What’s the deal with vegetable oil?

First things first, a common mistake people make is to think they can dump vegetable oil straight into their fuel tanks. The EPA has not condoned the act of using straight vegetable oil as gas. They say raw vegetable oils and cooking oils are not suitable for legal vehicle usage; biodiesel seems to have the true claim to fame. Here, YS explores veggie fuel.

The Science

To make biodiesel, you need a base oil such as soybean, sunflower, canola or recycled cooking oil. This base oil is refined using industrial alcohol along with a catalyst to convert the oil into a biodiesel fuel that is suitable in many vehicles. Biodiesel is perfect for use in any diesel engine.

The Good

It always comes down to the benefits, and using biodiesel as fuel definitely comes with some environmental benefits. Using biodiesel fuel can lower our dependence on foreign oil as well as reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

Gas Up Locally

If you don’t have the means to pull out your beakers and mix up some biodiesel by yourself, there are plenty of locations for you to fuel up locally:

UBiodiesel.org

Bartkus Oil Company
3501 Old Pearl St.,
Boulder, 303.442.6000

Boulder Gas
2900 Baseline Rd.,
Boulder,?303.417.1966