by Megan Torres

Created on: June 16, 2008

It looks like there is no relief from the pump with the way the economy is going and at the rate that fuel costs are rising. Some are looking to change their way of thinking about the fuels they are using in their vehicles.

One of these fuels is biodiesel, a vegetable oil based product. You cannot put it in your gas car, but if you have a diesel vehicle you can or if you modify your fuel system to a diesel one. Diesel engines were originally designed to run on vegetable oil. You may safely use biodiesel in a diesel vehicle without harming any of your engines parts. This may, however, void your warranty because of the impurities that are often in homemade biodiesel. There is a cleaner distilled biodiesel that is becoming available that is even better than the vegetable oil.

There is a company that is on the leading edge of the biodiesel fuel technologies. They are Nova Biosource Fuels, Inc. and their biofuel is the cleanest biodiesel available. Recently, Europe set a standard for this technology and the Nova distillation process exceeds their expectations.

Nova's biodiesel distillation process ensures the consistent removal of impurities. Fuel should be clear of water and sediment, which will shorten filter life or plug fuel filters. This could lead to engine fuel starvation. The presence of these materials generally indicates poor fuel quality. If glycerin remains in the finished biodiesel, or biodiesel blend, it can result in fuel separation, material incompatibility, engine deposits and engine durability concerns.

The one thing you will have to be careful of is which biodiesel blend you use. Each blend has a cloud point, which means the colder it gets the thicker it gets. A B100 blend, which is 100% biodiesel, should not be used when the temperature drops below 42 degrees Fahrenheit. The B80 blend, which is 20% biodiesel, is recommended for temperatures below 42 degrees Fahrenheit. Another thing to remember is that if you are already using diesel fuel and you want to switch over to B100 biodiesel it should be done over time, because biodiesel will clean the fuel lines there may be sediment that will end up in the fuel injectors.

Biofuel is becoming a leading fuel alternative. It is a renewable resource that can be made from over 25 different feedstocks that include vegetable oil, animal fats and reclaimed greases. There are other biofuel technologies in the process including creating biodiesel from algae crops. You will soon be able to buy biodiesel at the local gas stations; there are already stations in some big cities that offer it. But if you have a gas car don't fill up just yet!

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