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I've made biodiesel. It's a simple enough process. I was able to easily pick it up for a vocational education project way back in high school. The chemistry is easy enough a middle school kid these days could do it. You take the oil from any old fry shop or restaurant, you filter it free of any contaminants, add acid and heat to facilitate the breaking of fatty acid esters off the glycerine, then you neutralize the acid and let everything settle out. Pour off your oil on top and you're good to go.

Bonus: you now also have a good supply of relatively clean glycerine that is perfect for making soap. Yet another application of simple chemistry that brings more yield from your resource with minimal effort.

So regardless of what the production is today with industrial methods, people could easily begin their own production in garage workshops. Imagine every McDonald's having their fryer grease turned into biodiesel for a single year by local workshops. If 17 year old me and a burnt out middle age electrician can figure it out in a half powered shed in Oakland, anyone can.