You can also run a microturbine on vegetable oil when heated to approximately 140-160 deg. F.(however it’s still experimental since there have been few duration tests.)  Microturbines have been run on straight vegetable oil, waste vegetable oil (filtered).  One German group ran a Capstone on Canola Oil. (see report here)

Diesel Generators Use Waste Vegetable Oil To Produce Electricity To Sell Back To Grid.

Recently many small power producers have been converting their engine diesel generator sets to run on WVO - waste vegetable oil. Properly filtered, this resource can produce power for as low as $.03 per kwh in most metropolitan areas.

8/14/2006: Capstone 30 Liquid Fueled Microturbine Runs on Vegetable Oil. Confirmation has been made from a group that has test running a Capstone C30 diesel unit with straight vegetable oil since 2002. Tests included soybean, canola and a blend of vegetable oils. Liquid lard was also tried. While duration tests have yet to be completed, the vegetable oil fuels ran fine, without any microturbine power interruptions. It appears as though if fuel is within +/- 15 percent of the fuel specific heat range, the fuel meter pump will deliver the liquid to the fuel nozzles for combustion. For vegetable oil, this means heating the oil prior to combustion to the viscosity range which allows the metering and delivery of the oil to the combustion nozzles. Typically, this is over 160 deg. F. The fuel index on the fuel metering pump makes adjustments to fuel input as a factor of the specific heat value. While these tests were experimental, it should be noted that the warranty (if any) will probably be voided by the use of unapproved fuels.

Until duration tests are completed, it is not known of any long term disadvantages to the equipment by using fuels outside the recommended type specification. The benefit of using properly filtered recycled vegetable oil (such as WVO) gives the user free or a low cost fuel source. Using new vegetable oil, the user can expect to pay anywhere from $.30 per gallon to $2.10 per gallon depending on where the oil comes from. If farmers can press their own soybean crops into oil, the cake, or crushing residue (65 percent by volume) can be sold as animal feed or fertilizer, making the oil (35 percent by volume) almost free.

5/18/2006 - Diesel Generators Use Waste Vegetable Oil To Produce Electricity To Sell Back To Grid. Recently many small power producers have been converting their engine diesel generator sets to run on WVO - waste vegetable oil. Properly filtered, this resource can produce power for as low as $.03 per kwh in most metropolitan areas.

For more information, please contact:

Greg Giese

Global Energy

TEL(608) 238-6001