In all likelihood, making biodiesel may not have entered your mind before. Maybe you will have seen one of those soy powered buses around the place, peaking your interest, or you might just be fed up with those horrible prices at the petrol station. Have you calculated the size of your carbon footprint yet? We’re all stopping to think about how we contribute to an overall problem of global warming and as we see the politicians treading water, we’re considering what we can do to push.

Some people think that they cannot make biodiesel fuel cost effectively or safely, but they are incorrect. Thousands of people can testify to the fuel’s efficiency as they use it during their daily lives. So long as you have a modicum of common sense and take some time to understand the process, you will be able to proceed perfectly well. However, all the materials that you need are readily available and you do not need a degree in chemistry to help you to get through it!

It’s essential to remember that you should beware of using any overly simplistic advice or a simply written ‘how to,’ like this one that follows, and before actually attempting to make biodiesel, you’ll need to have exacting information of the process itself and all safety requirements:

Making homemade biodiesel requires you to engage in a process called transesterification. You will be using a catalyst (lye) to remove glycerine from vegetable or animal oils or fats and you will effectively be extracting the oil that you can use in your diesel engine.

Use potassium hydroxide or sodium hydroxide, caustic soda and pick up some methanol as well. Note that you will need to keep the lye and the methanol in water tight containers and you should be aiming to use as pure a product as you can.

Take a sturdy plastic container, insert 200 mL of methanol and add the caustic soda. All containers, including the plastic bottle should be tightly closed. Shake the container a few times until everything is dissolved.

The soy or vegetable oil needs to be heated to 130°F and poured into a blender. Add your mixture, close tightly and blend for about 30 minutes. Pour the result into a sturdy, large bottle with a tight lid. After 24 hours of settling, the glycerine, which is the darker colour, is settled on the bottom. When this is the case, extract the biodiesel, essentially the top layer into a clean jar, being careful not to get any of the glycerine layer mixed in.

Next you will need to wash your resultant mixture to remove the remaining imperfections by adding clean water, then letting it settle for about four hours or so, and finally allowing the water to drain through a hole in the bottom of your container that you will have made earlier on.

If everything is not clear, repeat the process, but when you are happy, the water will have evaporated and you will have your first version of biodiesel fuel. Now that you know that making biodiesel is possible, look into finding more detailed information on the process and safety regulations, before you begin!