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This article is about transesterified plant and animal oils. For alkane
biodiesel, see Biomass to liquid. For unrefined vegetable oil used as motor fuel
(incorrectly referred to as biodiesel), see vegetable oil used as fuel.
Plant oils
Types
Vegetable fats (list)
Essential oil (list)
Macerated (list)
Uses
Drying oil - Oil paint
Cooking oil
Fuel - Biodiesel
Aromatherapy
Components
Saturated fat
Monounsaturated fat
Polyunsaturated fat
Trans fat
Energy Portal
Biodiesel refers to a diesel-equivalent, processed fuel derived from biological
sources. Though derived from biological sources, it is a processed fuel that can
be readily used in diesel-engined vehicles, which distinguishes biodiesel from
the straight vegetable oils (SVO) or waste vegetable oils (WVO) used as fuels in
some modified diesel vehicles.
In this article's context, biodiesel refers to alkyl esters made from the
transesterification of both vegetable oils and/or animal fats. Biodiesel is
biodegradable and non-toxic, and has significantly fewer emissions than
petroleum-based diesel when burned.
There is much debate about the extent to which biodiesel can safely be used in
conventional diesel engines without modification. Using biodiesel in unmodified
engines may lead to problems: since biodiesel is a better solvent than standard
diesel, it 'cleans' the engine, removing deposits in the fuel lines, and thus
may cause blockages in the fuel injectors.
The majority of vehicle manufacturers remain cautious over use of biodiesel. In
the UK most only maintain their engine warranties for use with maximum 5%
biodiesel — blended in with 95% conventional diesel — although this position is
generally considered to be overly cautious. Peugeot and Citröen are an exception
in that they have both recently announced that their HDI diesel engine can run
on 30% biodiesel. Scania is another exception, allowing most of their engines to
operate on 100% biodiesel.
Biodiesel can also be used as a heating fuel in domestic and commercial boilers.
Existing oil boilers may require conversion to run on biodiesel, but the
conversion process is believed to be relatively simple.
Biodiesel can be distributed using today's infrastructure, and its use and
production are increasing rapidly. Fuel stations are beginning to make biodiesel
available to consumers, and a growing number of transport fleets use it as an
additive in their fuel. Biodiesel is generally more expensive to purchase than
petroleum diesel but this differential may diminish due to economies of scale,
the rising cost of petroleum and government tax subsidies.
Contents [hide]
1 Description
2 Technical standards
3 Applications
3.1 Use
3.2 Gelling
3.3 Contamination by water
3.4 Heating applications
4 Availability
5 Production
5.1 Biodiesel feedstock
5.2 Efficiency and economic arguments
5.3 Thermal depolymerization
6 Environmental benefits
7 Environmental concerns
8 Historical background
9 Current research
9.1 Algaculture
10 See also
11 References
11.1 Notes
12 External links
Description
Biodiesel is a light to dark yellow liquid. It is practically immiscible with
water, has a high boiling point and low vapor pressure. Typical methyl ester
biodiesel has a flash point of ~ 150 °C (300 °F), making it rather
non-flammable. Biodiesel has a density of ~ 0.86 g/cm³, less than that of water.
Biodiesel uncontaminated with starting material can be regarded as non-toxic.
Biodiesel has a viscosity similar to petrodiesel, the industry term for diesel
produced from petroleum. It can be used as an additive in formulations of diesel
to increase the lubricity of pure Ultra-Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) fuel, although
care must be taken to ensure that the biodiesel used does not increase the
sulfur content of the mixture above 15 ppm. Much of the world uses a system
known as the "B" factor to state the amount of biodiesel in any fuel mix, in
contrast to the "BA" or "E" system used for ethanol mixes. For example, fuel
containing 20% biodiesel is labeled B20. Pure biodiesel is referred to as B100.
Technical standards
The common international standard for biodiesel is EN 14214.
