Green Happens Now

Steve Marsh asked:


I was recently asked by a friend about a Biodiesel conversion for running the fuel in his car. My answer to him was “Drive past the diesel pump and pull up next to the Biodiesel pump. You can use Biodiesel in almost any diesel engine on the planet without modification.”

That being said, there are a few things you need to be aware of. Check first to make sure that your vehicle manufacturer doesn’t prohibit the use of Biodiesel. I don’t know of any that do, but I have been told that Audi’s newer diesels are not suppose to use Biodiesel. Why is beyond me.

My friend has been using almost pure Biodiesel in his Mercedes 240D for over two years with no concerns. Somethings that he did upfront you may want to do and they make sense if you want to guarantee you’ll have no problems.

First, he changed out his fuel filter after the first two full tanks and again about three months later. The reason he did this is because Biodiesel is a better solvent than petroleum diesel. Accumulations of sludge and gunk in your fuel system tend to accumulate in your fuel lines and in your engine.  The Biodiesel will dissolve them and this can clog your filters. A fuel filter or two is not a bad price to pay for a cleaner engine! And by the way, there are no special “biodiesel filters”.

Second, he replaced all the rubber fuel line sections with Viton. This isn’t a consideration in vehicles made since the early nineties but again, a small price to pay if you have an older vehicle. The reason for this is that natural rubber tends to degrade in the presence of Biodiesel and heat. The synthetic ‘rubber’ used in modern vehicles is unaffected.

Finally, during the colder months you will probably want to run a mixture of petroeum diesel and Biodiesel. Biodiesel gels at higher temperatures than regular diesel and in extremely cold weather this could cause starting and drivability problems. If you purchase your Biodiesel it will usually already be blended for your weather, but if you’re burning home made Biodiesel you may need to add a percentage of conventional diesel during the colder months. How much will have to be determined by tial and error on your part.

Can I use biodiesel in my car? The answer is certainly!

Matt Oconnor asked:


The processing of biodiesel may require a number of biodiesel filters in order to ensure that the end product is of excellent quality. When you try to recycle waste vegetable or surplus corn oil and make them into biodiesel, you might need a biodiesel filter for your engine to make sure that contaminants can’t enter into the engine and damage it. Different biodiesel filters may be required for a number of different applications.

Biodiesel filters should have the following properties in order to work best in any given conditions:

1. High Temperature Properties. Almost any filter media can be used for water-based products. But in the case of filtering hot oils, resins and other high temperature products, a filter media that can withstand prolonged exposure to high temperatures is preferred. Biodiesel filters should be able to have excellent high temperature properties to be able to handle the filtration of biodiesel well enough.

2. Excellent Filtering. Biodiesel filters should be able to filter out the contaminants well enough in order to make a better grade product. All filters have a micron rating that determines the size of the particles that can be effectively captured by the filter media. A biodiesel filter having a 5 micron rating is preferred to provide excellent filtering properties.

3. Chemical Compatibility. A biodiesel filter should be able to withstand exposure to such chemicals as solvents, acids and alkaline solutions. A lesser quality filter may break down when exposed to such chemicals. Make sure that the biodiesel filter that you use has the property to withstand breaking down when exposed to such chemicals.

Biodiesel has become a very popular fuel alternative to petroleum-based fuel today. That is why more and more people are trying to make use of biodiesel in order to lessen their reliance on fuels based on fossil oil, which can pollute the environment. With biodiesel, people have the option to make use of a cleaner alternative. Here are just some of the key advantages of using biodiesel:

1. The use of biodiesel produces at least an 80 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. Not only that, biodiesel contains little or even no sulfur content that can result in as much as a hundred percent less sulfur dioxide being released in the air.

2. Biodiesel is the only alternative fuel available that can run in any conventional diesel engine. Other alternative fuels such as waste or straight vegetable oil may require your diesel engines to be modified. This is not so with biodiesel. Anyone can use biodiesel immediately to fuel any conventional diesel engine today.

3. Biodiesel contain less unwanted contaminants that can do some damage to diesel engines. Biodiesel also has better lubricating properties than petroleum-based diesel and can help protect and extend the life of diesel engines. It’s a better solvent than petro-diesel and may therefore help clean the fuel lines and the engine itself by dissolving fuel residues and flush them out.

