The systems can be small enough that I knew of one wealthy "green freak" attorney on Pa. that processed his own biodiesel in his (admittedly rural) garage for his small collection of imported vintage German diesel cars. However, this is when he could collect waste oil from one restaurant for "free."

This brings up the other issue: as the popularity of biodiesel has skyrocketed (comparatively), restaurants and garages now charge for the stuff they used to pay people to dispose of for them. Ditto county/municipal collectors of used motor oil. Organized criminals have been caught and prosecuted for stealing WVO and cooking grease, and even waste motor oil, from restaurants, garages, etc. much as scrap vultures will steal what you don't lock down outside our shops. Don't quote me on this, but I seem to recall being told that the biodiesel the Grand Canyon Railway burns is about the same price as the fuel oil they would otherwise be burning--as the stuffed Kermit the Frog doll in the rafters of their shop says on his sign, "It's Not Easy Being Green!"

You will note that the once-burgeoning WVO conversion market has largely dried up. This is not primarily due to the disappearance of diesel cars following the Volkswagen debacle (which, remember, produced much better diesel cars for American drivers ... just disingenuously.)

It was not particularly difficult to predict what would happen once WVO systems became even a little prevalent in a given area. There is just so much WVO available from restaurants, and the contaminants in it -- particularly from those which have fry griddles cleaned with bricks and screens -- very unfriendly to any diesel engine with precise injectors if not carefully and intelligently pretreated. Unsurprisingly once word trickles back to restaurateurs that what they are giving away 'free' has resale value, the party may start to be over; when the local environmental people learn potentially "hazardous material" is being scooped out of grease traps and the like without credentials or permits, the water pitcher has appeared on the table, as it were.

This isn't just a waste-oil phenomenon: it is recurring in the BEV market. Ask Elon Musk how his free-recharge guarantee in Holland worked out.

As with saprophytes and arbitrageurs everywhere, actions to "get markets to close" will work nicely ... until they close. Unfortunately the same overshoot effects seen with the lynx and snowshoe hares apply to technical solutions -- and these can be large in connection with heritage steam railways if they become dependent on a particular "fuel ecosystem" that experiences change of this kind.

I think many of the small-scale pretreatment systems will work on alternative sorts of oil, so an investment in them would not be wasted. And a museum or 501(c) might have a distinct advantage in being able to offer a restaurant or an oil-change chain a tax advantage, only slightly time-deferred, over what a cash sale of grease or waste oil might involve... and this might well extend to companies that regularly service those facilities for disposal.

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Have not read all the posts, so forgive me if this is repetitive.
One problem that could be encountered with waste oils, especially food waste, is the formation of bacteria. This could pose a hazard to employees and the public, and create annoying odors. This has been a problem in industry in machine tool oils and coolants.
One solution might be to add ozone generators. Industry uses small "ozonators" that pump directly into the fluids being used. There are many affordable systems, and portable types that can be easily moved from tank to tank.
There is another product called SHAC:
https://shac.ca/products/
Not sure about using this in a combustible heating oil -- one would have to consult with the company. I have used it for other needs. However, it is based on powdered lignite coal. It is sold to restaurants, for one, to prevent congealing of oils in drains, and to prevent odors. It is safe for use around humans, animals, and plants.
Would it be desirable to base your oil-firing program around diesel, furnace oil, jet, or other readily available fuels, then add the recyclable types to the engine tender in smaller amounts to defray some of your costs? That is a moot point if you are fortunate enough to have a ready supply of waste oils.

I'd imagine that most tourist railroads, burning oil would be more expensive as well. Now of course maybe not for someone on the west coast who has to ship coal, but for example if the Valley RR etc went oil, their operational costs would very likely rise.

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Agreed, coal will be cheaper than oil. With that said, depending on the operations, I wonder how saving money from overnight engine watchman, ash removal, fire patrols, etc. will figure into making up that cost?

MD Ramsey

That's true for now. The future price depends on the market and environmental legislation as well.

So what was the second fuel tank on 4960 filled with in the late 1990's and early 2000"s?

Robby Peartree

There are companies out there that collect and process waste oil. They then sell it as a spec. fuel oil. At the Texas State and the San Luis & Rio Grande we used a company named "Thermo Fluids". They delivered the oil to the RR. It was good consistent fuel. Thermo Fluids centrifuged the waste oil to remove solids as well as water.

While it did burn cold, we found heating it up to 80-90 degrees made it burn more consistantly.

When we first ran 1744 in Alamosa, she ran on a diet of #2 diesel. She ran fine on #2. When we changed to waste oil we found 1744 was starved for air on long hard pulls, which was a problem in the locomotive, not with the fuel.

Whatever the fuel in a standard locomotive style drooling burner, it needs to be the viscosity of kerosene AT the burner. The oil drops need to be of a size to be consumed in the time of the flight path from the burner to the flash wall. This is calculable.



Secondly, a real world example of too cold fuel oil. When I was Superintendent at the local sugar refinery, the boiler always had a smoke haze. Several issues were involved but the major one was too cold oil. We were burning No. 6 in a boxcar size boiler. The manual specified 180F oil at the burner tip. So the electric oil heaters were set at 180F in the basement about 200 ft away when the boiler was installed 15 years earlier. What was happening was the too large oil droplets were being shot through the flame front with incomplete(smoke) and also, "no" burning. There were goocicles of condensed oil hanging from the economizer. I goosed the oil temp up to 230F with noticeable change as the system heated up. It took a 250F setting to get 180F at the burner, it was determined. For a week, the manager made the office call to see if the mill was running when he walked in the door. For the last 15 years, if he did not see smoke from the stack when he drove over Red Hill in the morning, the mill was down.

I'm surprised that they were wasting the money for that long without saying anything. I guess railroads aren't the only ones susceptible to the "well, we've always done it that way" line of thought.

The boiler was installed by the factory. All industries on the planet function at a barely successful level of design effectiveness. How many Space Shuttles did we watch explode?

Eighty-five years after the Brockton(link) and Lynn(link) boiler explosions due to lap joints, the aviation industry's official answer to pop-topping the roof off a 737 at 24,000 ft due to lap joint cracking



was triple decker scab patches and bondo. (The fuselage thickness of the first 2,565 737s was 0.036".)



I start drinking 3 days before I have to fly.....
....and it annoys the hell out of me when people say, "Have a safe flight!"
There is no such thing as safe at 585 mph @ 35,000 ft!

The problem is not recognizing that something isn't normal or has changed and seeing the need to and having the curiosity to check it out. The problem with the plane was no one recognized that excessive take offs and landings compared to the total flight hours might be a problem. The Flint MI water and lead problem was that no one thought to do extra checks for increased levels of lead after changing the source of the water supply which had a different chemistry. The personnel in the boiler plant thought that a slight haze coming from the stack was normal and if they had been in the Navy, I can see why. But at least someone had the curiosity to check out the oil temperature at the burner and not just assume it was the same as the temperature at the heater.

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