HISTORY

The concept of using vegetal oil as an engine fuel likely dates when Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913) developed the first engine to run on peanut oil, as he demonstrated at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900. Unfortunately, R. Diesel died 1913 before his vision of a vegetable oil powered engine was fully realized.

Rudolf Diesel firmly believed the utilization of a biomass fuel to be the real future of his engine. He wanted to provide farmers the opportunity to produce their own fuel. In 1911, he said "The diesel engine can be fed with vegetable oils and would help considerably in the development of agriculture of the countries which use it".

After R. Diesel death the petroleum industry was rapidly developing  and produced a cheap by-product "diesel fuel" powering a modified "diesel-engine". Thus, clean vegetable oil was forgotten as a renewable source of power.

Modern diesels are now designed to run on a less viscous fuel than vegetable oil but, in times of fuel shortages, cars and trucks were successfully run on preheated peanut oil and animal fat. It seems that the upper rate for inclusion of rapeseed oil with diesel fuel is about 25% but crude vegetal oil as a diesel fuel extender induces poorer cold-starting performance compared with diesel fuel or Biodiesel made with fatty esters (McDonnel K et al. JAOCS 1999, 76, 539).  
Today's diesel engines require a clean-burning, stable fuel operating under a variety of conditions. In the mid 1970s, fuel shortages spurred interest in diversifying fuel resources, and thus Biodiesel as fatty esters was developed as an alternative to petroleum diesel. Later, in the 1990s, interest was rising due to the large pollution reduction benefits coming from the use of Biodiesel. The use of Biodiesel is affected by legislation and regulations in all countries (Knothe G, Inform 2002, 13, 900). On February 9, 2004, the Government of the Philippines directed all of its departments to incorporate one percent by volume coconut Biodiesel in diesel fuel for use in government vehicles. The EU Council of Ministers adopted new pan-EU rules for the detaxation of Biodiesel and biofuels on October 27, 2003. Large-volume production occurs mainly in Europe, with production there now exceeding 1.4 million tons per year. Western European Biodiesel production capacity was estimated at about 2 million metric tons per year largely produced through the transesterification process, about one-half thereof in Germany (440,000 and 350,000 MT in France and Italy, respectively). In the United States, by 1995, 10 percent of all federal vehicles were to be using alternative fuels to set an example for the private automotive and fuel industries. Several studies are now funded to promote the use of blends of Biodiesel and heating oil in USA. In USA soybean oil is the principal oil being utilized for Biodiesel (about 80,000 tons in 2003). Details may be viewed on-line through the National Biodiesel Board web site. 
Several reviews on sources, production, composition and properties of biodiesel may be consulted for further information:
- Bajpai D et al., J Oleo Sci 2006, 55, 487
- Ramadhas AS et al., Renewable Energy 2004, 29, 727-742

A review of the use of vegetable oils as engine fuels may be consulted (Ramadhas AS et al. Renew Energy 2007, 29, 727). 

The book of Nitske WR et al. may be consulted for the history of biodiesel (Nitske WR, Wilson CM, Rudolf Diesel: Pioneer of the age of power)

MAKING BIODIESEL

What is still widely unknown is that it is easy to make Biodiesel for diesel engines using vegetable oil or animal fat. Biodiesel is sold commercially in Europe, America and Australia.
On a small scale, vegetable oil is relatively expensive, but used products from the cooking industry is abundant and can easily and cheaply be converted into a Biodiesel fuel that will mix in any quantity with conventional diesel. During heating, the amount of polymers in the oil may increase up to 15 wt% and thus may have negative influence on fuel characteristics. Therefore, the amount of polymers in waste oil is a good indicator for Biodiesel production (Mittelbach M et al. JAOCS 1999, 76, 545).
The transesterification process involves mixing at room temperature methanol (50% excess) with NaOH (100% excess), then mixing vigorously with vegetable oil and letting the glycerol settle (about 15% of the Biodiesel mix). The supernatant is Biodiesel and contains a mixture of methylated fatty acids and methanol, the catalyst remaining dissolved in the glycerol fraction. Industrially, the esters are sent to the clean-up or purification process which consists of water washing, vacuum drying, and filtration. 
An in situ alkaline transesterification was shown to be efficient in preparing fatty acid esters, the simple and direct process eliminating the expense associated with solvent extraction and oil cleanup (Haas MJ et al., JAOCS 2004, 81, 83).
Transesterification may be processed using methanol, ethanol, isopropyl alcohol, or butanol, the catalyst being either sodium or potassium hydroxide. It was shown that the methanol/oil molar ratio influences largely the efficiency of the reaction and has important implications for the optimal size of methyl ester plants (Boocock DGB et al. JAOCS 1998, 75, 1167). Optimization of methanolysis of Brassica carinata oil has been examined considering the catalyst concentration as well as the reaction temperature (Vicente G et al., JAOCS 2005, 82, 899).
Various reaction parameters for the synthesis of Biodiesel from safflower oil were studied to improve the fuel production which was within the recommended standards with 96.8% yield (Meka PK et al., J Oleo Sci 2007, 56, 9).
It must be pointed out that after separation of the glycerol phase produced during the reactions, a very low amount of glycerol remains in biodiesel. A maximum permissible concentration of 0.02 wt-% is set by the European norm as well as by the ASTM specification. Therefore, it is necessary to determine the amount of free glycerol in Biodiesel. Among others, a simple and rapid method was described using HPLC with refractometric detection (Hajek M et al., Eur J Lipid Sci Technol 2006, 108, 666).

