once filtered, the WVO is ready for use in the car. The WVO is much more translucent once it has been filtered and the clean oil can be placed into the engine. The difference in quality between the filtered and unfilterd WVO can be seen in Figure 2.

To date, the Veggie Car has been driven more than 1000 miles (1609 km) on WVO. As the car has been used to promote environmental engineering and science, it has been analyzed and tested to determine how truly environmentally friendly the car is compared to a diesel run car. Every mile has been meticulously logged and the quality of the WVO exhaust has been tested and compared to that of diesel and different formulations of bio-diesel. Out of the factory, the un-modified Mercedes 240 D gets 33 mi/gal (53 km/L) on diesel. Running on WVO, the car now gets 34 mi/gal (55 km/L). The system that was installed in the car enables it to be run on either WVO or diesel simply by operating a switch on the dashboard. A simple schematic of the changes made to the infrastructure of the vehicle can be seen in Figure 3. A new fuel tank was installed in the trunk and flow to fuel pump was modified to regulate both diesel and WVO. The only observable difference between running on WVO and diesel is a slight odor of french fries coming from the exhaust. Preliminary emissions research showed that the WVO produced cleaner emissions than the diesel.

While doing research and testing with the WVO, I started making my own biodiesel, using the waste vegetable oil as the primary ingredient. Biodiesel does not require any conversion, and it can be used as fuel in any diesel engine. The bio-diesel was comprised of WVO and methanol; however, the methanol is not free like the oil. The final cost per gallon for the bio-diesel is estimated at 80 cents. Significantly better than $2/gal to $3/gal for diesel, like in most parts of the country.

Detailed emissions testing was done on the diesel, biodiesel, and WVO. The WVO results showed less CO, SOx, NOx, and particulate matter (PM) than diesel. Bio-diesel results showed less PM and CO than diesel, but the NOx was about 16% higher. Although the bio-diesel proved to be a good alternative, the WVO is still cheaper per gallon and produces less harmful emissions.

In February the car was displayed at the annual New York Water Environment Association conference at the Marriott Marquis in New York City's Time Square. Conference attendees were amazed by the results I had found from my work on the veggie car. Peopel from every corner of th environmental engineering professions were discussing the project with me and expressing a great deal of interest in the field of alternative fuels.

At the University Forum for Student Papers from the New York region, the Veggie Car presentation was awarded first place. There was not an empty seat to hear about the project. Throughout the 3-day conference many people inquired about their companies becoming sponsors.

The next goal is to raise approximately $7,000 so the car can be driven from New York City to San Diego for the Water Environment Federation's (WEF; Alexandria, Va.) annual conference, WEFTEC®.07, in October. The money will cover further research, necessary improvements and maintenance to the car, and the expenses necessary to get to San Diego. I am currently in collaboration with WEF to get the car inside WEFTEC and present all my research.

Environmentally friendly technology working off of WVO could be used as a fuel in generators that power the many wastewater treatment plants around the United States. This method will potentially save operators millions of dollars on fuel and will produce less harmless emissions that will decrease the overall industrial pollution on this planet. There are other technologies out there that may be more efficient -- this is just one possibility that hopefully opens peoples eyes to the growing need for alternative fuels.

This whole project was made possible by the many sponsors I acquired, and it will continue to advance with the continued support of companies and people like them.