by Sean Curtis

Created on: December 09, 2006   Last Updated: April 19, 2007

This writing contains facts I obtained from the research I did myself, for the corresponding chapter of my book.

Biodiesel is a fuel made from vegetable oil that runs in any unmodified diesel engine. Biodiesel can be made from any vegetable oil including oils pressed straight from the seed (virgin oils) such as soy, sunflower, canola, coconut and hemp. It can also be made from recycled cooking oils from restaurants. Even animal fats like beef tallow and fish oil can be used to make Biodiesel fuel.

The use of Biodiesel dates back over 100 years to the invention of the diesel engine. Dr. Rudolf Diesel actually invented the diesel engine to run on many fuels including coal dust suspended in water, heavy mineral oil, and vegetable oil. Dr. Diesel's first engine experiments were huge failures, but by the time he showed his engine at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900, his engine was running on 100% peanut oil.

In 1911 he stated "The diesel engine can be fed with vegetable oils, and would help
considerably in the development of agriculture of the countries which use it." In 1912, Diesel said, "The use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today. But such oils may become in course of time as important as petroleum and the coal tar products of the present time."

Since Dr. Diesel's untimely death in 1913, his engine has been modified to run
on the polluting petroleum fuel we now know as "diesel." Nevertheless, his ideas on
agriculture and his invention provide the foundation for a society fueled with clean, renewable fuel.

The process of converting vegetable oil into Biodiesel fuel is called transesterification and is less complex than it sounds. Chemically, transesterification means taking a triglyceride molecule, or a complex fatty acid, neutralizing the free fatty acids, removing the glycerin, and creating an alcohol ester. This is accomplished by mixing methanol (wood alcohol) with lye (sodium hydroxide) to make sodium methoxide. This dangerous liquid is then mixed into
vegetable oil. The entire mixture then settles. Glycerin is left on the bottom and methyl esters, or Biodiesel, is left on top.

The glycerin can be used to make soap (or any one of 1,600 other products) and the methyl esters is washed and filtered. The resulting Biodiesel fuel when used directly in a Diesel engine will burn up to 75% cleaner than petroleum diesel fuel.

Vegetable oil is a much more dense substance than diesel but, Biodiesel is very similar to diesel fuel. Biodiesel benefits

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