Biodiesel Generator Powers Up On Veggie Oil (Or Almost Any Oil)

Biodiesel Generator Powers Up On Veggie Oil (Or Almost Any Oil) ENERGY Alternative Fuels 30-2-18 Got waste motor oil? How about waste vegetable oil, even lard? Almost any oil source will work in this unique multi-fuel generator from Affordable Power. The 2-71 Detroit Generator Sets were originally designed to run on diesel fuel, but have been adapted to produce power from a wide variety of waste oils. They're available with 12.5 or 20 KW output, plenty of power for homes, small businesses and many farms. In some states excess power can be sold back into the existing power grid, notes Jim Cole, Affordable Power. A 20 kw generator will produce about 14,400 kw in a month. At a rate of 7.5 cents/kw, that comes to a little over $1,080 a month. If you set up a route to pick up waste motor oil and restaurant grease, it wouldn't take too long to pay for that generator. It will also burn extruded soybean oil, so livestock producers could extrude the oil and feed the remaining meal to animals. "The 2-71 Detroit Generator Set is probably the best small generator ever built," says Cole. "The ones we have were used for years on refrigerated rail cars and designed to run for 5 to 6 weeks unattended. The 2-71 is a two-stroke diesel and is super charged for very high compression and efficiency. We have rebuilt all the systems and modified them to run on all kinds of oil." What makes the 2-71 ideal for alternative oil fuels is its positive displacement fuel pump. It delivers fuel to injectors on each cylinder, each of which is a small plunger pump. Newer engines with centralized injector pumps can be a problem. Vegetable oil can attack the seals and other components in the fuel system. "We have only one seal on the fuel pump shaft, and we changed it to a material that won't break down from vegetable oil," says Cole. The major modification made by Affordable Power is the addition of a two-compartment fuel tank. One holds 10 gal. of diesel fuel, and the other holds 30 gal. of an alternative oil that has passed through a 5 micron filter. The engine starts up on diesel fuel. As it warms up, cooling water from the engine is directed through a heat exchanger in the alternative oil. Once it has warmed sufficiently (usually above 80? F.) the system switches over to run on the new fuel source. When the generator set is turned off, the fuel system switches back to diesel to purge the pumping system and engine of the alternative oil. "These systems are built to last," says Cole. "They have 6-pole brushless alternators that turn at 1,200 rpms. Most alternators have two or four poles requiring 3,600 or 1,800 rpms. Slower rpms give them longer life. Plus they have 5-gal. oil sumps and special oversize oil filtration units that allow them to go 1,000 hours between oil changes. I had a farmer tell me he had used one on an irrigation rig since 1985 without a problem." Affordable power has priced the systems at $4,995 for a 12.5 KW used system with a manual control fuel system or $7,995 for a reconditioned 20 KW generator set with automatic fuel system. A rebuilt 20 KW generator set with automatic fuel system, is priced at $8,795. All prices for the 2,400-lb. units are FOB, and the reconditioned and rebuilt systems come with a 90-day warranty. Contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Affordable Power, c/o Jim Cole, P.O. Box 246, Hillside, Colo. 81232 (ph 888 454-1193; info@affordablepower.com; www.affordablepower.com).

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