Anybody can make biodiesel. It’s simple, you can make it in your kitchen-- and it’s BETTER than the petro-diesel fuel the huge oil companies sell 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 only cheap but you’ll be recycling a troublesome waste item. Most importantly is the GREAT sensation of freedom, independence and empowerment it will provide you. Here’s how to do it-- everything you need to understand.

Straight grease fuel (SVO) systems can be a tidy, reliable and affordable alternative. Unlike biodiesel, with SVO you have to modify the engine. The best method 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 use 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 also 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 advantages over SVO: it operates in any diesel, with no conversion or modifications to the engine or the fuel system-- just put it in and go. It also has better cold-weather homes 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 numerous nations, consisting of countless miles on the road.

Biodiesel is a tidy, safe, ready-to-use, alternative fuel, whereas it’s fair to state that many SVO systems are still speculative and require additional advancement.

On the other hand, biodiesel can be more costly, depending just 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 actually to be processed first.

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

Anyway you have to process SVO too, particularly WVO (waste vegetable oil, 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 and water need to be eliminated, and it probably must be deacidified too. Biodieselers say, “If I’m going to need to do all that I might also make biodiesel instead.” But SVO types belittle that-- it’s much less processing than making biodiesel, they state. To each his own.