Large amounts of grease can be collected from restaurants and other places.

Well, many cities have recycling services that will pick up large amounts of grease from restaurants and other establishments.But there are locations where individuals can drop off their containers, as well.All of this grease will end up at a processing plant,where it can be converted to useable biodiesel.How does this conversion work?Well, all these oils and fats you donated are made up of triglycerides,a glycerol molecule connected to three fatty acid chains.To convert fats to fuel,they react with an alcohol,usually methanol or ethanol,which produces long-chain esters and glycerol.To compare, here are some molecules of regular diesel fuel.Now, here are the molecules we created by breaking apart the triglycerides.Glycerol is the odd man out,so it's removed at the end of the process.But look at these esters!If you squint, their structures look pretty similar to those of the long-chain hydrocarbons in regular diesel.