The Elsbett engine is a design of diesel engine designed to run on vegetable oil. It's also known as Elko engine.
The design attempts to limit the loss of energy as heat by a variety of design techniques; as a useful side effect, no water cooling of the engine block is required, though an oil cooler is needed.
The technology was adopted by some companies in the former Soviet Union and a major project by Grupo Garavello, which went bankrupt by their other business activities, was undertaken in Brazil. Although work continues on the dedicated multi-fuel Elsbett engine, the company now also sells conversion kits for existing diesel engines to run on vegetable oil.
In the 1980s a Mercedes-Benz car with Elsbett engine won all fuel-efficiency contests held in Europe, demonstrating its superior engine technology.
Elsbett AG is based in Thalmaessig, Bavaria, Germany.
Most conventional diesel engines can run on vegetable oil, although some older models may need small modifications. Rudolph Diesel's prototype engine used peanut oil as a fuel.
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