Blending MEK with vegetable oil to make Diesel Fuel
 

Video: Making vegetable oil blend Diesel Fuel (VOBDF) by blending MEK with WVO
YouTube - Blending MEK with vegetable oil to make Diesel Fuel

I don't think so....... METHYL ETHYL KETONE

Mixing very hazardous chemicals with WVO then putting the mixture in MY diesels, NOT ME!

The problem with mixing ANY 'flammable' solvent with diesel is the same as using ether to start your truck. It is russian roulette. Diesel is a 'combustible' with a flash point of about 125*-240*F. Anything else can detonate before ya want it to and increases the CP's to deadly levels. Then, you still have the viscosity issues from unintentional separation in the fuel tank which creates poor atomization and coking.

Sure, some people claim to get away with it. The fact is there are alot of variables and maybe the ones who claim success are just 'lucky'. In the few years I've been fooling with VO I've met quite a few of the 'unlucky' ones. Ya know whats funny about that? They almost NEVER go back on the forums they promoted their stupid ideas on and admit they were wrong!!!

I always say 'Choose wisely or PLEEEEEASE post pics of the carnage'! :-bigparty

The point of my experiment and the video is simply to demonstrating that MEK will dissolve readily into WVO. It is purely of academic interest and is in no way an attempt to encourage its use or recommend its use over petroleum distillates. 

The point is, making diesel fuel out of waste oils is a form of recycling. And, there are many people making viable and sustainable diesel fuels by blending various solvents with WVO. Therefore, there is no reason why the solvents used to thin WVO or WMO need not also be recycled, and it is conceivable that someone may come across some recycled MEK and consider using it as a solvent for making diesel fuel.

Please stop calling it 'making diesel fuel'. :-roll You are killing me... One can make 'biodiesel' by removing the glycerin thru chemical processes - but what you are describing is called 'blending'. It has been proven over and over again to be a baaaaad idea - even though a few posters on the good ole 'net always show up and say it seems to work for them. Ya know, I never see any of the 'blenders' who were so popular here and at TDS a few years ago posting anymore...

Ok, I'm done pickin' on you friend! :-blah Feel free to carry on as you wish!! :-drink (just remember what I said about postin' up pics of the carnage, mmmmkay? :-X04)

I'm a two-tank WVO burner like Jski, so I may be a little biased. But my observation is that lighter viscosity fuels don't blend well with VO. I experimented with a tote of cleaned WVO this winter by putting about 8 jugs of D2 into it and mixing it all around real good. That's about 35 gallons of D2 and 225 gallons of VO. It gradually seperated, especially when the weather was cold (this is an unheated shed) so that the diesel was all at the very top layer of the tote and only lightly mixed in with the oil. The same thing would be happening in any fuel tank that held a mixture of various viscosity fuels (like VO and petroleum fuels). So, unless you burn up the tank pretty quick, all the heavier stuff (the fats and any suspended solids and any water and the VO) will all be at the bottom of the tank. So, by starting up a cold motor on mixed fuels in the tank, the fuel pump will be working harder (shortening it's life), the unsealed rings will get VO blow-by and the injectors, etc. will get coked up faster.

My suggestion to anyone considering blending is to blend up a batch in a clear container and leave it sit for a couple of weeks or so in the same conditions that the fuel tank in the truck is experiencing. Then make your decision about what you see happening to your fuel and think about how it is going to work in your truck.