Basic History of Biodiesel Fuel
Biodiesel fuel has been around since 1853. However, it was not fully used commercially until the early millennium. It is credited to E. Duffy and J. Patrick and it was recorded that the very first diesel-propelled machine ran on August 10 of 1893. Thus, the same day was aptly named International Biodiesel Day.
There is this German man named Rudolf Diesel who made an engine that was propelled by peanut oil. This was his experiment on biofuel for machine usage. Although peanut oil is not qualified as a biodiesel fuel because it did not undergo the actual process of making biodiesel fuel, it was viewed as the future of the power of natural feed stock to be used as an alternative to fuel based on petroleum. However, Rudolf was successful in running an engine using this type of biofuel.
Another person who should take the credit for biodiesel is G. Chavanne. It was in 1937 when he received a patent for a process called transesterification. This is the process used for converting feed stock to biodiesel. The blends of biodiesel fuels are marked on the percentage of blends. A 20% blend is called B20. A 30% blend is called B30. The B stands for blend.
Basically, biodiesel is made from animal and plant fats that are then mixed with methyl or ethanol. Glycerol is also used. Called fatty acid methyl or FAME, biodiesel has gains popularity of its practically year in and year out. The number of countries that have heavily invested in this have grown since the 1970s.
BIODIESEL FUELS 101
People have always heard biodiesel fuels and all that in school and form other fellow truck drivers but few really understand its essence and component. Biodiesel fuel is a kind of diesel that is not made of petroleum. This means that this has natural compounds such as fats and oils. That is why it is also called fatty acid methyl or FAME.
The creation or development of this oil is credited to G. Chavanne in 1937. He was granted a patent for creating a process of transforming vegetable oil into a fuel. This process is known as alcoholysis—a process known today as transesterification. This is called so because biodiesel fuels l is a mono-alcoholic mixture. Vegetable oil and fatty acids are mixed with ethanol, to be specific.
Ideally, the mixture should of biodiesel fuels be made of the vegetable oil and glycerol. Glycerol is also known to many people as glycerine. This is a chemical compound that is made of lipids. It is non-toxic and it is odorless. However, it was preferred by many that ethyl is used instead of glycerol because glycerol is a sugar based alcohol.
Biodiesel is measured in terms of the B Factor. This letter “B” mean blend. If a biodiesel fuels blend is 15%, then the blend is known as B15. If it is 20%, then the biodiesel blend is called B20. This is not ideally used 100% because it will cause complications in the vehicles. This is because biodiesel burns fast. And as such, there is a need to replace filters often.
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