Benefits of Biodiesel

 

Biodiesel is an alternative to using gasoline and diesel as fuel. Some recent studies show that biodiesel outperforms gasoline, ethanol, and conventional diesel in reducing climate-altering carbon dioxide emissions and in overall fuel-efficiency. But, what does biodiesel really consist of? What are its advantages and disadvantages? In this article, John David Kaweske, President of Bio Clean Energy S.A, explains the key characteristics of biodiesel.

What is biodiesel?

Biodiesel is a synthetic fuel that is obtained from natural components such as vegetable oils or animal fats. It is mainly used for the preparation of diesel substitutes.

Biodiesel can be mixed with diesel derived from petroleum. To indicate the percentage of biodiesel in the mixture, the nomenclatures B5, B10, B15, B30, B50, etc. are used. For example, the indicative B10 means that the fuel is made up of 10% biodiesel and the rest of conventional diesel.

Advantages of biodiesel fuel

The use of biodiesel offers some advantages over traditional petroleum fuels:

·         Being of plant origin, it is an environmentally friendly fuel. The raw material is organic and is produced from seeds grown from different plants, such as rapeseed, soybeans or sunflower. It is even possible to make biodiesel from recycled oils from the hospitality or food industries.

·         It does not contain sulfur, so it does not contribute to the greenhouse effect. Sulfur is one of the components of diesel and, although fuels with a low sulfur load can be found on the market, these variants cause a loss of lubrication that can affect engine performance.

·         It generates less emissions of polluting gases and substances harmful to health, such as carbon dioxide, soot or benzene.

·         It can be transported more easily than diesel and is more biodegradable.

Besides lowering emissions at the point of use, biodiesel fuel—made from corn, soy, or other plant matter—had a past life absorbing carbon dioxide while it was growing as a crop in the field. With its past carbon dioxide absorptions balancing its later carbon dioxide emissions, biodiesel results in an overall life-cycle lowering of carbon dioxide emissions over both conventional diesel and gasoline, explains John David Kaweske.