How To Make Biodiesel

Can You Make Biodiesel From Vegetable Oil?

How to make biodiesel fuel for use in your vehicle or home is the focus of this article. It is meant to provide basic and introductory information about how to make biodiesel, not a step-by-step manual or guide. It will also answer the question can you make biodiesel from vegetable oil. After reading this article, you'll have a better understanding of whether it is practical or sensible for you to try make biodiesel at home or not.

You should be aware that most people think of vegetable oil when they hear the words biodiesel fuel. While it's true vegetables are used to manufacture biodiesel fuel, there's a difference between commercially produced biodiesel fuel and a bottle of vegetable oil you get from your pantry. Commercially produced biodiesel will work in vehicles that are powered by a standard diesel engine. To make regular vegetable oil work (or vegetable oil that is actually cooking oil cleaned and recycled from local restaurants), you'll need to make some modifications to your vehicle's engine. Unless you love to tinker or are a qualified diesel mechanic, it 's probably simpler to get biodiesel from a service station that sells it.

The biggest challenge for those who want to make biodiesel at home may be collecting enough vegetable oil or cooking oil to be cost effective. Vegetable oil is also known as standard vegetable oil or SVO. Oil that has been used for cooking is called WVO (waste vegetable oil). Some restaurants would be happy to give you all the WVO they have. But you'll still have to take your time to pick it up and transport it. So you'll need to determine if any savings you enjoy are worth the time you'll take to gather what you need.

Then there's the time required to process and produce a liquid that will work in your engine. You can't just dump pure vegetable oil or cooking oil into your vehicle's fuel system. You need to blend it with other fuels and solvents. Otherwise, it won't flow freely enough through fuel lines to get into the combustion chamber. SVO also has different chemical and combustion characteristics than traditional diesel fuel. Today's cleaner, more efficient diesel engines may not tolerate biodiesel blends very well.

Higher viscosity is not the only problem with using vegetable oil as fuel. Veg-oil has different chemical properties and combustion characteristics from the petro-diesel fuel that diesel engines and their fuel systems are designed to use. Diesel engines, especially the more modern, cleaner-burning diesels, are high-tech machines with precise fuel requirements

To make vegetable oil or cooking oil work in most diesel engines, you'll need lye, methanol, certain solvents, plastic buckets, paint mixers, strainers and a big container to heat it all up. It can be hazardous to work with lye and methanol, especially around heat, so be sure to wear eye protection, rubber gloves and a respirator. 

Biodiesel processors can be built or bought that will help you make biodiesel at home in the simplest and most efficient way possible. Use the search box below to find out more by typing in the words biodiesel processors and clicking "Search."

So the answer to the question can you make biodiesel from vegetable oil is definitely yes. The answer to the question is it worth the time, expense and effort is one you'll need to determine for yourself. A growing number of people believe that it is.

Also see what is biodiesel fuel.