Bio-diesel Energy

27. September 2007 by heidee.

The idea of using vegetable oil for fuel has been around as long as the diesel engine. Rudolph Diesel, the inventor of the engine that bears his name, experimented with fuels ranging from powdered coal to peanut oil. In the early 20th century, however, diesel engines were adapted to burn petroleum distillate, which was cheap and plentiful. In the late 20th century, however, the cost of petroleum distillate rose, and by the late 1970s there was renewed interest in biodiesel. Commercial production of biodiesel in the United States began in the 1990s.

The most common sources of oil for biodiesel production in the United States are soybean oil and yellow grease (primarily, recycled cooking oil from restaurants). Blends of biodiesel and petroleum diesel are designated with the letter “B,” followed by the volumetric percentage of biodiesel in the blend: B20, the blend most often evaluated, contains 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent petroleum diesel; B100 is pure biodiesel. By several important measures biodiesel blends perform better than petroleum diesel, but its relatively high production costs and the limited availability of some of the raw materials used in its production continue to limit its commercial application.

What is Biodiesel?

Biodiesel is the name of a clean burning alternative fuel, produced from domestic, renewable resources. Biodiesel contains no petroleum, but it can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a biodiesel blend. It can be used in compression-ignition (diesel) engines with little or no modifications. Biodiesel is simple to use, biodegradable, nontoxic, and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics.

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