There are additional national specifications. ASTM D 6751 is the most common
standard referenced in the United States. In Germany, the requirements for
biodiesel is fixed in the DIN EN 14214 standard. There are standards for three
different varieties of biodiesel, which are made of different oils:
RME (rapeseed methyl ester, according to DIN E 51606)
PME (vegetable methyl ester, purely vegetable products, according to DIN E
51606)
FME (fat methyl ester, vegetable and animal products, according to DIN V 51606)
The standards ensure that the following important factors in the fuel production
process are satisfied:
Complete reaction.
Removal of glycerin.
Removal of catalyst.
Removal of alcohol.
Absence of free fatty acids.
Low sulfur content.
Basic industrial tests to determine whether the products conform to the
standards typically include gas chromatography, a test that verifies only the
more important of the variables above. More complete tests are more expensive.
Fuel meeting the quality standards is very non-toxic, with a toxicity rating
(LD50) of greater than 50 mL/kg.
Biodiesel sample
Applications
Biodiesel can be used in pure form (B100) or may be blended with petroleum
diesel at any concentration in most modern diesel engines. Biodiesel will
degrade natural rubber gaskets and hoses in vehicles (mostly found in vehicles
manufactured before 1992), although these tend to wear out naturally and most
likely will have already been replaced with Viton which is nonreactive to
biodiesel. Biodiesel's higher lubricity index compared to petrodiesel is an
advantage and can contribute to longer fuel injector life. Biodiesel is a better
solvent than petrodiesel and has been known to break down deposits of residue in
the fuel lines of vehicles that have previously been run on petrodiesel[citation
needed]. Fuel filters may become clogged with particulates if a quick transition
to pure biodiesel is made, as biodiesel “cleans” the engine in the process. It
is, therefore, recommended to change the fuel filter within 600-800 miles after
first switching to a biodiesel blend.
Use
In warm climates, pure unblended biodiesel can be poured straight into the tank
of any diesel vehicle. Some older diesel engines still have natural rubber parts
which will be affected by biodiesel, but in practice these rubber parts should
have been replaced long ago. Biodiesel has been noted to be linked to premature
injection pump failures.[citation needed] While many vehicles have been using
biodiesel for many years without ill effect, the correlation between several
cases of pump failure and biodiesel cannot be dismissed. Pure biodiesel produced
'at home' is in use by thousands of drivers who have not experienced failure,
however. The fact remains that biodiesel is a very new subject and will carry
some risk until it is fully researched. Biodiesel sold publicly is held to high
standards set by the ASTM.
Gelling
The temperature at which pure (B100) biodiesel starts to gel varies
significantly and depends upon the mix of esters and therefore the feedstock oil
used to produce the biodiesel. For example, biodiesel produced from low erucic
acid varieties of canola seed (RME) starts to gel at approximately -10 °C.
Biodiesel produced from tallow tends to gel at around +16 °C. As of 2006, there
are a very limited number of products that will significantly lower the gel
point of straight biodiesel. One such product, Wintron XC30, has been shown to
reduce the gel point of pure biodiesel fuels. Wintron XC30 is a blend of styrene
copolymer esters in a toluene base. It reduces the tendency of the viscosity of
biodiesel to increase as it is cooled. This is a key step in cold temperature
crystallisation. In this way it acts to decrease both the temperature at which
the crystals formed become large enough to block the pores of a fuel filter
(cold filter plugging point or CFPP) and the lowest temperature at which the
fuel will still flow (pour point). A number of studies have shown that winter
operation is possible with biodiesel blended with other fuel oils including #2
low sulfur diesel fuel and #1 diesel / kerosene. The exact blend depends on the
operating environment: successful operations have run using a 65% LS #2, 30% K
#1, and 5% bio blend. Other areas have run a 70% Low Sulfur #2, 20% Kerosene #1,
and 10% bio blend or an 80% K#1, and 20% biodiesel blend. According to the
National Biodiesel Board (NBB), B20 (20% biodiesel, 80% petrodiesel) does not
need any treatment in addition to what is already taken with petrodiesel.
Contamination by water
Biodiesel, although hydrophobic, may contain small but problematic quantities of
water. Some of the water present is residual to processing, and some comes from
storage tank condensation.
