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John Puig produces his own vegetable oil fuel and teaches others how to do it too.

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Capt. John Puig’s Mercedes Benz runs on either vegetable oil or diesel. It’s zero emissions with vegetable oil and less than five cents a gallon. He has passed his know-how to others so that they can produce their own vegetable oil fuel.
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Capt. John Puig’s Mercedes Benz runs on either vegetable oil or diesel. It’s zero emissions with vegetable oil and less than five cents a gallon. He has passed his know-how to others so that they can produce their own vegetable oil fuel.
View photo »

Capt. John Puig’s Mercedes Benz runs on either vegetable oil or diesel. It’s zero emissions with vegetable oil and less than five cents a gallon. He has passed his know-how to others so that they can produce their own vegetable oil fuel.
View photo »

Capt. John Puig’s Mercedes Benz runs on either vegetable oil or diesel. It’s zero emissions with vegetable oil and less than five cents a gallon. He has passed his know-how to others so that they can produce their own vegetable oil fuel.
View photo »

After collecting cooking oil at Naples Sailing & Yacht Club, and before using it as fuel on his Mercedes Benz 1983, Captain Puig transfers the oil to a plastic barrel through a paper filter in a huge strainer. He will let the oil sit down for two to three weeks before discharging it into the filtering drum.
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If the car doesn’t need an immediate refill after the oil is filtered, then Puig stores the fuel in a 50-gallon drum kept in his East Naples house garage.
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Puig converted the New Horizons bus. It’s the only bus in SWFL to run on SVO.
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Puig converted the New Horizons bus. It’s the only bus in SWFL to run on SVO.
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Part of the process of converting a vehicle into a “veggie car” is the installation of a special heater that prevents the oil from clogging the pipes. Captain Puig designed this heat exchanger that a manufacturer builds according to his specifications.
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Puig’s Mercedes can run on both diesel and vegetable oil. For that purpose, he has installed a fuel selector. He starts the car on diesel and switches to VO when the oil has warmed up.
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After collecting cooking oil at Naples Sailing & Yacht Club, and before using it as fuel on his Mercedes Benz 1983, Capt. Puig transfers the oil to a plastic barrel through a paper filter in a huge strainer. He will let the oil sit down for two to three weeks before discharging it into the filtering drum.
View photo »

Capt. John Puig’s Mercedes Benz runs on either vegetable oil or diesel. It’s zero emissions with vegetable oil and less than five cents a gallon. He has passed his know-how to other so that they can produce their own vegetable oil fuel. Producing and selling it is not yet a viable project because of the logistics implied. Presently, Collier has probably no more than 50 cars running on SVO.
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On the Mercedes dashboard, Puig has installed a fuel temperature gauge, a fuel level gauge and a switch to run the car on either diesel or VO.
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If the car doesn’t need an immediate refill after the oil is filtered, then Puig stores the fuel in a 50-gallon drum kept in his East Naples house garage.
View photo »