Anybody can make biodiesel. It's easy, you can make it in your kitchen area-- and it's BETTER than the petro-diesel fuel the huge oil companies offer 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 used cooking oil it's not just cheap but you'll be recycling a frustrating waste item. Best of all is the GREAT sensation of freedom, self-reliance and empowerment it will offer you. Here's how to do it-- everything you require to know.

Straight grease fuel (SVO) systems can be a tidy, reliable and cost-effective alternative. 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, 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 combination. Just start up 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 common petroleum diesel or biodiesel in one tank and then switch 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 vegetable oil systems in my blog.

3. Biodiesel or SVO?

Biodiesel has some clear advantages over SVO: it works in any diesel, with no conversion or adjustments to the engine or the simply put it in and go. It likewise has better cold-weather residential or commercial properties than SVO (however not as excellent as petro-diesel-- see Using biodiesel in winter). Unlike SVO,

it's backed by many long-lasting tests in numerous nations, consisting of millions of miles on the road.

Biodiesel is a clean, safe, ready-to-use, alternative fuel, whereas it's reasonable to say that lots of SVO systems are still experimental and require 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 new oil or used oil (and depending on where you live). And unlike SVO, it has actually to be processed initially.

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

Anyway you need to process SVO too, especially WVO (waste grease, used, prepared), which many people with SVO systems use since it's cheap or free for the taking. With WVO food particles and pollutants and water must be gotten rid of, and it probably ought to be deacidified too. Biodieselers state, "If I'm going to need to do all that I might as well make biodiesel rather." But SVO types discount that-- it's much less processing than making biodiesel, they say. To each his own.