Some information in this article or section has not been verified and may not be
reliable.
Please check for any inaccuracies, and modify and cite sources as needed.
The presence of water is a problem because:
Water reduces the heat of combustion of the bulk fuel. This means more smoke,
harder starting, less power.
Water causes corrosion of vital fuel system components: fuel pumps, injector
pumps, fuel lines, etc.
Water freezes to form ice crystals near 0 °C (32 °F). These crystals provide
sites for nucleation and accelerate the gelling of the residual fuel.
Water accelerates the growth of microbe colonies which can plug up a fuel
system. Biodiesel users who have heated fuel tanks therefore face a year-round
microbe problem.
Previously, the amount of water contaminating biodiesel has been difficult to
measure by taking samples, since water and oil separate. However, it is now
possible to measure the water content using water in oil sensors.
Heating applications
Biodiesel can also be used as a heating fuel in domestic and commercial boilers.
A technical research paper No.7 published in the UK by the institute of plumbing
and heating entitled "Biodiesel Heating, Sustainable Heating for the Future" by
Andrew J. Robertson describes laboratory research and field trials project using
pure biodiesel and biodiesel blends as a heating fuel in oil fired boilers.
During the Biodiesel Expo 2006 in the UK, Andrew J. Robertson presented his
biodiesel heating oil research from his technical paper and suggested that B20
biodiesel could reduce UK household CO2 emissions by 1.5 million tonnes per year
and would only require around 330,000 hectares of arable land for the required
biodiesel for the UK heating oil sector. The paper also suggests that existing
oil boilers can easily and cheaply be converted to biodiesel if B20 biodiesel is
used.
Availability
For more details on this topic, see Biodiesel around the World.
Production
This section does not cite its references or sources.
Please help improve this article by introducing appropriate citations. (help,
get involved!) This article has been tagged since November 2006.
Main article: Biodiesel production
Chemically, transesterified biodiesel comprises a mix of mono-alkyl esters of
long chain fatty acids. The most common form uses methanol to produce methyl
esters as it is the cheapest alcohol available, though ethanol can be used to
produce an ethyl ester biodiesel and higher alcohols such as isopropanol and
butanol have also been used. Using alcohols of higher molecular weights improves
the cold flow properties of the resulting ester, at the cost of a less efficient
transesterification reaction. A byproduct of the transesterification process is
the production of glycerol. A lipid transesterification production process is
used to convert the base oil to the desired esters. Any Free fatty acids (FFAs)
in the base oil are either converted to soap and removed from the process, or
they are esterified (yielding more biodiesel) using an acidic catalyst. After
this processing, unlike straight vegetable oil, biodiesel has combustion
properties very similar to those of petroleum diesel, and can replace it in most
current uses.
Biodiesel feedstock
Soybeans are used as a source of biodieselA variety of oils can be used to
produce biodiesel. These include:
Virgin oil feedstock; rapeseed and soybean oils are most commonly used, though
other crops such as mustard, palm oil, hemp, jatropha, and even algae show
promise (see List of vegetable oils for a more complete list);
Waste vegetable oil (WVO);
Animal fats including tallow, lard, yellow grease, and the by-products of the
production of Omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil.
Sewage. A company in New Zealand have successfully developed a system for using
sewage waste as a substrate for algae and then producing bio-diesel.
Thermal depolymerization is an important new process that reduces almost any
hyrodcarbon based feedstock, including non oil based feedstocks, into light
crude oil.
Worldwide production of vegetable oil and animal fat is not yet sufficient to
replace liquid fossil fuel use. Furthermore, some environmental groups object to
the vast amount of farming and the resulting over-fertilization, pesticide use,
and land use conversion that they say would be needed to produce the additional
vegetable oil.
