What Is Biodiesel?
Biodiesel is fuel that a diesel engine can burn that is derived from renewable resources rather than from fossil fuels, according to the National Biodiesel Board. The notion of biodiesel has regained popularity amid rising gas prices and worries about the effects of fossil fuel emissions on the Earth's environment. Biodiesel advocates claim that this fuel burns "clean."
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History
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Diesel engine designer Rudolf Diesel originally designed the diesel engine with the intent of burning what today would be called biodiesel, according to biodiesel company Pacific Biofuel. In early demonstrations, he burned peanut oil to power the engine; until the 1920s, consumers used vegetable oils. Only after designers began altering the engine was it able to begin burning petroleum. After this alteration, the engine gained wide popularity. In the 1970s, when gas prices began to spike, the movement to return to biodiesel fuel revived.
Biodiesel Ingredients
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Biodiesel is fat-based, as the engine gets energy through the burning of either animal or vegetable fat. Many vegetable oils can act as ingredients in biodiesel: sunflower seeds, mustard, coconuts, hemp and soybeans, to name a few. Discarded animal fats, such as chicken grease or fish oil, can also be components in biodiesel, though many critics say that using animal fats is not sustainable. Some progress has been made in extracting fish oil from the waste of farmed catfish, however. Another potentially promising avenue is the use of algae in biodiesel.
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Positive Aspects
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Advocates of biodiesel argue that it will reduce greenhouse gas emissions. When biodiesel is burned, it releases carbon dioxide, but advocates suggest that this effect is mitigated by the new plants grown to replace the old ones. The plants grown to produce biofuel absorb carbon dioxide and offset the emissions caused by burning the fuel. The National Biodiesel Board estimates that switching to biodiesel fuel would reduce net emissions by 78 percent.
Another argument in favor of biodiesel is that it would help the American economy, because, under current proposals, crops to produce the fuels would be grown in the United States. This would also reduce the United States' dependence on foreign countries for its energy needs.
Criticism
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Much of the criticism levied against biodiesel comes from environmentalists who say that the implementation of any sort of biofuel policy would lead to more land being stripped and developed and more industrialization that would, in the end, increase net carbon emissions, according to a 2009 "Time" magazine article, "The Trouble With Biofuels."
Other critics say that crops that would otherwise be used for food will now be used for fuel, driving up world food prices and hurting the poorest, hungriest people around the world. Biodiesel advocates claim that biodiesel would not have this effect because they would not make the fuel from edible crops such as corn, as ethanol advocates did, but mostly out of material that would otherwise go to waste.
Transition to Biodiesel
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Biodiesel is available around the world and even in some places in the United States. Normal diesel engines can process a petroleum/biodiesel mixture of up to 20 percent. You can also modify the engine for a few hundred dollars to process blends with a higher percentage of plant or animal fat.
The National Biodiesel Board and other interested groups continue to lobby Congress for tax incentives to expand the use of biodiesel.
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References
- Photo Credit diesel image by Martina Berg from Fotolia.com
