Posts Tagged ‘Vegetable Oil’

The Pro’s and Con’s of Biodiesel

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009
roosterbob asked:


Back then, we failed to realize the implications of our actions or the repercussions of a developed society highly dependent on petroleum and incessantly slave to the dictates of the mighty oil barons.

When automated vehicles were first introduced to the world, could anyone have anticipated the vast impact it will have to the economy? Who would have thought that combustion engines would turn out and be the backbone of today’s society? Decades ago, this idea seemed to be too great to fathom. However, its environmental impact was then, not recognized probably because of lack of foresight.



Biodiesel: Pros


•    Right here and now, what we have is biodiesel. This is an alternative for petroleum-based fuel that boasts a cleaner burn as compared to its expensive and environmentally unsound counterparts.

•    Biodiesel is a  renewable fuel source that stems from various resources including vegetable, canola, palm, and soybean oils.

•    In addition, this fuel releases far less nitrogen oxide, carbon monoxide, and unburned hydrocarbons. And since biodiesel processors convert vegetable oil, it is biodegradable and non-toxic. Do not forget the absence of sulfur products as oppose to petro-diesel. Given this lack of sulfur, biodiesel still possesses the required viscosity to fully lubricate diesel engines, which cannot be easily arrived at when dealing with low-sulfur petroleum products.

•    With the proper biodiesel equipment, the fuel output can be used in almost all diesel engines with modifications that are considered discretionary. Also, having a renewable fuel source will moderate our reliance on foreign oil corporations, or dare we say, the Middle East oil tycoons. If local farmers produce the needed raw material for our biodeisel, then we do not need to import oil because we can manufacture it ourselves, right?



Biodiesel: Cons


•    The fuel generated by biodiesel processors is an inherent solvent; meaning, sooner or later it will trigger the deterioration of various rubber components such as hoses and pumps. Though this can be easily replaced by visiting your local dealer. Sometimes extra tubing is included in a biodiesel expansion pack. This package is ideal if you plan to make batches and batches of biodiesel.

•    Also, this solvent characteristic will clean the injectors and the tank, as well as the fuel lines; the downside is that, blockage is inevitable. But this is not a reason to be worried. Just prepare yourself to a frequent filter change for the first couple tanks of biodiesel.

•    As for the gel point, biodiesel posts higher than that of its petroleum equivalent. This connotes that the former coagulates faster. But, this too, can be resolved by using an anti-gel additive.

•    The last issue lies on the recent introduction of biodiesel. This is fairly new and consumers may have a hard time locating biodiesel processors and kits. Well, a quick search in the World Wide Web is the solution for this one.

Whether you prefer it straight up or mixed (20% biodiesel to 80% petroleum diesel), so long as nature is unscathed, then it is all good. This alternative could be one of man’s greatest achievements. Though this time around, we need to take the time to become aware of its pluses and minuses, including the ideal method of generating, regulating, and utilizing this precious liquid we call biodiesel.



3 Future Resources for Biodiesel

Sunday, November 30th, 2008
drohilm asked:


Biodiesel – the fuel of the future is still not a practicable fuel like other resources. The reason for that is that we still unable to produce enough vegetable oil to produce the amount of fuel required. As you already read some article about biodiesel (and if you didn?’t – start now biodiesel) you probably knows that already.

Bio diesel and biofuels in general, don’t only raise concerns about the production capacity but also originated fear about the possibility that we will found ourselves with a nutrition shortage, if we will use our crops for fuel instead of food.

Here I present 3 future alternatives for biodiesel source:

Algae – one of the most promising sources for renewable energy is unicellular algae. algae is a primitive photosynthetic creature that can efficiently convert carbon dioxide to sugars and fats, Since it is easy to grow and harvest it, and its growth rate is very high, It promises a great foundation for developing a biodiesel factory that can produce an enormous amount of biofuel with low cost, and without jeopardising our food supply.

Another promising source of renewable energy is agriculture waste! a vast amount of organic waste is being produced all the time. We use to throw this waste away since we are unable to reuse it, because it is mostly made of cellulose which is hard to break with normal means. But there are bacteria which are able to digest and bread cellulose easily. Most of these bacteria live in symbiosis with cellulose eating animals like cows or termites. Scientists are now works on a way to use these germs to digest agriculture waste and use it for biofuel production.

Third, the future of biofuels might be held in the hands of genetic engineers. The major advances in the fields of genetic manipulation of plants, promises the ability to manipulate plants and bacteria in the future to produce much more oil, in a more efficient way, to solve the insufficient production of the present.

If you are a green energy enthusiast like me, you’ll soon find out that biofuels are probably will be the renewable resource of the near future, and some of the ideas proposed here might make it happen soon.



Making Biodiesel: Why is it your Best Option?

Monday, October 6th, 2008
M. Markella asked:


You have a lot of options if you want to use alternative bio-fuels to run a diesel engine. You can use only vegetable oils by making some modifications to your diesel engine, or you can use a mix of vegetable oils and other original diesel fuels like petroleum or kerosene. But the best by far option, is to convert fresh or used vegetable oils or even animal fat to biodiesel. This is your best, clean, healthy and environment-friendly option. Let’s cover some of the basics of making biodiesel.

First of all, you don’t have to be involved in the process of making biodiesel. You can just buy biodiesel. You can use it in any diesel engine without any modifications or conversions to the fuel system. There are thousand of biodiesel filling stations in Europe and the United States and their number increases every year. Some countries even mix their original diesel fuels with a small percentage of biodiesel.

If you can’t find any of this alternative bio-fuel then it’s time to start making your own biodiesel. the feeling of freedom you’ll get making your own fuel is just great!

There are a lot of ways and recipes to make your own biodiesel. Some people claim that there are great dangers and risks involved in the process of making biodiesel but the fact is that nobody has yet hurt themselves or anyone else. It’s a safe process, if you’re careful and sensible. Surely you deal with chemicals but these are just common household chemicals sold in every supermarket.

So, if you want to start making biodiesel here are some tips:

- Start with fresh quality vegetable oil. Don’t use used wasted vegetable oil, yet!

- Start by performing lots of tests with small portions of each ingredient. Don’t go for making a tone of Biodiesel, yet!

- Make small steps, learn everything you can about the ingredients you use, about biodiesel in general, about alternative sources of energy and bio-fuels. Learn one step at a time.

Just do it! Thousands of people are already making their own homebrewed biodiesel. If they can do it, you can too.