BIODIESEL PERFORMANCE

Successful alternative fuels fulfill environmental and energy security needs without sacrificing operating performance. Operationally, biodiesel blends perform very similar to low sulfur diesel in terms of power, torque, and fuel without major modification of engines or infrastructure.

Biodiesel offers similar power to diesel fuel. One of the major advantages of biodiesel is the fact that it can be used in existing engines and fuel injection equipment with little impact to operating performance. Biodiesel has a higher cetane number than most U.S. diesel fuel. In more than 50 million on-road miles and countless marine and off-road applications, biodiesel shows similar fuel consumption, horsepower, torque, and haulage rates as conventional diesel fuel.

Biodiesel provides significant lubricity improvement over petroleum diesel fuel. Lubricity results of biodiesel and petroleum diesel using industry test methods indicate that there is a marked improvement in lubricity when biodiesel is added to conventional diesel fuel. Even biodiesel levels as low as one percent can provide up to a 65 percent increase in lubricity in distillate fuels.

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BENEFITS OF BIODIESEL

1) National security. Since it's made domestically, it reduces our dependence on foreign oil. That's good.
2) National economy. Using biodiesel keeps our fuel buying dollars at home instead of sending it to foreign countries. This reduces our trade deficit and creates jobs.
3) It's sustainable & non-toxic. Face it, we're going to run out of oil eventually. Biodiesel is 100% renewable... we'll never run out of it. And if it gets into your water supply, there's no problem - it's veggie oil! Heck, you can drink it if you so desire, but it tastes nasty (trust us).(Learn more)
4) Emissions. Biodiesel is nearly carbon-neutral, meaning it contributes almost zero emissions to global warming! Biodiesel also dramatically reduces other emissions fairly dramatically. We like clean air, how about you? Plus, the exhaust smells like popcorn or french fries!(Learn more)
5) Engine life. Studies have shown it reduces engine wear by as much as one half, primarily because it provides excellent lubricity. Even a 2% biodiesel/98% diesel blend will help.(Learn more)
6) Drivability. We have yet to meet anyone who doesn't notice an immediate smoothing of the engine with biodiesel. It just runs quieter, and produces less smoke.

BIODIESEL

Biodiesel is a clean, renewable and domestically produced diesel fuel, which has many characteristics of a promising alternative energy resource. The most common process for making biodiesel is known as transesterification. This process involves combining any natural oil (vegetable or animal) with virtually any alcohol, and a catalyst. There are other thermochemical processes available for making biodiesel, but transesterification is the most commonly used one due to the simplicity and high energy efficiency. The high energy efficiency of transesterification is an important aspect of Biodiesel, which makes it favorable in the competitive energy market. The following is a transesterification reference guide that can be used to process Biodiesel on an experimental scale for classroom demonstrations. It can be done with basic equipment and common chemicals. Be sure to use extreme caution when carrying out this procedure, the methanol and catalyst are toxic, and give off potentially harmful vapors. Proper personal protection is imperative, including thorough ventilation. Links will also be given for more information on building more sophisticated small-scale (“homebrew”) biodiesel processors.

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