Anybody can make biodiesel. It's easy, you can make it in your kitchen-- 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-- much better for the environment and better for health.

If you make it from used cooking oil it's not only cheap but you'll be recycling a frustrating waste product. Most importantly is the GREAT sensation of freedom, independence and empowerment it will offer you. Here's how to do it-- whatever you require to understand.

Straight vegetable oil fuel (SVO) systems can be a tidy, reliable and affordable choice. Unlike biodiesel, with SVO you need to modify the engine. The very best way 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 start up and go, stop and switch off, like any other vehicle. Journey to Forever's Toyota TownAce van uses an Elsbett single-tank system. More

There are likewise two-tank SVO systems which pre-heat the oil to make it thinner. You have to begin the engine on normal petroleum diesel or biodiesel in one tank and after that change to SVO in the other tank when the 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 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 adjustments to the engine or the fuel system-- just put it in and go. It also has better cold-weather homes than SVO (but not as great as petro-diesel-- see Using biodiesel in winter season). Unlike SVO,

it's backed by numerous long-lasting tests in many countries, including 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 require further 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 used oil (and depending on where you live). And unlike SVO, it needs to be processed initially.

But the large and quickly growing worldwide band of homebrewers don't mind-- they make a supply each week or once a month and quickly get utilized to it. Many have actually been doing it for many years.

Anyway you need to process SVO too, especially WVO (waste vegetable oil, utilized, prepared), which lots of people with SVO systems use because it's cheap or complimentary for the taking. With WVO food particles and impurities and water should be eliminated, and it probably should be deacidified too. Biodieselers say, "If I'm going to have to do all that I may too make biodiesel instead." But SVO types scoff at that-- it's much less processing than making biodiesel, they state. To each his own.