4. Biodiesel in non-toxic. It is safer to handle and transport. It is also highly biodegradable and has a higher flashpoint than conventional diesel.

5. Biodiesel can be produced from renewable oilseed crops such as soybeans, canola and mustard seed. As a renewable resource, production of this alternative fuel can go on and on as long as cultivation of such crops is continued. There is also research being done in trying to raise and harvest oil-rich algae as another source for the production of biodiesel.

Mervyn Rees asked:


(c) 2008 Mervyn Rees

I thought I would talk about some aspects affecting the production of biodiesel.

The Kyoto Protocol goes by a number of aliases: The Kyoto Treaty, The Kyoto Accord, or The Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

It does not stand alone but is actually an amendment to a larger body of work by the United Nations on climate change. The larger body of work is a treaty on managing environmental change by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. It came into being in 1992 at a summit in Rio De Janeiro, but since it is a treaty and does not hold countries accountable to make any changes, an amendment was added to it, called a protocol, to help nations take action in response to the treaty. The goal is to stabilize the amount and concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Since then, the Kyoto Protocol has eclipsed the treaty itself in terms of assumed effectiveness and controversy. Countries who choose to ratify the Kyoto Protocol are committing to the reduction of six greenhouse gas emissions including carbon monoxide, or developing measures to deal with those commitments if they cannot fill them.

There were two conditions for the Kyoto Protocol to enter into force. The first condition was that no fewer than 55 participants in the convention needed to ratify the protocol. This was agreed on May 23, 2002 when Iceland ratified the protocol. The second condition was that countries who participated in producing a leased 55% of the total carbon dioxide emissions for 1990 needed to ratify the protocol as well. Russia’s ratification on November 18, 2004 met the second condition needed to put the Kyoto Protocol into force. Ninety days after the conditions were met, on February 16th 2005, the Kyoto Protocol entered into force.

The United States and Australia have not ratified the Kyoto Protocol. In spite of that, 157 nations have ratified the protocol, which represents 61% of global greenhouse gas production.

The legally binding protocol calls for countries to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by an average of 5.2%, compared to the emissions produced in 1990. While the average is 5.2%, different countries have different targets to aim for: Japan needs to reduce its emissions by 6%, Australia by 8%, the US by 7%, and Iceland by 10%. The reduction needs to affect the following greenhouse gases:

* Carbon dioxide * Methane * Nitrous oxide * Sulphur hexafluoride * HFCs * PFCs

Countries who exceed these targets earn “credits” that they can sell to other countries that are not yet able to meet those targets. Credits are also earned by countries with large forested regions that turn carbon dioxide into oxygen. So countries who can quickly exceed emissions standards or who can create Kyoto Protocol forest areas have financial incentive to do so.

Cleaner, breathable air, a clearer sky, and a reduction in global warming are noble pursuits. So why has the Kyoto Protocol received so much controversy and attention and not been ratified by everyone?

Objections and criticisms

There are a number of objections and criticisms to the Kyoto Protocol. Here are some of them:

* By 2050, if the Kyoto Protocol is successful, the global warming trend will be reduced by one third to one half of a degree annually. Unless other modifications are made, Kyoto Protocol will be ineffective at reducing global warming in a largely measurable way.

* Both the United States and Australia have not ratified the protocol because of concerns over the economic ramifications resulting from sweeping changes that need to be made by industries. Other countries, like Canada, have ratified the protocol but with a lot of national controversy for the same reason.

* Credits earned from planting a ‘Kyoto Protocol Forest’ sound like a great idea, except that the first 10 years of a new forest tend to produce more carbon dioxide than it reduces, because new forests help to release carbon dioxide that is locked in the ground.

* China, who is the second-largest greenhouse gas emitter in the world, is exempt from ratifying the Kyoto protocol or being bound to it because it does not belong to a specific class of countries: those who were producing excessive greenhouse gases during the growth in industry that the UN feels contributed to current concentrations. In fact, China’s usage is on the rise, increasing 40% between 1990 and 2003.

* Because of the variety of credit-selling opportunities as well as responsibilities to share knowledge with non-industrialized countries, some people see the Kyoto Protocol as a global social movement to spread wealth from the “have” countries to the “have-not” countries instead of effectively addressing climate change.

