Anybody can make biodiesel. It's easy, you can make it in your kitchen-- 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 however you'll be recycling a problematic waste product. Best of all is the GREAT sensation of freedom, self-reliance and empowerment it will give you. Here's how to do it-- whatever you require to know.

Straight grease fuel (SVO) systems can be a tidy, reliable and economical option. Unlike biodiesel, with SVO you have to modify the engine. The 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 example you can use petro-diesel, biodiesel or SVO, in any mix. Just launch and go, stop and switch off, like any other automobile. Journey to Forever's Toyota TownAce van uses an Elsbett single-tank system. More

There are likewise two-tank SVO systems which pre-heat the oil to make it thinner. You have to start the engine on regular 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 switch back to petro- or biodiesel before you stop the engine, or you'll coke up the injectors.

More information on straight vegetable oil systems in my blog site.

3. Biodiesel or SVO?

Biodiesel has some clear benefits over SVO: it works in any diesel, without any conversion or adjustments to the engine or the fuel system-- just put it in and go. It also has much better cold-weather residential or commercial properties than SVO (however not as as petro-diesel-- see Using biodiesel in winter). Unlike SVO,

it's backed by lots of long-lasting tests in many nations, including millions of miles on the road.

Biodiesel is a clean, safe, ready-to-use, alternative fuel, whereas it's fair to state that many SVO systems are still experimental and require further 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 brand-new oil or utilized oil (and depending upon where you live). And unlike SVO, it needs to be processed first.

But the big and rapidly growing worldwide band of homebrewers do not mind-- they make a supply every week or as soon as a month and soon get used to it. Many have actually been doing it for years.

Anyway you need to process SVO too, specifically WVO (waste grease, used, prepared), which many individuals with SVO systems use because it's inexpensive or totally free for the taking. With WVO food particles and impurities and water must be gotten rid of, and it most likely should be deacidified too. Biodieselers say, "If I'm going to have to do all that I may too make biodiesel rather." But SVO types belittle that-- it's much less processing than making biodiesel, they state. To each his own.