Many advocates suggest that waste vegetable oil is the best source of oil to
produce biodiesel. However, the available supply is drastically less than the
amount of petroleum-based fuel that is burned for transportation and home
heating in the world. According to the United States Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA), restaurants in the US produce about 300 million US gallons
(1,000,000 m³) of waste cooking oil annually.[1] Although it is economically
profitable to use WVO to produce biodiesel, it is even more profitable to
convert WVO into other products such as soap. Therefore, most WVO that is not
dumped into landfills is used for these other purposes. Animal fats are
similarly limited in supply, and it would not be efficient to raise animals
simply for their fat. However, producing biodiesel with animal fat that would
have otherwise been discarded could replace a small percentage of petroleum
diesel usage.
The estimated transportation fuel and home heating oil used in the United States
is about 230 billion US gallons (0.87 km³) (Briggs, 2004). Waste vegetable oil
and animal fats would not be enough to meet this demand. In the United States,
estimated production of vegetable oil for all uses is about 24 billion pounds
(11 million tons) or 3 billion US gallons (0.011 km³), and estimated production
of animal fat is 12 billion pounds (5.3 million tons). (Van Gerpen, 2004)
Biodiesel feedstock plants utilize photosynthesis to convert solar energy into
chemical energy. The stored chemical energy is released when it is burned,
therefore plants can offer a sustainable oil source for biodiesel production.
Most of the carbon dioxide emitted when burning biodiesel is simply recycling
that which was absorbed during plant growth, so the net production of greenhouse
gasses is small.
Feedstock yield efficiency per acre affects the feasibility of ramping up
production to the huge industrial levels required to power a signifcant
percentage of national or world vehicles. The highest yield feedstock for
biodiesel is algae, which can produce 250 times the amount of oil per acre as
soybeans.[2].
Feedstock US Gallons/acre Litres/hectare
Soybean 40 375
Rapeseed 110 1,000
Mustard 140 1,300
Jatropha 175 1,590
Palm oil 650 5,800
Algae 10,000 95,000
Efficiency and economic arguments
According to a study written by Drs. Van Dyne and Raymer for the Tennessee
Valley Authority, the average US farm consumes fuel at the rate of 82 liters per
hectare (8.75 US gallons per acre) of land to produce one crop. However, average
crops of rapeseed produce oil at an average rate of 1,029 L/ha (110 US
gal/acre), and high-yield rapeseed fields produce about 1,356 L/ha (145 US
gal/acre). The ratio of input to output in these cases is roughly 1:12.5 and
1:16.5. Photosynthesis is known to have an efficiency rate of about 16% and if
the entire mass of a crop is utilized for energy production, the overall
efficiency of this chain is known to be about 1%. This does not compare
favorably to solar cells combined with an electric drive train. Biodiesel
out-competes solar cells in cost and ease of deployment. However, these
statistics by themselves are not enough to show whether such a change makes
economic sense. Additional factors must be taken into account, such as: the fuel
equivalent of the energy required for processing, the yield of fuel from raw
oil, the return on cultivating food, and the relative cost of biodiesel versus
petrodiesel. A 1998 joint study by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) traced many of the various costs involved
in the production of biodiesel and found that overall, it yields 3.2 units of
fuel product energy for every unit of fossil fuel energy consumed. [3] That
measure is referred to as the energy yield. A comparison to petroleum diesel,
petroleum gasoline and bioethanol using the USDA numbers can be found at the
Minnesota Department of Agriculture website[4] In the comparison petroleum
diesel fuel is found to have a 0.843 energy yield, along with 0.805 for
petroleum gasoline, and 1.34 for bioethanol. The 1998 study used soybean oil
primarily as the base oil to calculate the energy yields. Furthermore, due to
the higher energy density of biodiesel, combined with the higher efficiency of
the diesel engine, a gallon of biodiesel produces the effective energy of 2.25
gallons of ethanol.[5] Also, higher oil yielding crops could increase the energy
yield of biodiesel.
The debate over the energy balance of biodiesel is ongoing, however.
