Anybody can make biodiesel. It's easy, you can make it in your cooking area-- and it's BETTER than the petro-diesel fuel the huge 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 better for health.

If you make it from utilized cooking oil it's not just cheap however you'll be recycling a frustrating waste product. Most importantly is the GREAT sensation of flexibility, self-reliance and empowerment it will give you. Here's how to do it-- everything you require to know.

Straight veggie oil fuel (SVO) systems can be a tidy, reliable and cost-effective alternative. Unlike biodiesel, with SVO you need to customize the engine. The very best way is to fit an expert singletank SVO system with replacement injectors and glowplugs optimised for veg-oil, as well as .

With the German Elsbett single-tank SVO system for instance you can use petro-diesel, biodiesel or SVO, in any combination. Just begin up and go, stop and turn 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 begin the engine on common petroleum diesel or biodiesel in one tank and after that switch 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 operates in any diesel, with no conversion or adjustments to the engine or the fuel system-- just put it in and go. It also has better cold-weather residential or commercial properties than SVO (however not as good as petro-diesel-- see Using biodiesel in winter season). Unlike SVO,

it's backed by numerous long-lasting tests in lots of countries, consisting of millions of miles on the road.

Biodiesel is a clean, safe, ready-to-use, alternative fuel, whereas it's fair to say that lots of SVO systems are still speculative and require more advancement.

On the other hand, biodiesel can be more costly, 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 upon where you live). And unlike SVO, it has to be processed first.

But the large and rapidly growing around the world band of homebrewers don't mind-- they make a supply every week or when a month and soon get used to it. Many have been doing it for several years.

Anyway you have to process SVO too, specifically WVO (waste grease, utilized, prepared), which numerous individuals with SVO systems use because it's cheap or complimentary for the taking. With WVO food particles and impurities and water must be removed, and it probably should be deacidified too. Biodieselers say, "If I'm going to need to do all that I may also make biodiesel instead." But SVO types discount that-- it's much less processing than making biodiesel, they state. To each his own.