Biodiesel is a road and off road legal alternative to fossil/mineral diesel and red diesel. It has a lot of the characteristics of normal mineral diesel, but is typically made from vegetable oils.

Running any diesel engine on grease is not a new idea. The initial diesel motor very first demonstrated in 1895 by Rudolph Diesel was designed to work on vegetable oil.Biodiesel has been available for several years as a mainstream fuel in the major car manufacturing countries such as Germany, the USA and across Europe.

By producing biodiesel we are also recycling and that benefits the environment.

You may be amazed to learn that far from being an inferior, home produced fuel, biodiesel is better for your cars and truck engine and the environment than fossil based fuels such as gas and regular forecourt diesel.

Fuel rates are rising gradually all the time and with higher and unpredictable costs at the pumps, lots of people are turning to either making biodiesel or buying it already made from a supplier.

With the former alternative, making biodiesel safely must be a top priority. With the latter, discovering a biodiesel provider near adequate to end up being cost-effective can often prove hard, and naturally this is a more pricey choice.

The Savings

By making biodiesel in your home it need to be possible to produce your alternative fuel from waste grease ready to enter you tank at a fraction of the expense of forecourt fuel. If you pick to use brand-new oil the cost savings are not as magnificent however you will still see a significant saving on forecourt diesel pump rates.

Types of Vegetable Fuel

There are three choices to think about when using veggie oil, however we would just suggest choice three - home produced biodiesel.

Straight Grease

Grease is around five times more viscous or thicker than routine diesel. A diesel motor would need to be modified to handle this increased viscosity to ensure the easily through the fuel system and into the combustion chamber.

This can be accomplished either by preheating therefore thinning the oil before it gets in the injectors, or by setting up a double tank system where the car is operated on typical diesel up until warm and after that switched over to biodiesel.

Another problem can be that oil has various chemical homes and combustion qualities from the fuel that many diesel engines are created to use. In more recent cars with exact tuning systems this can cause issues. In addition to this there is the cost of the conversion and service warranty problems to think about.

Blending

Vegetable oil can be blended with other fuels or solvents to lower its viscosity.

When mixing vegetable oil with forecourt diesel this need to be restricted to 20% oil to 80% diesel.

This method is not a great environmental alternative as it still involves using a fossil based fuel.

Some people have actually experimented with solvents such as white spirit or paint thinner. This is not suggested because performance and the long-lasting effect on engine wear are both unknown quantities.