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 offer 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 much better for health.

If you make it from used cooking oil it's not only inexpensive but you'll be recycling a frustrating waste product. Most importantly is the GREAT feeling of freedom, self-reliance and empowerment it will offer you. Here's how to do it-- whatever you require to understand.

Straight grease fuel (SVO) systems can be a clean, reliable and economical option. 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 example you can utilize petro-diesel, biodiesel or SVO, in any combination. Just launch and go, stop and turn 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 need to begin the engine on ordinary petroleum diesel or biodiesel in one tank and then 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 info 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 modifications to the engine or the fuel system-- simply put it in and go. It also has much better cold-weather homes than SVO (but not as great as see Using biodiesel in winter). Unlike SVO,

it's backed by lots of long-lasting tests in lots of nations, consisting of millions of miles on the roadway.

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

On the other hand, biodiesel can be more expensive, 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 on where you live). And unlike SVO, it needs to be processed initially.

But the big and rapidly growing around the world band of homebrewers do not mind-- they make a supply weekly or when a month and quickly get utilized to it. Many have been doing it for years.

Anyway you have to process SVO too, specifically WVO (waste grease, used, prepared), which lots of people with SVO systems utilize because it's low-cost or complimentary for the taking. With WVO food particles and pollutants and water must be gotten rid of, and it most likely should be deacidified too. Biodieselers state, "If I'm going to have to do all that I might as well make biodiesel rather." But SVO types scoff at that-- it's much less processing than making biodiesel, they state. To each his own.