Used cooking oil is a key ingredient in making biofuel, specifically biodiesel. It is a renewable fuel produced from vegetable oils (soybean, canola, corn, grapeseed, sunflower, and palm) and animal fats.
Vegetable oil can be used as an alternative fuel in diesel engines and in heating oil burners. When vegetable oil is used directly as a fuel, in either modified or unmodified equipment, it is referred to as straight vegetable oil (SVO) or pure plant oil (PPO).
Because of the expanded U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard, biofuels are in high demand. This standard is a federal law that mandates suppliers of transport fuels (diesel and gasoline) to inject a small percentage of biofuels into their products. It aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and the United States’ dependence on non-renewable petroleum. It ensures that you don’t fill your tank with pure diesel fuel, but with a 2%, 5%, or 20% biodiesel blend.
Conventional diesel engines can be modified to help ensure that the viscosity of the vegetable oil is low enough to allow proper atomization of the fuel. This prevents incomplete combustion, which would damage the engine by causing a build-up of carbon. Straight vegetable oil can also be blended with conventional diesel or processed into biodiesel or bioliquids for use under a wider range of conditions.