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The use of plant oil as fuel may seem insignificant today.

But such products can in time become just as important as kerosene and these coal-tar-products of today...Rudolf Diesel, 1912.

BiodieselBooklet.co.uk
Making biodiesel safely

Advantages of Biodiesel
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The advantages of using biodiesel over regular petro-diesel are not solely limited to the cheaper cost of the fuel if home made. They extend to reduced engine wear and environmental issues to name but a few.

Performance

Biodiesel is the only alternative fuel that can used in any conventional, unmodified diesel engine. It can be used alone or mixed in any ratio with petro-diesel, the most common blend being 20% biodiesel and 80% petro-diesel. Biodiesel is a lubricant and reduces wear and tear on engine parts, even at low mix levels. It is also a solvent and helps keep systems clean. Studies show that using biodiesel reduces long term engine wear to less than half of those engines running on regular diesel. However, poor quality biodiesel can cause engine problems. Faster starting and smoother operation should reduce the amount of unburned fuel. Biodiesel performs just as well as regular diesel, with fuel consumption, auto ignition, power output, and engine torque being relatively unaffected by its use. A DOE test in 1998 confirmed that using low blends of biodiesel provided increased fuel economy, and lab and road tests have proven that biodiesel fuels have the same horsepower and torque as regular diesel engines. Biodiesel can be substituted for regular diesel fuel in most diesel vehicles. Modern engines use synthetic rubber hoses and system components, eliminating the need to convert diesel engines for biodiesel (B20 blends of biodiesel minimize these types of problems). Some vehicle manufacturers provide information about compliance and warranty issues related to fuel conversion. Regulations now require diesel engines to have lower sulfur emissions, making biodiesel blends more attractive as a practical fuel. Biodiesel also offers a higher cetane ignition rating, meaning there is less engine noise pollution.

The Environment

Pure biodiesel provides over 90% reduction in unburned hydrocarbons and a 75-90% reduction in aromatic hydrocarbons - exhaust odor is replaced by a smell of popcorn or chips. It results in an almost total reduction in sulphur dioxide (which causes acid rain), a 40-60% reduction in soot particles, an 80% reduction in carbon dioxide emission, a 1015% reduction in carbon monoxide emissions, and a reduction in Poly Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) - many of these hydrocarbons are cancer causing and ozoneforming. It also burns cleaner and produces less smoke (any smoke produced is white instead of black). Biodiesel is the only alternative fuel to have completed the health effects testing requirements of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. Biodiesel doesn't interfere with the carbon cycle or cause climate change. The vegetables from which the oil is extracted removed carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to grow and when biodiesel is burned that CO2 is simply released back into the atmosphere. (Although perhaps the same can be said for fossil fuels considering they were once vegetation too, but it will be a long time before those are restocked!) If biodiesel enters a watercourse it may still harm aquatic and marine life in that animals coated in oil are more vulnerable to predators and could die form hypothermia or illness. However, biodiesel bio-degrades almost fully in three weeks, by which time only 50% of regular diesel degrades. Large scale spillage of biodiesel would cause temporary deoxygenation of water, but this is still significantly less damaging than an equivalent regular diesel spill. As well as having fewer noxious emissions than petrodiesel when burned, it is also nontoxic, harmless to handle and smells and feels like cooking oil. Perhaps the biggest advantage of all is biodiesel's sustainability. Some forecasts predict that regualar oil supplies will be exhausted within 60 years, or sooner with a growth of 2% per annum. Biodiesel is a renewable fuel, the oild for which can come from oil seed, sunflowers, and algae to name a few. Biodiesel made from waste vegetable oil takes nothing from the foodchain and does not add to world poverty. It is simply a waste product that is being recycled into an environmentally friendly fuel instead of being poured away into drains that may eventually block.

Safety

Biodiesel is relatively safe to handle and transport. It is as biodegradable as sugar and far less toxic than regular table salt. It has a higher flash point (about 160C) and so is less flammable than regular diesel, making it safer to store.
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Biodiesel Myths & Facts Making Biodiesel Biodiesel from SVO Biodiesel from WVO Advancing to Ethanol Health & Safety Biodiesel Processors Biodiesel Advantages Biodiesel Limitations Rudolf Diesel

www.biodieselbooklet.co.uk 2008-2012

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