* As well, the law of supply and demand suggests that a reduction in fossil fuel usage by industrialized nations will lead to a reduction in overall prices for fossil fuels, allowing non-industrialized nations, who are not bound by the Kyoto Protocol, to burn more fossil fuels at a cheaper price without any restrictions.

* Lastly, critics say that the Kyoto Protocol only addresses the problem with an immediate, short-term solution. Critics suggest that the Kyoto Protocol, or something like it, needs to address greater issues such as population explosion, which has a huge effect on global warming.

Who wins?

If the Kyoto Protocol is successful in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, we will all win with a reduction in global warming. But there are others who will win in a different way:

* Kyoto Protocol measurements are based on emissions produced in 1990 and ratifying countries are measured against that number as a benchmark. Russia, however, because of its collapse, will easily meet its 1990 number, and its benchmark is set at 0%. This means that it should continuously generate credits which can be purchased by other countries. This means that reactionary spending by other countries will push millions of dollars to Russia.

* The Kyoto Protocol also requires industrialized nations to provide information and support to non-industrialized nations attempting to make leaps and bounds in technology and power generation. So countries like the United States will be expected to provide assistance and support to countries like India and China who both have a lot of people and are struggling to become industrialized nations. In both situations, by supporting the Kyoto Protocol, they receive financial assistance but have no parameters in which to operate once they do achieve industrialization.

Matt Oconnor asked:


A biodiesel processor is a device used to produce biodiesel from vegetable oil. It’s usually a combination of a reaction vessel and collection area. Biodiesel processors are available as industrial grade systems as well as for homebrew processes.

A biodiesel processor follows a certain procedure in converting vegetable oil into biodiesel. The first step is the preparation of the components such as vegetable oil to be used in processing biodiesel.

Utmost care must be taken in trying to check the amount of water and free fatty acids contained in the vegetable oil. If the free fatty acid level or water level is too high in the vegetable oil, it may cause problems such as soap formation and the separation of the glycerin by-product downstream.

After the right levels of fatty acids and water are reached, a catalyst is then dissolved in the alcohol using a standard agitator or mixer which is then introduced into a closed reaction vessel of the biodiesel processor. The vegetable or animal oil can then be added.

The loss of alcohol is prevented by making the system totally enclosed at this point as the reaction mix is being heated to convert the fat in the vegetable oil into esters. The heated reaction mix is kept just above the boiling point of the alcohol (around 70 degrees) in order to speed up the reaction. The length of reaction time can vary from 1 to 8 hours. Excess alcohol is sometimes added in order to ensure total conversion of the vegetable fat or oil to its esters. The mixture then comes to its glycerin phase.

With the glycerin phase in the works, glycerin from the oil separates from the unwashed biodiesel. The two can be separated by means of gravity with the glycerin simply drawn off from the bottom of the collecting vessel. An industrial centrifuge may also be used to separate the two materials faster and more efficiently.

Once the glycerin and the unwashed biodiesel have been successfully separated, the excess alcohol still remaining in each part is removed by flash evaporation or by distillation. The alcohol can be effectively recovered using good distillation equipment and can be re-used for processing other vegetable oil batches into biodiesel. It is important to ensure no water accumulates in the recovered alcohol stream during the whole process so as not to lose quality.

The unwashed biodiesel goes through the process of either mist or bubble wash in order to remove left over alcohol, glycerin and other impurities in the biodiesel. Then it’s allowed to dry to remove the water from the biodiesel. The fuel is then filtered before it can finally be used as fuel.

There, that may seem a little complicated when just read all in one go, but that’s the basics of how to process biodiesel.

There are a number of biodiesel processors to allow production of the alternative fuel in varying degrees. There are industrial grade processors available that allow commercial production of biodiesel. There are also several biodiesel processors available for homebrewers to produce the fuel for personal use.

Most processors can be set up in any available space in your home. There are also some models that are portable enough to fit into the back of vans and are so easily transportable. If you are interested in having your own biodiesel processor at home, you can always try checking out online forums as well as online shops that sell such devices.

Mervyn Rees asked:


(c) 2008 Mervyn Rees

Efforts to find affordable replacements to current vehicle fuel choices, biodiesel has quickly become one of the leading alternatives.

