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 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 just inexpensive but you'll be recycling a problematic waste product. Best of all is the GREAT sensation of liberty, self-reliance and empowerment it will offer 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 finest way is to fit a professional singletank SVO system with replacement injectors and glowplugs optimised for veg-oil, along with fuel heating.

With the German Elsbett single-tank SVO system for instance you can use petro-diesel, biodiesel or SVO, in any mix. Just start up and go, stop and turn off, like any other automobile. Journey to Forever's Toyota TownAce van utilizes 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 start the engine on regular 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 details on straight veggie oil systems in my blog.

3. Biodiesel or SVO?

Biodiesel has some clear advantages over SVO: it operates in any diesel, without any conversion or adjustments to the engine or the fuel system-- simply put it in and go. It likewise has better cold-weather properties than SVO (but not as great as petro-diesel-- see Using biodiesel in winter). Unlike SVO,

it's backed by many long-term tests in lots of countries, consisting of countless miles on the roadway.

Biodiesel is a clean, safe, ready-to-use, alternative fuel, whereas it's fair to say that numerous SVO systems are still speculative and need further advancement.

On the other hand, biodiesel can be more pricey, 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 has to be processed first.

But the large and quickly growing around the world band of do not mind-- they make a supply each week or once a month and soon get used to it. Many have been doing it for years.

Anyway you need to process SVO too, specifically WVO (waste veggie oil, used, cooked), which many individuals with SVO systems utilize due to the fact that it's inexpensive or complimentary for the taking. With WVO food particles and pollutants and water must be removed, 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 instead." But SVO types belittle that-- it's much less processing than making biodiesel, they state. To each his own.