Vegetable oil fuel States was producing in excess of 11 billion liters (2.9 billion U.S. gallons) of recycled vegetable oil annually, mainly from industrial deep fryers in potato processing plants, snack food factories and fast food restaurants. If all those 11 billion liters could be recycled and used to replace the energy equivalent amount of petroleum (an ideal case), almost 1% of US oil consumption could be offset. Utilizing recycled vegetable oil as a replacement for standard petroleum-derived fuels like gasoline would reduce the price of gasoline by preserving the supply of petroleum. Virgin vegetable oil, also termed pure plant oil or straight
Vegetable oil is increasing. The NNFCC estimate that the total net greenhouse gas savings when using vegetable oils in place of fossil fuel-based alternatives for fuel production, range from 18 to 100%. The production process of vegetable oil involves the removal of oil from plant components, typically seeds. This can be done via mechanical extraction using an oil mill or chemical extraction using a solvent. The extracted oil can then be purified and, if required, refined or chemically altered. Oils can be removed via mechanical extraction, termed "crushing" or "pressing." This method is typically used to produce the more traditional oils (e.g.,