Biodiesel is considered a renewable eco-friendly resource derived from vegetable oil or animal fats. Once the vegetable oil or animal fat is processed, it becomes a combustible material, like the petroleum-based diesel currently used today in many vehicles. In fact, it is used daily around the world, and is already rapidly becoming the main stay of a lot of family budgets, with ever increasing popularity.

Biodiesel can and is being produced from rapeseed, soybeans, algae, palm oil, hemp, lard, mustard seed-in fact, any vegetable oil source, and yes, even waste vegetable oil, fish oil and animal fats. In fact, the August 2005 edition of National Geographic reported one biodiesel user who got his waste vegetable oil free from a local potato chip shop and spent eight dollars a month to turn it into biodiesel, which as we know is common practice now in many places.

Some of the advantages of biodiesel include:

* Biodiesel is an excellent way to use the vegetable oil and animal fats produced today, solving the hugely potential problem of waste products otherwise disposed of badly and the past problems that caused our environment.

* Biodiesel is biodegradable on land or in water, so naturally safer for all animal and plant life.

* Biodiesel is nontoxic.

* Biodiesel can be safer in accidents because it has a much higher flash point (300° Fahrenheit) than regular diesel or gasoline, and is considered a non-hazardous material.

* Biodiesel is a better solvent, so it cleans engines that have been dirtied and stained by long-term use of regular petroleum diesel.

* Biodiesel can be used right now, in any concentration with current petroleum diesel engines, making the transfer from one to the other very easy. However, older petroleum diesel engines may experience a higher degradation of seals and gaskets which can easily be changes for modern plastic alternatives used today.

* Biodiesel usage dramatically reduces carbon monoxide emissions and carbon dioxide emissions.

* Biodiesel reduces sulphur emissions by 100% (because it does not contain sulphur), which will help contribute to the Kyoto protocol mandate of reducing sulphur emissions.

Proponents say it may replace the fossil fuels used today to power vehicles. But it still has a ways to go:

* Biodiesel just like regular diesel tends to gel at temperatures that are very low, but this can also be rectified with additives.

* Biodiesel is more expensive to produce by the Gas Companies right now than other fuels currently in use (although rising costs in fossil fuel production could outstrip this problem shortly).

* Biodiesel will need a lot of vegetable oil and animal fat to meet the demand, and critics suggest that land use dedicated to filling the need will be astronomical, and largely an inefficient use of land in supporting the demand.

* The EPA reports that American restaurants produce 300,000,000 gallons of waste cooking oil every year, and although biodiesel can be produced from it, in the past it went to producing soaps, etc, but the cost of collecting it has caused Biodieselers to celebrate because a lot of them are happy to collect it for free.

There is a lot of support in the potential of biodiesel eventually helping to replace fossil fuels. In order to generate an accurate calculation on whether it’s a viable alternative or not, there are a lot of things that need to be taken into consideration. Check out my new book ‘The Secrets of Biodiesel’ and really get a handle on this.

Biodiesel commercially, is not cost effective today because it is not produced in such a large-scale. If it were manufactured on a larger scale, it may have a greater effect on price. To use a different example, it costs more-per-car to produce only one or two cars than it costs to produce 10 cars, or a hundred cars, or thousand cars. (This is why Henry Ford is hailed as a genius of the production industry, because he reduced car prices by creating an assembly line). So once the scale of biodiesel is ramped up, the cost will be more effective.

The cost of biodiesel has become very affordable as a way to fuel cars and heat homes of our individual Biodieselers, however, replacing the current processing plants that take oil and turn it into fuel may be so high that it is prohibitive, and asking drivers to switch vehicles or swap engines may not be an alternative for everyone. So clearly, there will need to be a “phasing in” effect in order to increase biodiesel or other bio-fuels, thereby greatly reducing the stranglehold of petroleum-based fuels.

Another factor to consider is the social cost. While many people do have the best intentions in mind to reduce emissions and waste and improve on their use of fossil fuels, people still make decisions based on their own personal impact; how much money and time will they save? There may be lots of people that are concerned about ecology, but there are so many more people concerned about whether they can afford to make the transition. Until biodiesel becomes the cheaper choice, the general public will not make the transition.