Biodiesel fuel stations - Bio diesel garages and information

Information about Biodiesel

Biodiesel and Biodiesel around the world

Biodiesel is the most common biofuel in Europe. It is produced from oils or fats using transesterification and is a liquid similar in composition to fossil/mineral diesel. Its chemical name is fatty acid methyl (or ethyl) ester (FAME). Oils are mixed with sodium hydroxide and methanol (or ethanol) and the chemical reaction produces biodiesel (FAME) and glycerol. One part glycerol is produced for every 10 parts biodiesel. Feedstocks for biodiesel include animal fats, vegetable oils, soy, rapeseed, jatropha, mahua, mustard, flax, sunflower, palm oil, hemp, field pennycress, pongamia pinnata and algae. Pure biodiesel (B100) is by far the lowest emission diesel fuel. Although liquefied petroleum gas and hydrogen have cleaner combustion, they are used to fuel much less efficient petrol engines and are not as widely available.

Biodiesel can be used in any diesel engine when mixed with mineral diesel. The majority of vehicle manufacturers limit their recommendations to 15% biodiesel blended with mineral diesel. In some countries manufacturers cover their diesel engines under warranty for B100 use, although Volkswagen of Germany, for example, asks drivers to check by telephone with the VW environmental services department before switching to B100. B100 may become more viscous at lower temperatures, depending on the feedstock used, requiring vehicles to have fuel line heaters. In most cases, biodiesel is compatible with diesel engines from 1994 onwards, which use 'Viton' (by DuPont) synthetic rubber in their mechanical injection systems. Electronically controlled 'common rail' and 'pump duse' type systems from the late 1990s onwards may only use biodiesel blended with conventional diesel fuel. These engines have finely metered and atomized multi-stage injection systems are very sensitive to the viscosity of the fuel. Many current generation diesel engines are made so that they can run on B100 without altering the engine itself, although this depends on the fuel rail design. NExBTL is suitable for all diesel engines in the world since it overperforms DIN EN 590 standards.

Since biodiesel is an effective solvent and cleans residues deposited by mineral diesel, engine filters may need to be replaced more often, as the biofuel dissolves old deposits in the fuel tank and pipes. It also effectively cleans the engine combustion chamber of carbon deposits, helping to maintain efficiency. In many European countries, a 5% biodiesel blend is widely used and is available at thousands of gas stations.[13][14] Biodiesel is also an oxygenated fuel, meaning that it contains a reduced amount of carbon and higher hydrogen and oxygen content than fossil diesel. This improves the combustion of fossil diesel and reduces the particulate emissions from un-burnt carbon.

In the USA, more than 80% of commercial trucks and city buses run on diesel. The emerging US biodiesel market is estimated to have grown 200% from 2004 to 2005. "By the end of 2006 biodiesel production was estimated to increase fourfold [from 2004] to more than 1 billion gallons,"

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Biodiesel feedstocks

Soybeans are used as a source of biodiesel

Plant oils

Olive oil

Types

Vegetable fats (list)

Macerated (list)

Uses

Drying oil - Oil paint

Cooking oil

Fuel - Biodiesel

Components

Saturated fat

Monounsaturated fat

Polyunsaturated fat

Trans fat

A variety of oils can be used to produce biodiesel. These include:

Virgin oil feedstock; rapeseed and soybean oils are most commonly used, soybean oil alone accounting for about ninety percent of all fuel stocks in the US. It also can be obtained from field pennycress and Jatropha other crops such as mustard, flax, sunflower, palm oil, hemp (see List of vegetable oils for a more complete list);
Waste vegetable oil (WVO);
Animal fats including tallow, lard, yellow grease, chicken fat,[37] and the by-products of the production of Omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil.
Algae, which can be grown using waste materials such as sewage[38] and without displacing land currently used for food production.
Oil from halophytes such as salicornia bigelovii, which can be grown using saltwater in coastal areas where conventional crops cannot be grown, with yields equal to the yields of soybeans and other oilseeds grown using freshwater irrigation[39]

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Make your own Biodiesel

Anybody can make biodiesel. It's easy, you can make it in your kitchen -- and it's BETTER than the petro-diesel fuel the big oil companies sell you. Your diesel motor will run better and last longer on your home-made fuel, and it's much cleaner -- better for the environment and better for health. If you make it from used oil it's not only cheap but you'll be recycling a troublesome waste product. Best of all is the GREAT feeling of freedom, independence and empowerment it will give you.

http://www.journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html

If you're clever enough make biodiesel yourself, you have to declare the fact and take the full hit of road fuel duty on it.

Pure Plant Oil PPO

Pure Plant Oil (PPO) is often confused with what has become termed biodiesel. Biodiesel is essentially chemically processed vegetable oil. PPO, as the name suggests, is just pure plant oil without any chemical processing – it is produced literally by crushing seeds and filtering the oil. The fact that no chemical processing needs to take place means the fuel has a very low energy footprint – or in plain English is better for the environment.

Straight Veg Oil Conversion SVO

In August 2003, Daniel Blackburn set out to drive from Land’s End to John O’ Groats - but instead of filling up his car with diesel at petrol stations, he’ll be buying vegetable oil at ordinary shops and using that instead. Vegetable oil, taken from plants such as rape, sunflower, linseed and hemp, is carbon neutral. This means that the carbon dioxide released in combustion is re-absorbed from the atmosphere when the crop is grown again. Mr. Blackburn said: “Many people do not know that vegetable oil is a better fuel than diesel for car performance and it is perfectly legal if you pay duty on the cooking oil. Being from a farm I also know how farming needs new ideas to survive. If vegetable oil becomes a fuel for the future, farmers and rural economies could, for a change, benefit from the results of our nation’s addiction to motoring.”

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