Anybody can make biodiesel. It's easy, you can make it in your cooking area-- and it's BETTER than the petro-diesel fuel the big oil companies offer 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 much better for health.

If you make it from oil it's not just inexpensive but you'll be recycling a frustrating waste product. Best of all is the GREAT sensation of freedom, self-reliance and empowerment it will give you. Here's how to do it-- everything you require to know.

Straight vegetable oil fuel (SVO) systems can be a tidy, effective and cost-effective choice. Unlike biodiesel, with SVO you have to customize the engine. The finest 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 instance you can use petro-diesel, biodiesel or SVO, in any combination. Just begin up 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 likewise two-tank SVO systems which pre-heat the oil to make it thinner. You have to begin the engine on ordinary petroleum diesel or biodiesel in one tank and then change 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 grease 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 fuel system-- simply put it in and go. It likewise 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 lots of nations, including millions of miles on the road.

Biodiesel is a tidy, safe, ready-to-use, alternative fuel, whereas it's fair to state that numerous SVO systems are still experimental and need further advancement.

On the other hand, biodiesel can be more expensive, 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 on where you live). And unlike SVO, it has to be processed initially.

But the big and rapidly growing worldwide band of homebrewers do not mind-- they make a supply every week or once a month and quickly get utilized to it. Many have been doing it for several years.

Anyway you have to process SVO too, specifically WVO (waste grease, utilized, prepared), which lots of people with SVO systems use because it's cheap or free for the taking. With WVO food particles and pollutants and water must be gotten rid of, and it probably must be deacidified too. Biodieselers say, "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 state. To each his own.