Transitioning fully to biofuels could require immense tracts of land if
traditional crops are used. The problem is especially severe for nations with
large economies, since energy consumption scales with economic output.[6] If
using only traditional plants, most such nations do not have sufficient arable
land to produce biofuel for the nation's vehicles. Nations with smaller
economies (hence less energy consumption) and more arable land may be in better
situations, although many regions cannot afford to divert land away from food
production. For third world countries, biodiesel sources that use marginal land
could make more sense, e.g. honge oil nuts [7] grown along roads or jatropha
grown along rail lines. More recent studies using a species of algae with up to
50% oil content have concluded that only 28,000 km² or 0.3% of the land area of
the US could be utilized to produce enough biodiesel to replace all
transportation fuel the country currently utilizes. Furthermore, otherwise
unused desert land (which receives high solar radiation) could be most effective
for growing the algae, and the algae could utilize farm waste and excess CO2
from factories to help speed the growth of the algae. [8] The direct source of
the energy content of biodiesel is solar energy captured by plants during
photosynthesis. The website biodiesel.co.uk[9]discusses the positive energy
balance of biodiesel:
When straw was left in the field, biodiesel production was strongly energy
positive, yielding 1 GJ biodiesel for every 0.561 GJ of energy input (a
yield/cost ratio of 1.78).
When straw was burned as fuel and oilseed rapemeal was used as a fertilizer, the
yield/cost ratio for biodiesel production was even better (3.71). In other
words, for every unit of energy input to produce biodiesel, the output was 3.71
units (the difference of 2.71 units would be from solar energy).
Biodiesel is becoming of interest to companies interested in commercial scale
production as well as the more usual home brew biodiesel user and the user of
straight vegetable oil or waste vegetable oil in diesel engines. Homemade
biodiesel processors are many and varied. The success of biodiesel homebrewing,
and micro-economy-of-scale operations, continues to shatter the conventional
business myth that large economy-of-scale operations are the most efficient and
profitable. It is becoming increasingly apparent that small-scale, localized,
low-impact energy keeps more resources and revenue within communities, reduces
damage to the environment, and requires less waste management.
Thermal depolymerization
Main article: Thermal depolymerization
Thermal depolymerization (TDP) is an important new process for the reduction of
complex organic materials into light crude oil. These materials may include non
oil-based waste products, such as old tyres, offal, wood and plastic. The
process mimics the natural geological processes thought to be involved in the
production of fossil fuels. Under pressure and heat, long chain polymers of
hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon decompose into short-chain petroleum hydrocarbons.
Conversion efficiencies can be very high: Working with turkey offal as the
feedstock, the process proved to have yield efficiencies of approximately 85%.
That is, the end products contained 85% of the energy contained in the inputs to
the process - most notably the energy content of the feedstock, but also
accounting for electricity for pumps and natural gas for heating.
It has been estimated that in the United States, agricultural waste alone could
be used to produce 3.7 billion barrels of oil per year. The USA currently
consumes 7.5 billion barrels of oil per year.
Environmental benefits
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Environmental benefits in comparison to petroleum based fuels include:
Biodiesel reduces emissions of carbon monoxide (CO) by approximately 50% and
carbon dioxide by 78% on a net lifecycle basis because the carbon in biodiesel
emissions is recycled from carbon that was already in the atmosphere, rather
than being new carbon from petroleum that was sequestered in the earth's crust.
(Sheehan, 1998)
Biodiesel contains fewer aromatic hydrocarbons: benzofluoranthene: 56%
reduction; Benzopyrenes: 71% reduction.[citation needed]
Biodiesel can reduce by as much as 20% the direct (tailpipe) emission of
particulates, small particles of solid combustion products, on vehicles with
particulate filters, compared with low-sulfur (<50 ppm) diesel. Particulate
emissions as the result of production are reduced by around 50%, compared with
fossil-sourced diesel. (Beer et al, 2004).
