The Bus - Sustainably Powered by Veggie Oil

by Jake Wedeberg, OV On-Farm Sustainability Coordinator and Gen-O Farmer

The Gen-O tour bus operates on sustainably produced biofuels -- non-GMO waste vegetable oil and biodiesel. It has been converted with a two-tank Elsbett Kit which allows the engine to switch between fueling sources for operation.

The waste veggie oil fuel is sourced locally from a waste oil rendering business (Coulee Region Biofuels LLC - Blair, WI) and provides comparable mileage to petroleum diesel.  The bus will go 1000 miles on one tank of fuel!

How it works

• The vehicle starts and runs on biodiesel/diesel for five minutes until the waste vegetable oil has reached required temperatures.

• Once reached, the fuel system switches to operate on 100% waste
vegetable oil for the duration of the trip.

• Before shut down the vehicle is manually switched to biodiesel/diesel
to purge the fuel lines for next startup on biodiesel/diesel.

Why waste vegetable oil?

Fueling with waste vegetable oil avoids the conversion into biodiesel
and additional energy to obtain a useable fuel. This yields a high net
energy return fuel while diverting a waste stream to your fuel tank.

Why sustainable biofuels?

• A sustainable biofuel is non-genetically modified and not chemically dependant through the production process.

• Sustainable biofuels are produced using practices such as crop rotation and biological farming methods which promote soil health.