Biodiesel Expansion

Biodiesel – Trend of the Future?
By Brad Swanson

Made from animal fats, biodiesel is an alternative form of fuel- every thing from heaters to automobiles can be run on it, and in recent years, it has been gaining popularity. Let’s have a look at exactly what biodiesel is, and exactly why it has become something of a growing trend.

You can mix biodiesel with petroleum diesel at pretty much any percentage. You may have seen different letters and numbers at the fuel pump, such as B5, B20, or B100 and this is what that refers to. 5 would be five percent biodiesel with 95 percent petroleum and so forth and so on. B100, on the other hand is exactly what it sounds like. Absolutely no petroleum whatsoever.

Most commercial biodiesels are still very stiffly regulated by industry specifications. This means that it meets the ASTM D6751, registered with the EPA as a legal fuel that can be sold and distributed. However, consider though that there are many do it yourselfers out there who are throwing off the weight of big oil and doing their own thing, and when adequately educated, this can be a big advantage. If you are interested in learning all about how to make your own biodiesel, be sure that you are getting your information from very experienced people who have been doing this in a safe and legal manner.

There are many, many advantages to biodiesel. It is much cleaner burning than regular diesel, reducing emissions of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, sulfer dioxide and other particulate matter. As a renewable, plant based source of fuel, it can be regrown, and more than that, it supports local farmers. Because it is a natural lubricant many people who use biodiesel have noticed that they experience a much longer engine life, as well. One benefit that people also often talk about is, it does not stink. As a matter of fact, most people compare it to french fries or other fried foods.

On the other hand, there are a few disadvantages as well. An honest look at biodiesel is incredibly important, and vital to being able to inform people about this alternative fuel completely. No fuel has all advantages and no disadvantages, and of course, biodiesel is not different in that.

One commonly held “disadvantage” seen listed is in energy density- and this is one that has been extremely overblown as a disadvantage. What is energy density? This refers to the amount of energy something can carry. For instance, diesel has an energy density of 46.2MJ/kg, where as gasoline has an energy density of 46.4MJ/kg. Biodiesel, in its purest form, has an energy density of 42.20MJ/kg. When you consider the environmental impact of both gasoline and diesel, that distinction suddenly does not really stack up.

So what are the real, actual disadvantages? In the winter, biodiesel is a bit harder to deal with. It clouds, just like any other fuel, yes, and this creates tiny crystals of wax which can clog your fuel filter. Worse, if it gets too cold, well, think about what happens to your vegetable oil when it’s left in the cold. It gels. Proper processing can help this, but ultimately, that’s a fact of biodiesel. To get around this, the “harder to deal with”? Use an additive. However, do not use additives made for traditional fossil fuels. There are many on the market just for biodiesel now.

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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brad_Swanson

We're living in a time when depending too much on oil for energy needs could prove tricky.

That's why now the research on biofuel has been rerun.

Biofuel can be achieved from almost any organic product, from agriculture wastes to dung, including that of wild animals. Now researchers retake in account algae-based fuels, being helped by the recent advances in genomics and biotechnology.

Algae are a natural oil-producer, offering multiple paths to biofuel. They can easily be genetically engineered to achieve varieties that generate high amounts of oil that can be turned into biocrude and refined into gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel; those with less carbon atoms can be processed and fermented to make ethanol.
Algae can be grown on land outworn for other crops and using water unsuitable for agriculture purposes, they do not interfere with food production, and oil-per-acre production can be much higher than for industrial crops like soybeans. And their oil production can be boosted even more.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) decade-long algae-to-fuel project was stopped by a decrease in oil prices in 1996, but currently there is a crisis starting to emerge, as oil deposits are located in countries not so democracy-friendly.

NREL is expected to start up again with algae within the next year. GreenFuel is a company developing systems that employ algae bioreactor technology to convert CO2 from smokestack flue gases to not pollutant, renewable biofuels, like biodiesel, ethanol or methane, while also decreasing toxic emissions.

This technology could be also a hit in limiting CO2 emissions while reusing it in renewable fuels, an economically and without retooling method. Experiments revealed a roughly 80 % CO2 capture rates during daylight hours.

LiveFuels is another company funding and coordinating research on algae-to-biocrude. “We could replace certainly all of our diesel fuel with algal-derived oils, and possibly replace a lot more than that”, said Kathe Andrews-Cramer, technical lead researcher for biofuels and bioenergy at DOE's Sandia National Laboratories.

To top it clear that the use of biodiesel in supplying engines with compression ignition is not a new concept of using vegetable oil as fuel being used since 1900 years. Then were conducted primary research on the consequences and the influences that these fuels can have on engines, but with the development and production of fuel abundance (because of the obvious advantages they present), fuel-based vegetable oils and Animal fats were ignored.

