Whole Life Times: Fill ’er Up for Free

February 2006 | Conscious Business

Fill ’er Up for Free

Lovecraft Biofuels turns aging autos into eco-smart bargains

by Maryam Henein

When Brian Friedman needs to fuel his metallic blue 1980 Mercedes 300 SD, he doesn’t fork out $40 at the pump—he collects used cooking oil from the dumpster of his favorite sushi joint in Echo Park. It takes 20 minutes, he can get up to 300 gallons, and it’s free.

“Sushi oil is the best—you get clean grease with very little sediment,” explains Friedman, a lanky 40-year-old with blue eyes, a mop of black hair and a soft demeanor who makes his living converting diesel cars to 100 percent vegetable oil. “The restaurant usually pays a dollar a gallon to get it picked up, so we save them $50 and ourselves $150. It works out well.”

Straight veggie oil, also known as SVO, is different from biodiesel, which is a mixture of vegetable oil, lye and methanol or ethanol (to learn how to make your own biodiesel, see the next page). SVO is a non-petroleum, closed-carbon-cycle alternative fuel, so theoretically (there isn’t much published research) it’s better for the environment. If you spill diesel fuel on yourself, you’re likely to get a rash, but if you spill SVO, you’ll get soft skin. And if Friedman is cagey about the name of that sushi joint, well, most veggiemobile owners won’t readily give up their sources—“especially in Echo Park, it’s kind of competitive,” says Friedman. Also, “there’s a gray area as far as the legalities.” But in a pinch, there’s always Crisco.

Initially, whenever Friedman talked to Angelenos about running a diesel-powered vehicle on canola, they thought he was joking. Today, Lovecraft Biofuels (LovecraftBiofuels.com), his small company in Echo Park is “insanely busy.” He’s already converted roughly 150 diesel cars, mostly old Mercedes’ from the Reagan years, and has 100 plus names of people considering a purchase. Motorists from all walks of life are interested in driving veggiemobiles, explains his 27-year old girlfriend and partner, Brooke Stewart. “Single moms, yuppies, computer geeks, hippies, bankers, cops and a lot of lawyers.”

A straight veggie oil conversion costs only $700 and four hours to complete, but customers often ask Friedman to first find them a mechanically-sound vehicle. If the 20- to 25- year-old vehicles need restoration, Friedman can do that, too, for a package costing roughly $2500 to $4000.

Veggiemobiles like a good run. “They run a thousand times better if you take them on frequent freeway jaunts,” says Friedman. “Unlike diesels, they don’t need regular tune-ups. They don’t have carburetors. There’s no rotor, no coils, no spark plugs, no electricals, nothing to tune up and adjust. You get it running good and it will stay like that for years.”

Friedman likes longevity. For 15 years, he owned a tattoo and piercing salon called Anubis Warpus in Haight Ashbury until he decided to check out of “the system.” He bought an Airstream and was able to get free Internet and solar electricity, “but I just couldn’t figure out how to drive for free,” says Friedman. Renewable energy and mechanics was somewhat of a hobby and eventually the renegade stumbled on the world of biofuels. Initially he focused on Magnagas, a hydrogen blend that can be used in gasoline cars, but at the time he couldn’t afford the equipment to keep researching it and “the veggie oil thing just took off.”

Eventually, Friedman headed to the Southland because, “That’s where all the Mercedes’ are.”

Maryam Henein is an LA-based freelance journalist and researcher. Her work has appeared in Science & Spirit, Premiere and Breathe.

Got Dirty Oil? Trade it in at Lovecraft Biofuels for filtered clean oil. Or you can buy already-cleaned oil for $1 a gallon. Or purchase a home fueling station for $100 and get a 55-gallon drum, a reusable filter and a pump. LovecraftBiofuels.com.

Be a Biodiesel Alchemist

If you can make a margarita, you can make your own fuel

By John Rosenthal

Straight vegetable oil (SVO) can be used safely in a professionally converted vehicle, but it is more viscous than biodiesel and some studies purport it can damage an engine if not properly used.

Amateur alchemist Josh Tickell wasn’t taking any chances. He taught himself how to make biodiesel from used vegetable oil he’d collected from fast-food restaurants, and in 1997 set out on a cross-country trip in a biodiesel-powered Winnebago. The Veggie Van Voyage, a two-year-long, 25,000-mile journey landed Tickell appearances on The Today Show, CNN and the National Geographic Channel.

At the end of the trip, Tickell wrote, From the Fryer to the Fuel Tank: The Complete Guide to Using Vegetable Oil as an Alternative Fuel, regarded as the biodiesel bible. His second book, Biodiesel America, which outlines a big-picture plan to use biodiesel to reduce reliance on petroleum, comes out this month.

How easy is it to make biodiesel?
It’s a messy process. The average person doesn’t want to covet grease or lug buckets. The average person wants to pull up to a gas station, and there are 600 biodiesel filling stations nationwide where they can do that.

But making biodiesel is for the hobbyist or the experimenter—the type of person who likes to brew beer in the basement. The basic formula is very simple. If you can make a margarita, you can make biodiesel.

What kind of car can run on biodiesel?
You need a diesel engine. Other than that, no restrictions. Older vehicles are more likely to have sludge buildup in the fuel tank. Biodiesel has a solvent property that removes old sludge. So for old vehicles, it might be necessary to replace the fuel filter two or three times before it’s running smoothly.

Don’t some automobile makers void your warranty if you use biodiesel?
The manufacturer can refuse warranty service on a vehicle that has less than specified fuel quality. But since the biodiesel sold commercially is more rigorously tested than any petroleum, it’s unlikely to void the warranty. You’d have to be a very good chemist to make the same quality fuel in your back
yard, so it’s more likely to void your warranty.

Where do you get used oil?
Ninety-five percent of people make a handshake deal with the manager at a fast food restaurant.

Is making biodiesel risky?
When you mix methanol and lye, you create a dangerous mixture called sodium methoxide, which can burn skin. This not something you do in sandals and shorts. You must have safety gear: a full-length shirt, respirator, mask, full-length gloves and an apron. Plan everything out ahead of time so there’s no chance of spills or anything going wrong.

How long does it take to make?
The reaction happens the instant the sodium methoxide hits the vegetable oil. It takes about an hour to get all the molecules to interact. Then it has to settle for about eight hours.

John Rosenthal is a frequent contributor to WLT.

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