What do you think about biodiesel?

Question

I am about to start planting jatropha trees in Madagascar. Jatropha seeds can be used to make biodiesel. It would be interesting to guage knoweledge and interest in a fuel that is renewable and less polluting than petroleum diesel from your responses

Dear "GoAway" thank you for replying to my question in response to your points...

Jatropha is used as a tutuer for vanilla meaning that is used to hold the vanilla plant up so actually land for vanilla is already being used for biofuels.

One of the nice things about jatropha is that it can be planted on non-agricultural land because its basicly a tree that will grow anywhere. I certainly would not want to plant biofuel plants in a situation that would compete with food crops.

Answer 1

I say go for it, and thanks for the helpful hint on adding sugar to my gas tank, I got to work in half the time this morning!! I brought some drano to have with my lunch today too!

Answer 2

I live in San Francisco, so I thought Biodiesel was just a fruity Berkeley thing that had crossed the bay. Then I drove across the USA on I-80. Biodiesel is everywhere. Many truck stops sell B20 (20% biodiesel) and truckers love it because of the lubricity - which is to say it lubricates your injection system and engine much better than the sulfur that's being phased out of diesel (the "Do not put this fuel in 2007+ engines" stickers?)

B100 is a tougher sell, because it has gelling issues in cold weather. (solution: use it in the summer.) Cost is an issue too, but that'll go away if diesel goes up another $1/gal, or if manufacturing efficiencies get better. Cost of vegetable oil? Check it yourself at CostCo. 35 pound fryer packs are 5 gallons. Last I looked, $2.59. Figure 40 cents more for road tax...

Many drivers burn straight vegetable oil (SVO), but it takes some adaptation. Usually it's a 2-tank system - start on (bio)diesel, then switch to SVO when the engine is warm. The adaptation uses engine coolant to warm the SVO lines and tank.

It's also possible to burn waste vegetable oil (WVO) i.e. used fry oil mooched from your local restaurant. But aside from the viscosity issue, there's water content, acidity and particulates... by the time you titrate, filter and bubble out water, you've done most of the work of making biodiesel, so you might as well just do that.

Don't forget the energy costs of production. Converting from crude to diesel, corn to ethanol, or corn to biodiesel takes energy. Biodiesel is a big winner here, the energy costs (losses) are very low. SVO is probably the most efficient of all.

Does it make sense in the bigger picture? Obviously, there isn't enough food grown for this to be a one-stop, "magic bullet" solution. (we need that food for meat and for export.) But it can make a small difference... and realistically that's how our problems with foreign oil and the environment are going to be solved - several ways at once, each contributing a little.

The neat thing about biodiesel is that you and I can do it today, without waiting and hoping for government and big business to do it for us.

Answer 3

Biodiesel is a terrible idea. It takes up valuable land which can be used for planting food. There isn't food in the world already in some places and certainly not enough in many places. Now rich countries will be using their economic might to take food off the plates of the poor to power their inefficient cars.

Take Madagascar. The only other cash crop is vanilla beans and coffee. Certainly it is not the land used for this which will go to biodiesel usage. It's the land which the poor now use to farm food which will be grabbed by large corps looking to plant diesel producing crop.

Answer 4

First of all, biodiesel is a viable alternative to regular petro diesel. It's better for the environment, better for automobiles, can be made from recycled/reclaimed oil, and can be more cost-effective than petrodiesel. All of these factors make it a better alternative than the current fuel.

To respond to some of the previous posters: Biodiesel doesn't take away any more land than is already being wasted. In the U.S., 500 million acres of land is used for grazing animals. Not a very efficient way to feed the world.

Biodiesel is technology that's over 100 years old. That's hardly a fad. If you don't know about it, that doesn't qualify it as a fad, maybe it qualifies you as being uninformed.

Diesel's first engine didn't run on any type of oil at all. It actually ran on powdered charcoal. And yes, biodiesel is one of many types of fuel a diesel can run on, but not as effectively. Today's diesels are designed to run on petro diesel, so putting straight kerosene or oil in them can mess them up their injectors, which are actually very sensitive to any change in viscosity. Incidentally, blending waste vegetable oil with lye is...biodiesel.

Answer 5

Biodiesel works really well for city bus conversions, they never leave town and come home to base everyday - I don't think it is a complete solution for all cars, which is probably why is hasn't been adopted as petrol replacement. Because the supply system hasn't been constructed - we can't make enough biodiese just from deepfryers to satisfy the needs of a significant percentage - beside that oil is not necessarily being waste, i believe there are recyling programs for used motor oil, vegatable oil, etc.

the other half of the solution is increases the price of petrol to current diesel prices to give the base consumer a stronger incentive to reduce their fuel consumption for one, and use the turbo-diesel engines which sell great over seas where diesel is cheaper compartively. Also europe's diesel is cleaner than U.S. grade currently.

Answer 6

biodiesel is a waste of time,effort,and resources.so is ethanol. fact of the matter is a diesel engine will run on any liquid that will combust under high temperature whether it is kerosene,diesel,corn/peanut oil,or even jet fuel. if ya read back in history rudolph diesel's engine ran on peanut oil.there was also a segment on trucks! tv show, where an unmodified 98 ram 3/4 (2500) with a cummins ran on reprocessed vegetable oil,sourced from the local mcdonalds,and chinese food restaurants.it was re processed to restore the vitality (using lye) and to filter out particles that will clog the fuel system.the benefit of using reprocessed cooking oil, waste doesnt get shipped to landfills,or into the septic systems.the engine runs cleaner with a neglible loss of power.by a cleaner i mean 0 pollutants,and the diesel smell is replaced by the smell of french fries cooking

Answer 7

It may be better for the environment, but it won't be too friendly on your wallet. In most states, biodiesel is more expensive than gasoline and regular diesel. It's doubtful that biodiesel will ever become the dominate fuel for vehicles unless something dramatic happens with Big Oil and/or the government

Answer 8

It's just a new little fad so people can put little preachy stickers on their bumpers.

It's all part of the developed world's 'global warming' hysteria.

I can just imagine the hypocrites driving around with their kids, adding to the over-population that will surely kill us all before nuclear war or global warming.

Answer 9

Even if you WERE going to do that, I'd say forget it, as biodiesel is more expensive, has less bang for the buck, and can gel up in cold weather.

I wont run it in MY vehicle

Answer 10

It seems to actually be old news: http://www.donnyspi.com/blog/entry,440

I'm not sure why more hasn't been done with it since 1980.