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

If you make it from utilized cooking oil it's not only inexpensive however you'll be recycling a bothersome waste item. Most importantly is the GREAT sensation of freedom, independence and empowerment it will give 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 alternative. Unlike biodiesel, with SVO you need to modify the engine. The very best way is to fit a professional 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 instance you can use petro-diesel, biodiesel or SVO, in any combination. Just start up and go, stop and turn off, like any other car. Journey to Forever's Toyota TownAce van uses an Elsbett single-tank system. More

There are also two-tank SVO systems which pre-heat the oil to make it thinner. You need to start the engine on ordinary petroleum diesel or biodiesel in one tank and then change to SVO in the other tank when the veg-oil is hot enough, and switch 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 site.

3. Biodiesel or SVO?

Biodiesel has some clear over SVO: it operates 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 homes 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 many countries, consisting of millions of miles on the roadway.

Biodiesel is a clean, safe, ready-to-use, alternative fuel, whereas it's fair to state that lots of SVO systems are still speculative and need more 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 new oil or used oil (and depending on where you live). And unlike SVO, it needs to be processed first.

But the large and quickly growing worldwide band of homebrewers don't mind-- they make a supply every week or as soon as a month and quickly get utilized to it. Many have actually been doing it for several years.

Anyway you need to process SVO too, specifically WVO (waste grease, utilized, cooked), which lots of individuals with SVO systems utilize because it's inexpensive or free for the taking. With WVO food particles and impurities and water need to be eliminated, and it most likely should be deacidified too. Biodieselers say, "If I'm going to need to do all that I might too make biodiesel instead." But SVO types belittle that-- it's much less processing than making biodiesel, they say. To each his own.