Preliminary Pay-Off
One of the more obvious advantages to burning WMOs is cost effectiveness. Willsey did a little number crunching and since he started running his Duramax with Black Diesel he's figured he pays around $2 per gallon for his fuel. With the way the diesel market fluctuates, $2 is quite a savings. Not to mention that the lubricity that oil delivers keeps the engine running smooth and helps prevent wear of vital and costly engine components. Willsey has also spent time researching the burning properties of oil and has found information suggesting that oil may even burn at a higher BTU than plain old diesel, possibly leading to better efficiency. Willsey has been running Black Diesel in his 6.6L Duramax and 6.2L Chevy for a little over a year and has had no problems to report so far on his little experiments.
After we went through the pros, we asked the inevitable question about the cons. So far, Willsey only knew of a few drawbacks to WMOs.
"Cold weather and winter time," says Willsey. "In the long term, I don't know. I'm still experimenting with my Duramax."
So far, there seems to be some credibility to the question of burning waste oil as fuel in a diesel truck. We found one person with enough scientific curiosity and drive to test the boundaries of what is possible and he has come out with some promising results. But correlation isn't causation and one person's success cannot define the success of others. So the question boils down to this: What do you think? Follow up on this story and post your thoughts and Black Diesel stories on our Facebook page. (www.facebook.com/DieselTechMag)