Anybody can make biodiesel. It's easy, you can make it in your cooking area-- and it's BETTER than the petro-diesel fuel the big oil companies 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 used cooking oil it's not just inexpensive however you'll be recycling a frustrating waste item. Most importantly is the GREAT sensation of freedom, self-reliance and empowerment it will provide you. Here's how to do it-- whatever you require to understand.

Straight grease fuel (SVO) systems can be a clean, efficient and economical option. Unlike biodiesel, with SVO you need to customize 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 circumstances you can use petro-diesel, biodiesel or SVO, in any combination. Just launch and go, stop and change off, like any other vehicle. 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 ordinary petroleum diesel or biodiesel in one tank and after that 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 information 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 to the engine or the fuel system-- simply put it in and go. It also has much better cold-weather homes than SVO (however not as excellent as petro-diesel-- see Using biodiesel in winter). Unlike SVO,

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

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

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 utilized oil (and depending upon where you live). And unlike SVO, it has actually to be processed first.

But the big and rapidly growing around the world band of homebrewers don't mind-- they make a supply each week or as soon as a month and soon get used to it. Many have been doing it for several years.

Anyway you need to process SVO too, specifically WVO (waste veggie oil, used, cooked), which many individuals with SVO systems utilize since it's low-cost or free for the taking. With WVO food particles and impurities and water should be removed, and it probably ought to be deacidified too. Biodieselers say, "If I'm going to have to do all that I may as well make biodiesel instead." But SVO types belittle that-- it's much less processing than making biodiesel, they state. To each his own.