Benjamin Chalich owns what could be the world’s first full-sized Chevy Suburban hybrid.
It looks like a normal vehicle on the outside. But when you pop the hood, the differences come into focus. There are extra parts noticeably under the hood. But why?
Grease is the word.
“You're going to get the same mileage using vegetable oil as you do using diesel, " said Chalich.
Chalich’s vehicle runs on fryer grease.
As it turns out, vegetable oil burns the exact same way as diesel fuel does. But you do need some special equipment to store it.
Chalich spent about $3,500 to fully convert his turbo diesel Suburban into a grease guzzler.
"It’ actually not so bad,” Calich said. “They put in a second tank in the vehicle which holds your diesel. And then we converted the main tank which holds 40, 42 gallons to run on vegetable oil."
Add in a heat exchanger, a filtration system a pump and say goodbye to the gas station.
"Right now with gas prices…buying vegetable oil off the shelf is about $1 cheaper a gallon," he said.
But Chalich has found a way to get his fuel for free.
He goes to restaurants with deep fryers that use vegetable oil and takes the used grease free of charge. And restaurant owners are happy to give it away.
"Restaurants have to pay to have this fryer grease disposed of,” said Alexander Nicholas, owner of Uncle Al’s Italian Eatery. “You could literally drive this thing for free just stopping at restaurants and taking their used fryer grease."
The process for retrieving the oil is simple.
Stick a hose in the used grease. Flip a switch to turn on the pump. Send the grease through a filter and fill up your tank.
And if you’re an environmentally-minded person, you’ll be pleased to learn that if you spill fryer grease, it’s biodegradable.
Even better, Chalich said it cuts his emissions by 75 percent.
"You can smell it," said Chalich. “There’s not that sooty diesel smell that goes along with it.”
For more information on converting a diesel engine to run on fryer grease, visit these Web sites:
www.greasel.comwww.fullcirclefuels.com Copyright 2006 by ThePittsburghChannel. All rights reserved. This material may not be
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