What Is Biodiesel?

Before you can learn the steps to making biodiesel you actually need to understand what it is made from in the first place. In this brief post we are going to look at what biodiesel is, what it is made from, and what types of applications it has in everyday life.

Basically, biodiesel refers to a liquid fuel made from either vegetable oils or animal oils/fats. This differs from petrodiesel, which is (as you probably would have guessed by now) made from crude oil drilled out from the ground. In some countries, especially in the European Union, biodiesel is actually a few cents a liter cheaper than petrodiesel, so there are incentives to get more and more vehicles using this great source of fuel.

What is biodiesel made from exactly?

• Waste vegetable oil (think the stuff in the bottom of a deep fat fryer)
• Animal fats such as tallow lard or grease.
• Photochemical algae (in my opinion this poses the best alternative to regular petrofuels as it can be produced in a small space, although the upfront costs are mind-boggling)
• Virgin vegetable oils such as rapeseed.

How much is produced from all these different sources globally?

In 2008, 7.8 million tonnes of biodiesel was produced in Europe alone. In 2006 TOTAL WORLD production was only around 6 million tonnes. Of course this is perhaps 1% of the amount of liquid fuels needed to keep up with oil demand, but the rate of growth in biofuels is staggering, and will only increase with higher oil prices.

What uses are there for this fuel?

Basically, biodiesel can be used when blended with ordinary petrodiesel in diesel based engines in concentrations between 1-20% with little or no engine modification. In other, very simple words, if every diesel engined vehicle used a B20 (20% biofuel, 80% regular fuel) then ordinary diesel use would fall by around 1/5.

Vehicles can be converted to run on higher concentrations of biodiesel, or even a 100% blend itself. However, older engines with natural rubber hoses and gaskets will not take well to even blended biofuels as they have a solvent effect on rubber- this is where much of the modification takes place. Newer engines (ie ones made in the last 20 years) are far less prone to suffering from problems with this.

In fact, when properly converted and the correct blend used biodiesel is actually far better for the health of your engine as it has greater lubricating properties and is better for the fuel injection system.

In many parts of the world biodiesel is also used as a home heating fuel. In older boilers it can be used in a 100% concentration although filtration can sometimes be necessary.