Biodiesel...

Biodiesel Facts And Information
The global fuel market is one of the greatest fluctuating markets that exist today. The price of gasoline all over the world has jumped at alarming rates. If there is a decrease in the prices, it is a painfully slow one. When a national disaster happens, you as a consumer can expect gasoline prices to increase by dollars, literally.

The Need for Alternatives
Alternative fuels have many benefits when compared to that of the regular fuels most often used now. Generally, alternative fuels are better for the environment and country as a whole. Right now within the United States only, more than 30 Billion gallons of gas are burned every year. The government has finally begun to see the damage gasoline is doing to our environment.

Not only can alternatives be safer for our environment, they can also benefit our entire country and its pocketbook. Gasoline is generally created as a combination of a country efforts and the efforts of other countries.

What is Biodiesel?
Biodiesel is a form of alternative fuel that is made from vegetable oil. No, I would not suggest you use it in cooking but it creates a perfect alternative to gasoline. There is a specific process that animal fat and vegetable oil go through "transesterification" and is then turned into esterified oil. Esterified oil is then used as diesel fuel for diesel engines that are unmodified. Biodiesel can also be mixed with regular diesel fuel if desired.

What is great about this technology is that any type of animal fat or vegetable oil can be used in making biodiesel. The most common type that is used is rapeseed or soybean oil.

Why is biodiesel becoming an alternative?
Because biodiesel can be created from any type of vegetable oil, it is more readily available and made from renewable resources. Furthermore, it is better for our environment. Biodiesel produces fewer exhaust emissions and causes less harm to the environment if there is a spill. It will not harm the water supply, animals, or plants because it is non-toxic.

Another way it is environmentally safer than regular diesel is that it produces less carbon dioxide, monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides. Your vehicle may even get better mileage per gallon.

Biodiesel, the New Energy Revolution
Fuels are the energy-boosters for vehicles. Without it no automobile can run on the road. But these fuels have always been a major factor in pollution problem. That is why alternative fuels or eco-friendly fuels have been discovered.

Biodiesel is one of them. It is equivalent to diesel, which is derived from biological sources. It is a non-toxic, eco-friendly processed fuel, and can be used in vehicles having diesel-driven engine. It is useful as it has less emission than petroleum and diesel. It can also possibly be used in the place of fossil fuels.

Biodiesel looks like a dark yellow colored fluid and is light. It easily gets immersed in water and thus has low density than water, and possess high boiling point with low vapor pressure. It is also non-flammable.

Several countries in the world now prefer biodiesel in their cars than other fuels and thus are also producing them. Australia. Canada Germany, India Spain, United Kingdom, United States, Brazil are some of the countries that produce biodiesel.

Biodiesel has many environmental benefits that make it very resourceful.
1. It produces less emission of carbon monoxide (CO) and Carbon dioxide (CO2).
2. It contains less aromatic hydrocarbons like benzofluoranthene.
3. It reduces the emission of small particles of solid combustion products.
4. It can produce more nitrogen oxide (NO).
5. Sulphur content in biodiesel is low than that of others.
6. It ignites more quickly than other fuels, when added to the engine.

Biodiesel is prepared from hydrocarbon oil or fats. The most common ingredient used in its making is fresh soybean oil. Other things that are used for its production are mustered seed oil and waste vegetable oil.

These oils are mixed, mainly with methanol and sodium hydroxide or potassium hydroxide, which acts as a catalyst and then filtered. The product produce is biodiesel and glycerol. It can be used in two ways- directly that is in pure form or with petroleum. Biodiesel is gradually becoming the favorite all over the world for its eco-friendly nature as today's world is facing the problem of pollution.

Moreover, it is also free from those additional problems that are common in case of fuels like petroleum diesel, and thus can be said that in the coming years it can be the world's primary energy source for transports. For this reason many companies are becoming interested in commercial level production of biodiesel for its good business prospect

Apart from this biodiesel is still a subject of research. Different researchers are working on it to discover other positive aspects of such a valuable product


How Can I Benefit From Bio Diesel?
If you have an interest in being environmentally friendly, then no doubt you're aware of the damage fossil fuels are doing to our environment. Not only that, but at some point they will run out. Add in the recent jump in gas prices, and it's hardly surprising that more people are talking about making their own biodiesel fuel. Although it sounds like a great idea, you need to consider a few points before going ahead and making your own biodiesel fuel.

What Is Biodiesel?
To start with, let's take a look at what biodiesel fuel actually is. At its most simple, biodiesel fuel is made from either vegetable oil, animal fat, or mixture of the two. It's a clean burning fuel that is made from renewable resources hence the name biodiesel.

Generally, biodiesel fuel is made from straight vegetable oil, sometimes referred to as SVO. So if you want to make your own biodiesel fuel, you'll need to have an adequate supply of the basic ingredients. Unfortunately, most households don't produce enough waste animal fat or vegetable fat to come anywhere close to making enough biodiesel fuel to keep the family car running.

Using Recycled oil
This has led to a whole new industry, with the basic aim of sourcing much larger quantities of raw product. They get together with restaurants, bakeries, and any other business that uses a deep fryer, so that they can collect the used oil for recycling. The oils are then blended and used as the basis for biodiesel fuel. The processes are the same as you'd use to make biodiesel fuel at home, but by having access to a much larger supply of raw products, these companies can produce biodiesel in quantities that are more viable.

Can I make it at Home?
One thing to remember is that it's not quite this simple! Used vegetable oil needs to be mixed and stored, which can be quite a problem if you have large amounts of it. You also need to dewater, filter and deacidify the waste oil before it can be used for making biodiesel. This makes the production of biodiesel fuel at home a lot more complicated.

Having said that, it's certainly still quite possible to make biodiesel fuel at home, simply by buying straight vegetable oil, rather than using waste products. Even though it will cost you a lot more, when you compare it to the cost of buying the necessary amount of gas to run your car for a year, you can still save an enormous amount - somewhere around 75 percent. Even better, you're saving the environment too.

Can I mix it with Petroleum?
The short answer is yes! It can be blended with petroleum in any percentages and used as fuel. There is a fuel called B20 which is 20 percent biodiesel that has shown significant environmental benefits. It can be used in an existing diesel engine with either little or no modifications. The only thing to be aware of is that biodiesel acts as a solvent and can remove old deposits on on your fuel tank walls and your fuel lines. This may lead to a clogging of your filters so care should be taken. But hey - then you have a clean system!

So if you're interested in saving money and helping out the environment, look at the option of making biodiesel fuel at home. It takes a little bit of effort, but the rewards are definitely worthwhile.