Biodiesel: The Fuel for today

With the high cost of gasoline around the country, and the fact it is constantly climbing with no view of stabilizing, the world needs to start looking at alternative fuels. During this phase of the economy its a good investment. One of the alternative fuels that has started to become popular is called “Biodiesel”. A fuel that is run on vegetable oils. Biodiesel engines can be created or converted from petroleum diesel engines easily and cost-effectively. Biodiesel comes from renewable plant resources such as the oils from vegetables, soy, beans, canola, rape seeds, hemp seeds, and various grains. Through the process of transesterification, a chemical modifical of ordinary vegetable oil, creates a fuel that meets the high industry standards for usage in diesel engines that prevents it from solidifying at colder temperatures. You can get various biodiesels already at the pumps that might be labelled “biodiesel” but in reality are mixed with petroleum and its biodiesel content could be as low as only 5%. These are labelled B5, B20, B50, and B100 to show the mix composition. SVO - Straight vegetable oil is that which has not yet been optimized through transesterification for use in diesel engines - but suffers from freezing and solidifying easier in colder temperatures - needing some source to preheat it before starting the engine. You can use cooking oil straight from the bottle (expensive) or use WVO - Waste vegetable oil, usually for free, from fast food restaurants that usually dump it. However, WVO has to be filtered, and that is a messy and timely event. Vegetable oil conversion kits for diesel engines usually include a heating system and a second gas tank to circumvent the solidification issues. SVO produces very low emissions and is one of the better alternatives for the environment. Biodisel is the only alternative fuel that has completed the health effects testing requirements of the Clean Air Act, creating a substantial reduction in hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and other noxious fumes caused by most fuels. SVO is better for diesel engines as the inventor of the Diesel engine (Rudolph Diesel) originally intended the diesel engine for peanut oil. Biodiesel saves money on fuel costs, reduces emissions, recycles waste oils from restaurants, is a fuel made from renewable crops which in effect keeps farmers employed, and is good for the environment. The cons to using biodiesel can void your current warranties if you install a conversion kit and use biodiesel; collecting and converting WVO is a messy job and also very time consuming; there is mixed data on how SVO affects engine life span. Conversion kits can be obtained from various merchants for as low as $500 from greasecar.com. More information can be found online at www.biodiesel.org, goodgrease.com, localb100.com, journeytoforever.org, biodieselblog.com, wvofuels.com, calcars.org, oil_press.com, or a typical google search.