Biodiesel produces between 10% and 25% more nitrogen oxide NOx
tailpipe-emissions than petrodiesel. As biodiesel has a low sulphur content, NOx
emissions can be reduced through the use of catalytic converters to less than
the NOx emissions from conventional diesel engines. Nonetheless, the NOx
tailpipe emissions of biodiesel after the use of a catalytic converter will
remain greater than the equivalent emissions from petrodiesel. As biodiesel
contains no nitrogen, the increase in NOx emissions may be due to the higher
cetane rating of biodiesel and higher oxygen content, which allows it to convert
nitrogen from the atmosphere into NOx more rapidly. Debate continues over NOx
emissions. In February 2006 a Navy biodiesel expert claimed NOx emissions in
practice were actually lower than baseline. Further research is needed.
Biodiesel has higher cetane rating than petrodiesel, which is insignificant in
terms of emissions and performance.
Biodiesel is biodegradable and non-toxic - the U.S. Department of Energy
confirms that biodiesel is less toxic than table salt and biodegrades as quickly
as sugar. (See Biodiesel handling and use guidelines)
In the United States, biodiesel is the only alternative fuel to have
successfully completed the Health Effects Testing requirements (Tier I and Tier
II) of the Clean Air Act (1990).
Since biodiesel is more often used in a blend with petroleum diesel, there are
fewer formal studies about the effects on pure biodiesel in unmodified engines
and vehicles in day-to-day use. Fuel meeting the standards and engine parts that
can withstand the greater solvent properties of biodiesel is expected to--and in
reported cases does--run without any additional problems than the use of
petroleum diesel.
The flash point of biodiesel (>150 °C) is significantly higher than that of
petroleum diesel (64 °C) or gasoline (−45 °C). The gel point of biodiesel varies
depending on the proportion of different types of esters contained. However,
most biodiesel, including that made from soybean oil, has a somewhat higher gel
and cloud point than petroleum diesel. In practice this often requires the
heating of storage tanks, especially in cooler climates.
Pure biodiesel (B100) can be used in any petroleum diesel engine, though it is
more commonly used in lower concentrations. Some areas have mandated ultra-low
sulfur petrodiesel, which reduces the natural viscosity and lubricity of the
fuel due to the removal of sulfur and certain other materials. Additives are
required to make ULSD properly flow in engines, making biodiesel one popular
alternative. Ranges as low as 2% (B2) have been shown to restore lubricity. Many
municipalities have started using 5% biodiesel (B5) in snow-removal equipment
and other systems.
Environmental concerns
Where the oil-producing plants are grown is of increasing concern to
environmentalists, one of the prime worries being that countries will clear cut
large areas of forest in order to grow such crops. This has already occurred in
the Philippines and Indonesia, and both of these countries plan to increase
their biodiesel production levels, which will lead to the deforestation of tens
of millions of acres if these plans materialize.[1]
The Levington Agricultural report [2]highlights in section 4.6 that the use of
biodiesel has an energy footprint 25 times bigger than the use of Pure Plant Oil
(PPO) in suitably modified engines.
The Union of Concerned Scientists writes: "When it comes to buying a new car,
gasoline-powered models are better than diesels on toxic soot and smog-forming
emissions. The downside to current diesels is that they produce 10 to 20 times
more toxic particulates than their gasoline counterparts, more than can be made
up for with the use of biodiesel. Diesels fare even worse when it comes to
smog-forming nitrogen oxide emissions, with greater than 20 times the emissions
of a comparable gasoline vehicle." [10]
An indepth look at some of the worrying problems with the pursuit of biodiesel
can be found at Biofuelwatch,[3]a leading watch dog for the unsustainable growth
in the biodiesel international market.
Historical background
Transesterification of a vegetable oil was conducted as early as 1853, by
scientists E. Duffy and J. Patrick, many years before the first diesel engine
became functional. Rudolf Diesel's prime model, a single 10 ft (3 m) iron
cylinder with a flywheel at its base, ran on its own power for the first time in
Augsburg, Germany on August 10, 1893. In remembrance of this event, August 10
has been declared International Biodiesel Day. Diesel later demonstrated his
engine and received the "Grand Prix" (highest prize) at the World Fair in Paris,
France in 1900. This engine stood as an example of Diesel's vision because it
was powered by peanut oil—a biofuel, though not strictly biodiesel, since it was
not transesterified. He believed that the utilization of a biomass fuel was the
real future of his engine. In a 1912 speech, Rudolf Diesel said "the use of
vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today, but such oils may
become, in the course of time, as important as petroleum and the coal-tar
products of the present time." [4]
During the 1920s diesel engine manufacturers altered their engines to utilize
the lower viscosity of the fossil fuel (petrodiesel) rather than vegetable oil,
a biomass fuel. The petroleum industries were able to make inroads in fuel
markets because their fuel was much cheaper to produce than the biomass
alternatives. The result was, for many years, a near elimination of the biomass
fuel production infrastructure. Only recently have environmental impact concerns
and a decreasing cost differential made biomass fuels such as biodiesel a
growing alternative.
