making biodiesel at home com-vegetable oil fuel

Vegetable Oil Fuel

Thinking that you can use a natural, biodegradable fuel, that leaves little impact on the environment, that can be made from recycled waste oil and even made in your own garage probably seems a little too Hollywood for you. I don't blame you. I thought so too when I first started looking into this method. The ugly truth is, most alternative fuels leave much to be desired. There is however, a viable alternative. I'm convinced Biodiesel is the future of alternative fuels.

There are many, many reasons for this. No other fuel has so many natural, built-in advantages.

For example...

It burns much cleaner than fossil fuels,

Is made from renewable resources,

It can actually be made in your very own kitchen.

Biodiesel contains no petroleum and as a result it is environmentally friendly.

It is made using vegetable oil, alcohol, and lye, all of which are easily renewable resources, so when you power your car with biodiesel, you are using a fuel that only uses renewable resources.

It is recognized by the US Government and the EPA as fuel

It is covered by most vehicle manufacturers warranties

It requires no modification of your engine

It doesn't require that the nation reorganize it's entire energy infrastructure

And many, many more. This is just the tip of the ice berg.

For many years, various alternative fuels simply weren't viable. Because of this they never became mainstream. Today with oil prices prices soaring, the Oil Companies posting record profits while the rest of us are beaten down by high energy costs, it is growing in popularity. Vegetable oil based fuels of yesterday required specially modified engines in order to be of any use and the average person usually had no interest in modifying their vehicles. Why should they? Gas was cheap, the car manufacturers would also void your warranty's. Not so with biodiesel. Sure you might need to buy a diesel car. So what? Think of the headaches, not to mention the money you will save.

Biodiesel can be used in place of the regular petroleum in the car you drive everyday. No alterations or modifications are needed. That means that biodiesel can be used in every machine that requires fossil fuels, from generators, to farm equipment, to the family car, to the furnace heating your home. Can you honestly tell me you wouldn't want to get rid of that $500 bill every month? Considering that biodiesel costs about seventy cents a gallon it is a realistic alternative to fossil fuels that is starting to catch on.

Biodiesel is available for purchase in selected cities as well.

It can be bought directly from the manufacture or distributor and if you search around, you might even find a few gas stations that allow you to pump it into your car. Biodiesel pumping stations are starting to crop up at scattered locations throughout the country. If you aren't with in the proximity of a station that sells biodiesel, you can even make it yourself in your kitchen, or you can buy a biodiesel kit fairly cheaply. If you're handy around the house and have some tools, you can even make your own biodiesel processor. There are many home built "stills" on the pages of this web site.

The process for making biodiesel at home isn't much harder than concocting a high school science experiment. The ingredients are easy to find at almost any hardware store and even the equipment is basic. By mixing lye together with antifreeze, sodium methoxide is formed. When you mix sodium methoxide with vegetable oil it transforms itself into two useful substances, glycerin and biodiesel. Glycerin is used in making soap and if you ever whip up a batch of biodiesel, you can use the resulting glycerin byproduct to make your own homemade soap. Bet you can't do that with ordinary diesel!

Biodiesel is an amazing discovery that will revolutionize the way we view fuel. Rudolf Diesel was at least 100 years ahead of his time. Biodiesel is environmentally friendly, it is just as efficient as the petroleum diesel we now burn, but much less expensive. Because you can make it yourself using commonly found ingredients, using biodiesel means that you will never be dependant on oil companies again.