Anybody can make biodiesel. It's easy, you can make it in your kitchen area-- and it's BETTER than the petro-diesel fuel the big oil business sell you. Your diesel motor will run better and last longer on your home-made fuel, and it's much cleaner-- much better for the environment and better for health.

If you make it from utilized cooking oil it's not just low-cost but you'll be recycling a bothersome waste product. Most importantly is the GREAT sensation of freedom, self-reliance and empowerment it will provide you. Here's how to do it-- whatever you need to know.

Straight veggie oil fuel (SVO) systems can be a tidy, efficient and affordable option. Unlike biodiesel, with SVO you need to modify the engine. The very best method is to fit an expert singletank SVO system with replacement injectors and glowplugs optimised for veg-oil, in addition to fuel heating.

With the German Elsbett single-tank SVO system for circumstances you can utilize petro-diesel, biodiesel or SVO, in any combination. Just start up and go, stop and switch off, like any other vehicle. Journey to Forever's Toyota TownAce van utilizes an Elsbett single-tank system. More

There are also two-tank SVO systems which pre-heat the oil to make it thinner. You have to start the engine on common petroleum diesel or biodiesel in one tank and after that change to SVO in the other tank when the veg-oil is hot enough, and change back to petro- or biodiesel before you stop the engine, or you'll coke up the injectors.

More details on straight grease systems in my blog.

3. Biodiesel or SVO?

Biodiesel has some clear benefits over SVO: it works in any diesel, with no conversion or modifications to the engine or the fuel system-- just put it in and go. It likewise has much better cold-weather properties than SVO (however not as great as petro-diesel-- see Using biodiesel in winter season). Unlike SVO,

it's backed by many long-term tests in lots of countries, consisting of countless miles on the road.

Biodiesel is a tidy, safe, ready-to-use, alternative fuel, whereas it's fair to state that many SVO systems are still experimental and need additional development.

On the other hand, biodiesel can be more expensive, depending how much you make, what you make it from and whether you're comparing it with brand-new oil or used oil (and depending on where you live). And unlike SVO, it needs to be processed first.

But the big and rapidly growing around the world band of homebrewers don't mind-- they make a supply every week or when a month and quickly get utilized to it. Many have actually been doing it for many years.

Anyway you need to process SVO too, especially WVO (waste vegetable oil, used, prepared), which many individuals with SVO systems utilize because it's cheap or complimentary for the taking. With WVO food particles and pollutants and water must be gotten rid of, and it probably ought to be deacidified too. Biodieselers state, "If I'm going to need to do all that I might too make biodiesel instead." But SVO types scoff at that-- it's much less processing than making biodiesel, they state. To each his own.