Research into the use of trans-esterified sunflower oil and refining it to
diesel fuel standard was initiated in South Africa in 1979. By 1983 the process
to produce fuel quality engine-tested bio-diesel was completed and published
internationally (SAE Technical Paper series no. 831356. SAE International Off
Highway Meeting, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, 1983). An Austrian Company, Gaskoks,
obtained the technology from the South African Agricultural Engineers, put up
the first pilot plant for bio-diesel in November 1987 and the erection of the
first industrial bio-diesel plant on 12 April 1989, with a capacity of 30 000
tons of rapeseed per annum. Throughout the 1990s, plants were opened in many
European countries, including the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Sweden. At
the same time, nations in other parts of world also saw local production of
biodiesel starting up and by 1998, the Austrian Biofuels Institute identified 21
countries with commercial biodiesel projects.
In the 1990s, France launched the local production of biodiesel fuel (known
locally as diester) obtained by the transesterification of rapeseed oil. It is
mixed to the proportion of 5% into regular diesel fuel, and to the proportion of
30% into the diesel fuel used by some captive fleets (public transportation).
Renault, Peugeot, and other manufacturers have certified truck engines for use
with up to this partial biodiesel level. Experiments with 50% biodiesel are
underway.
In September of 2005 Minnesota became the first state to require that all diesel
fuel sold in that state contain part biodiesel. The Minnesota law requires at
least 2% biodiesel in all diesel fuel sold.[5]
Current research
There is ongoing research into finding more suitable crops and improving oil
yield. Using the current yields, vast amounts of land and fresh water would be
needed to produce enough oil to completely replace fossil fuel usage. It would
require twice the land area of the US to be devoted to soybean production, or
two-thirds to be devoted to rapeseed production, to meet current US heating and
transportation needs.
Specially bred mustard varieties can produce reasonably high oil yields, and
have the added benefit that the meal leftover after the oil has been pressed out
can act as an effective and biodegradable pesticide.
Algaculture
Main article: algaculture
From 1978 to 1996, the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory experimented
with using algae as a biodiesel source in the "Aquatic Species Program".[6] A
recent paper from Michael Briggs, at the UNH Biodiesel Group, offers estimates
for the realistic replacement of all vehicular fuel with biodiesel by utilizing
algae that have a natural oil content greater than 50%, which Briggs suggests
can be grown on algae ponds at wastewater treatment plants. [7] This oil-rich
algae can then be extracted from the system and processed into biodiesel, with
the dried remainder further reprocessed to create ethanol.
The production of algae to harvest oil for biodiesel has not yet been undertaken
on a commercial scale, but feasibility studies have been conducted to arrive at
the above yield estimate. In addition to its projected high yield, algaculture —
unlike crop-based biofuels — does not entail a decrease in food production,
since it requires neither farmland nor fresh water.
On May 11, 2006 the Aquaflow Bionomic Corporation in Marlborough, New Zealand
announced that it had produced its first sample of bio-diesel fuel made from
algae found in sewage ponds.[8] Unlike previous attempts, the algae was
naturally grown in pond discharge from the Marlborough District Council's sewage
treatment works. In November 2006, a commercial-scale project was announced in
South Africa. Using American-made, closed bioreactors, it is expected to produce
900 millions gallons a year (58 thousand barrels a day) of biodiesel within a
couple of years. [9]
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