How Can I Benefit from BioDiesel?

By Steve Dolan

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.

Biodeisel Fuel As An Alternative Fuel Source

SUMMARY: Making biodiesel fuel from home using biodiesel kit is gaining popularity for motorists because it is readily available even online.

Biodiesel fuel as an alternative fuel source, is produced mainly from vegetable oils. Making biodiesel fuel from home using biodiesel kit is gaining popularity for motorists because it is readily available even online. To give a very brief idea how it is produced, the recycled vegetable oil goes through a biodiesel processor and within hours, you will have home made biodiesel fuel for your diesel engine vehicle. Biodiesel fuel is so flexible because it can be produced from pure vegetable oils, waste vegetable oils or byproducts from animal fats like lard and tallow. But the commercial preference is towards waste vegetable oil. Waste oil vegetable is the preferred choice of the majority because it is most economical and best source to recycle, to produce biodiesel fuel.

Biodiesel fuel is produced chemically by altering the vegetable oil through a "thinning" process. What this process does is it "thins" down or dilutes the oil to a level where it can be used in any diesel engine that is unmodified. And since it has passed all of the safety requirements set by the EPA, Biodiesel fuel can be used right away in almost every car without any special modifications. Compared to other alternative fuels which require special modifications to the car's engine, biodiesel does not need any specialized gadget. It can be used right away

In actual fact, biodiesel fuel is nothing new. It is old news. The recent revival is largely due to the surge in crude oil prices and motorists have been feeling the pinch in their pockets as they have to pay more for regular gasoline. The days of pre $30 or even pre $40 crude oil price may never materialize again because the demand for oil on a global scale is increasing each day, unlike 10 years ago. Currently, crude oil is trending at $60 level. Experts are predicting that oil well may dry up in the near future if no new oil wells are discovered. If this is the scenario, there will be an oil crisis. Whether this is propaganda or fact, gasoline at current price is still too expensive

The next logical solution is alternative energy fuel like ethanol E85 or biodiesel fuel. Besides being cheaper to regular gasoline, biodiesel fuel is a clean burning fuel and research has shown that it does reduce the carbon dioxide emissions significantly compared to gasoline vehicles. Biodiesel fuel is biodegradable non-toxic renewable, essentially free of sulfur and it environmentally friendly.

By Eric Tan