It was experienced that 10 l of soybeans produced about 1.9 l of Biodiesel. A liter of this fuel contains about 35,000 BTUs.
If fats or solidified oil are used, it will need to heat up to 50°C the mixture prior to mixing with methanol and catalyst.
If free fatty acids are present (used cooking oils), special pretreatment technologies are required (see website).

Among lipid-rich materials of low value is soapstock, a co-product of the refining of edible vegetal oils. This mixture is generated at a rate of about 6% of the treated unrefined oil (45 MT per year in USA). An efficient procedure involving acid-catalyzed esterification of soapstock has been described (Haas MJ et al., J Am Oil Chem Soc 2003, 80, 97).

The world Biodiesel sources were in 2002 : rapeseed oil (84%), sunflower (13%), soybean oil (1%), palm oil (1%), and others (1%).

Information on making Biodiesel may be found in specific websites :

http://www.biodiesel.org
http://www.greenfuels.org/biodiesel/index.htm
http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_make.html
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/Biodiesel/
European Biofuel Technology Platform

General Biodiesel information :

http://www3.me.iastate.edu/biodiesel/

http://www.biodieselfuelonline.com/ (the latest information on Biodiesel)

Other resources (discussion groups) :

http://www.egroups.com/group/Biodiesel

European Biodiesel Board: Update on negotiations on befuel directives (21 February 2003)
Additional Biodiesel information : 

Australia
Austria
Europe
Germany
United Kingdom
United states

A comprehensive review of problems of emissions and of small-, medium-, and industrial-scale production with numerous web resources and references may be found on the web :

Biodiesel : A brief overview 

ADVANTAGES OF BIODIESEL

• Blends of 20% Biodiesel with 80% petroleum diesel can be used in unmodified diesel engines. Biodiesel can be used in its pure form but many require certain engine modifications to avoid maintenance and performance problems.

• It was stated that about half of the Biodiesel industry can use recycled oil or fat, the other half being soybean, or rapeseed oil according to the origin of these feed stocks.

• Biodiesel is nontoxic, biodegradable. It reduces the emission of harmful pollutants (mainly particulates) from diesel engines (80% less CO₂ emissions, 100% less sulfur dioxide) but emissions of nitrogen oxides (precursor of ozone) are increased.

• Biodiesel has a high cetane number (above 100, compared to only 40 for diesel fuel). Cetane number is a measure of a fuel's ignition quality. The high cetane numbers of Biodiesel contribute to easy cold starting and low idle noise.

• The use of Biodiesel can extend the life of diesel engines because it is more lubricating and, furthermore, power output are relatively unaffected by Biodiesel.

• Biodiesel replaces the exhaust odor of petroleum diesel with a more pleasant smell of popcorn or French fries.
  

Because Biodiesel is a cleaner-burning diesel fuel, made from 100% natural, 100% renewable vegetable sources, its uses in today's society may surprise you. Below are eight ways Biodiesel is being used. Some of which you may never have realized.

1) Biodiesel Car Rental - Yes that's right. A Maui and Los Angeles car rental rents cars that run on Biodiesel. These cars get between 400 and 800 miles per tank! Not bad when consider the price of gas these days.

2) Home heating fuel - More people are taking a look at Biodiesel as an alternative for heating their home. Most oil-fired or boiler furnaces can use Biodiesel (B20), which is a fuel made of 80 percent traditional heating oil and 20 percent Biodiesel. Some people are getting their furnaces adapted to be able to burn B100, a fuel made entirely of vegetable oils, which burns much cleaner than traditional heating oil.

3) Electricity Generation - Diesel generators that produce electricity are now running on Biodiesel fuel. A superior alternative to the typical coal burning electricity generating plants currently being used in the United States. Running on Biodiesel is an inexpensive, clean and renewable way of creating electricity.

4) Trucking Industry - More and more truckers are switching from diesel fuel to Biodiesel fuel. The benefits are numerous not to mention the advantage of helping the environment and reducing our dependency on foreign oil, while saving money.

5) Agriculture - Not only a producer of Biodiesel, but also a consumer. Tractors, reapers, tillers, pickers, conveyors, generators, pumps, and irrigation systems which normally uses diesel fuel, now use Biodiesel to fuel their work, bringing agriculture full circle from producer to consumer.

6) Marine Vehicles - Commercial fleets such as ferries, recreational yachts, sailboats, and fishing boats are all candidates for Biodiesel. For example Pacific Whale Foundation, located in Hawaii, use Biodiesel in their boats.

7) Lubrication Additive - Because Biodiesel is a better lubricant than current low-sulfur petroleum, fuel injectors and other types of fuel pumps can rely on Biodiesel fuel for lubrication, making engines last longer. Other numerous applications can also make use of it's lubricate properties, such as concrete forms and asphalt trucks. Its solvent properties also make it a safe parts cleaner, reducing skin and eye irritation associated with other cleaners.

8) Cleaner Environment - Biodiesel reduces carbon dioxide exhaust emissions by up to 80%. Because of this, Biodiesel has the potential to reduce air toxics and cancer causing compounds. Something we all can live with! If spilled, it will quickly degrade into natural organic residues, without polluting the environment.