Click here to view more details

Biodiesel

Biodiesel is vegetable oil-based biofuel. It can be made from vegetable oils, recycled cooking greases or oils, or animal fats through a chemical reaction called transesterification. The production process converts oils and fats into chemicals called long chain mono alkyl esters, or simply biodiesel.

Vegetable oils were tested originally as direct fuel for diesel engines but the high viscosity of raw oils caused operational problems (engine deposits). This lead to several solutions to lower the oils viscosity the most common being transesterification.

This chemical process consists of reacting the vegetable oil feedstock with an alcohol, usually methanol, in the presence of a catalyst, usually a base such as sodium or potassium hydroxide, to give the corresponding vegetable oil (usually methyl) esters. Methyl esters are the most common form of diesel, largely due to methanol being the least expensive alcohol.

Two of the most salient points regarding biodiesel are: first, it can be used in petroleum diesel vehicles without engine modification, alone or in any combination with petroleum diesel. Second, it is highly energy efficient when it comes to its production process.

Due to the considerable level of success that this biofuel has had in Europe, it is gaining more and more attention around the world. It is being produced or used commercially in the United States, Austria, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Malaysia, and Sweden.

Biodiesel is a legally registered fuel and fuel additive with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA registration includes all biodiesel meeting the ASTM International biodiesel specification, ASTM D 6751, and is not dependent upon the oil or fat used to produce the biodiesel or the specific process employed.

Check these resources on Biodiesel (Clicking on any item will take you to Amazon.com):

Links:

Biodiesel e-books. Get "How-to" Biodiesel books and save money.

What's RSS?