Contemporary problems that mankind has faced especially in the last two decades, linked environmental protection and duplication fuel price increases, have led to the rediscovery fuel-based vegetable oils (biofuels) that can be immediate answers to solve these problems. But in an interesting and specifically, the use of biofuels immediately taken before a study-related consequences and effects on internal combustion engines.
The use of biofuels immediate result and the ease of application of technological methods for obtaining them, the most “complex” issue is resolved to obtain a required minimum productivity of crops to plant oil rentabiliza economic use of biofuels and alternative (partial or total) Supplying internal combustion engines.
Developing future (and present) of theoretical and experimental studies on biofuels has shown that, in addition to validate the results already obtained beneficial about practice, there are negative effects (for example, emission of pollutants on the basis of nitrogen oxides – NOx) which require the need for thorough study of the experimental field of biofuels.
For faithful reproduction of all operational conditions of the engines fuelled by biofuels, attempts are made through stands trial on the basis of a rigorous methodology and a well-defined norms in force. Stands the test of engines fuelled by biofuels have the advantage of enabling the location of a large number of sensors that take the necessary information, analyzed using computer systems.
The main structure of a test stand is shown in Figure 1.

Fig.1. The structure of a stand of experimental tests engines. (1-diesel, 2-injection pump, 3-coupling pump training, 4-pump food; regulator 5-speeds, 6-lever Command cremalierei, 7-battery filters, 8-high-pressure pipeline; 9-injector, 10 back-fuel pipeline, 11-pipeline liquid cooling, 12-reservoir water hydraulic brake, transmission cardanică-13, 14-hydraulic brake, the 15-time interpreter, the interpreter 16-speed, 17-weight brake; 18.19-electrical connectors, 20-block with tanks feed mixed with rapeseed oil and diesel, 21-power reservoirs with mixtures of rapeseed oil, diesel tank-22, 23-food pipeline, 24-ramp to connection, 25-d food pipeline, 26-radiator, 27-purchasing system data)

It should be noted that the results obtained by testing experimental engine with a compression-ignition (diesel) are specific type of engine tried as a series of parameters constructivi and functional specific to each engine (cilindre, injection pressure, stroke injection, fuel flow injected, the type of injectors, type of room burns, etc.). have direct influence on the results obtained. It is recommended that for each type of engine (or at least an engine representative of a wide-functional tipodimensional) be made a specific programme of tests on the stand and operational practice.
However, tests carried out may provide an overview of opportunities for optimum use of power engines with compression ignition biodiesel. | n this vein below are the results of the experimental parameters functional to feed the engine type D-118 (used in the construction of agricultural tractors Romanian) with biofuel-based vegetable oils.
functional main parameters that have been taken into consideration are the consumption zone (CZ), specific fuel consumption (which), when engine (M) and actual power (by).

Fig.2 Changes in fuel consumption zone depending on the type of biodiesel used (vegetable oil rape)

Fig.3 Changes in specific fuel consumption depending on the type of biodiesel used (vegetable oil rape)

Fig.4 Change timing depending on engine type used biodiesel (vegetable oil from rapeseed)

Fig.5 Change effective power depending on the type of biodiesel used (vegetable oil rape)

For the experiments carried out on the same type of engine, but which has been used pure vegetable oil sunflower, functional change the parameters of engine compression ignition is shown in the figure 6.

Fig.6 Change functional parameters of engine D118 to feed sunflower oil (1-work mechanical indicated, 2-average power indicated; average 3-pressure indicated; yield 4-wise, 5-average effective pressure, 6-power effective, 7-effective yield, 8-specific consumption of fuel actually).

Based on the experimental results obtained for engine D 118 (engine common in wheeled agricultural equipment) and study variations of these data presented in the previous figures, we can say that:
– Fuel Classic (diesel) can be successfully replaced with mixed vegetable oil + gas oil (biodiesel) both through the prism of maintaining relative performance engine and the decrease in the price of fuel cost;
– In terms of consumption zone is observed that this increase with the decrease in the percentage of vegetable oil, the best results being obtained for B50 and B20 mixture + 5% methanol. | n similarly can say that for specific fuel consumption, it is more than the use of biodiesel, but in a very close range of approximately 10%;
– The best results on the timing for the engine to obtain the mix B20 + 5% methanol which are nearing the moment powered by diesel engine speed of over 1,600 rot / min respectively for mixed classical B10-B50 is found a decrease;
– The closer the actual values of engine power are obtained for a B10 biodiesel, and for the mixture of vegetable oil + diesel maximum studied finds an actual decrease in power with 10-12%;
– To feed an engine compression ignition fuel based on sunflower is found measured by the experimental results of the main indicators of functional engine (mechanical work and indicated actually indicated an average pressure and effective power indicated, the effective power, performance wise and actually, etc.). that they have lower values of 10-12% compared with the use of diesel as fuel. Specific consumption of fuel actually increased in this case with 28-30%;
– It is said that the use of fuel based on sunflower oil (pure or mixed) offers advantages of supplying engine compression ignition, but in this case should be stressed that it is necessary to achieve changes in the structure and system construction Petrol engine (injector, injection pump, filter system, etc.)..