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 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 environment and much better for health.

If you make it from utilized cooking oil it's not only low-cost however you'll be recycling a bothersome waste product. Most importantly is the GREAT feeling of flexibility, self-reliance and it will offer you. Here's how to do it-- whatever you need to know.

Straight grease fuel (SVO) systems can be a clean, reliable and economical option. Unlike biodiesel, with SVO you have to modify the engine. The very 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 mix. Just launch and go, stop and switch off, like any other cars and truck. 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 begin 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 info on straight grease systems in my blog site.

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 also has better cold-weather properties than SVO (however not as great as petro-diesel-- see Using biodiesel in winter). Unlike SVO,

it's backed by numerous long-lasting tests in numerous countries, consisting of countless miles on the road.

Biodiesel is a clean, safe, ready-to-use, alternative fuel, whereas it's reasonable to say that numerous SVO systems are still experimental and need additional development.

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 utilized oil (and depending upon where you live). And unlike SVO, it has 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 when 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 grease, used, prepared), which lots of individuals with SVO systems utilize due to the fact that it's inexpensive or totally free for the taking. With WVO food particles and impurities and water must be eliminated, and it probably ought to be deacidified too. Biodieselers say, "If I'm going to have to do all that I might as well make biodiesel rather." But SVO types belittle that-- it's much less processing than making biodiesel, they say. To each his own.