Anybody can make biodiesel. It's simple, you can make it in your cooking area-- and it's BETTER than the petro-diesel fuel the big oil companies offer you. Your diesel motor will run 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 inexpensive but you'll be recycling a bothersome waste item. Most importantly is the GREAT feeling of flexibility, self-reliance and empowerment it will give you. Here's how to do it-- whatever you need to know.

Straight vegetable oil fuel (SVO) systems can be a clean, effective and economical 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 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 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 have to begin the engine on normal petroleum diesel or biodiesel in one tank and then 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 info on straight veggie oil systems in my blog.

3. Biodiesel or SVO?

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

it's backed by lots of long-term tests in numerous countries, including millions of miles on the roadway.

Biodiesel is a tidy, safe, ready-to-use, alternative fuel, whereas it's reasonable to state that numerous SVO systems are still speculative and require more advancement.

On the other hand, biodiesel can be more pricey, depending just how much you make, what you make it from and whether you're comparing it with new oil or used oil (and depending upon where you live). And unlike SVO, it has actually to be processed first.

But the big and quickly growing around the world band of homebrewers do not mind-- they make a supply each week or as soon as a month and quickly get utilized to it. Many have actually been doing it for many years.

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