Anybody can make biodiesel. It's simple, you can make it in your kitchen-- and it's BETTER than the petro-diesel fuel the big oil companies offer you. Your diesel motor will run 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 cheap however you'll be recycling a frustrating waste item. Best of all is the GREAT feeling of flexibility, self-reliance and empowerment it will give you. Here's how to do it-- everything you need to know.
Straight veggie oil fuel (SVO) systems can be a clean, reliable and economical alternative. Unlike biodiesel, with SVO you need to modify the engine. The finest way is to fit a professional singletank SVO system with replacement injectors and glowplugs optimised for veg-oil, as well as 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 utilizes 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 after that switch to SVO in the other tank when the veg-oil is hot enough, and change back to petro- or 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 fuel system-- simply put it in and go. It likewise has much 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 many long-lasting tests in numerous nations, consisting of countless 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 further advancement.
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 brand-new oil or used oil (and depending on where you live). And unlike SVO, it needs to be processed first.
But the big and quickly growing worldwide band of homebrewers don't mind-- they make a supply each week or when a month and quickly get used to it. Many have actually been doing it for many years.
Anyway you need to process SVO too, specifically WVO (waste grease, used, cooked), which many people with SVO systems utilize because it's inexpensive or complimentary for the taking. With WVO food particles and pollutants and water need to be gotten rid of, and it most likely should be deacidified too. Biodieselers state, "If I'm going to have 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.
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Make your own Biodiesel Part 2
Harriet Coombes edited this page 2025-01-11 15:49:53 +00:00