Anybody can make biodiesel. It's simple, you can make it in your kitchen area-- and it's BETTER than the petro-diesel fuel the big oil business sell you. Your diesel motor will run much better and last longer on your home-made fuel, and it's much cleaner-- better for the and much better for health.

If you make it from used cooking oil it's not only cheap however you'll be recycling a frustrating waste item. Most importantly is the GREAT sensation of liberty, independence and empowerment it will provide you. Here's how to do it-- everything you need to know.

Straight vegetable oil fuel (SVO) systems can be a tidy, effective and economical choice. Unlike biodiesel, with SVO you have to modify the engine. The very best method is to fit an expert 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 example you can use petro-diesel, biodiesel or SVO, in any mix. Just launch and go, stop and switch off, like any other car. 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 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 benefits over SVO: it works in any diesel, with no conversion or modifications to the engine or the fuel system-- just put it in and go. It likewise has much 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 lots of countries, including millions of miles on the road.

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 additional development.

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

But the big and quickly growing around the world band of homebrewers don't mind-- they make a supply weekly 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 vegetable oil, utilized, cooked), which lots of people with SVO systems use due to the fact that it's low-cost or totally free for the taking. With WVO food particles and impurities and water must be removed, and it most likely needs to be deacidified too. Biodieselers state, "If I'm going to need 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 say. To each his own.