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BIODIESEL INFORMATION / introduction

by Open-Publishing - Saturday 9 April 2005
42 comments

Edito Energy

Prelude

THE BIODIESEL

Environment friendly and revolutionary
By : Matt Lechien

With technical support from : Joner
Translated from french by : Simon Hallynck ( http://www.reclaimyourwork.org )
Media partner : Bellaciao ( http://bellaciao.org )
SURREALISTE editions ( http://www.surrealiste.org )

Original version ebook and paper :
 http://www.surrealiste.org/modules/...
 http://www.surrealiste.org/modules/...

All is copyleft :-)


Introduction

How to strike capitalism at the capital while protecting the Earth, here’s the
complete biodiesel file.

This file has been posted progressivelly while being written on the free and activist information website Bellaciao ( http://bellaciao.org )

After five months of research, tests and meetings on this subject, I finally can deliver you a complete and proven information, passionating and amazing on many aspects. I could have done it before, but, as mainstream media, obeying to the agriculture lobby, began to speak of this solution; i waited patiently so that i don’t have to insist that « it works » and directly speak of the interesting part: practical works. That’s not my fault, but as soon as it passes on TV, then it’s true, while that’s doubtful if it comes from the free community. Let’s hope to see soon about Linux on Fox channel!

I will ask you for your contribution, to help this kind of information spread. People have to spread it themselves; if mainstream media cares of it, the spirit of this solution will be thrown out. Told an other way: don’t hesitate to copy/paste.

There are 3 reason why people should appropriate this struggle:

1) It can be useful and allow you to make some savings. If it’s not useful for you, that’s still useful for some people around you.

2) If a lot of people adopt this solution, there will be a significant impact on air pollution level and oil slick risks.

3) That’s a perfect way to strike capitalism by stoping the flood of money from oil. That’s also a perfect way to stop the influence of oil groups in the politics of the world.

If you search for information on this subject on the Internet, you’ll realise there’s plenty of it. But beware, many of these websites only exist to sell you some expensive and sometimes useless hardware. Information can also be flawned. For my part, i choosed to organise this file around 3 main themes:

1) The cost to realise the described solutions

It comes from 0 to 500 euros maximum, which is far behind the 2000 euros asked by some websites who want to get Eldorado out of this market. The goal is that even moneyless people can move and heat their house at very low cost. You can find most of the hardware in your neighbourhood, no need for specialised shops.

2) Usefulness of this system

I didn’t kept straight on transportation, heating will also be spoken of. As you will see later, a heating system can heat many squatts, associations, low revenue famillies... and always also looking on the environment and health friendlyness aspects.

3) The political challenge

The future energy of the coming after-oil age is an important challenge, and if capitalist firms appropriate for themselves this technology then what they do with Earth’s oil will continue. That’s why people have to get this before, and use it themselves.

I have been helped on the technical aspect by my friend Joner, moderator from
http://www.oliomobile.org/forum.
Most of the tests have been done on his car, now used to make fries. We will give you all the needed information to do it yourself. Everything written in this fils has been tested and approved by long time users, so don’t hesitate, that’s reliable.
For those that still doubt that it’s possible to run a diesel motor only using vegetal oil, here are the 3 arguments that can only convince you:

1) Basics

Diesel is mineral oil, Biodiesel from vegetal oil. To allow your engine to run with 100% vegetal oil, there are just some settings to adapt it to the viscosity of biodiesel, that’s it. Except it, no difference, only that vegetal oil is also better as richer in oxygen than mineral oil, so that’s better for the engine. It’s even recommended for old mechanics.

2) History

When Rudolf Diesel invented the so-named engine, diesel as a carburant didn’t exist. The first diesel engine used to run with flax oil. All the first engines of this class were powered this way, as the mineral diesel was created a long time later. This engine’s principle relies on gas compression and the possibility to burn everything.

3) Proving with proofs

For doubtful people, we will put some videos online. There are also some activists and associations that promote and demonstrate this system all around the world.

We hope that when you finish the reading of this file, you join the happy users of vegetal oil and help promote this system. For gasoline powered cars, some solutions exist, but these will be covered in a future file on the use of ethanol as a gasoline substitute.

Forum posts

  • Willie Nelson has a site which discusses this as well...
    http://www.wnbiodiesel.com/products.html

    There is no reason not to use biodiesel, the sooner the better. This is exactly what we need to stop global warming and PNAC. Forget about drilling in the wildlife refuge. And then there is the benefit of putting our farmers back to work and finding something to do with all those horrible GE soybeans. Peak Oil is a fake debate. There are already working alternatives. And the exhaust smells like doughnuts! What more could you want?

     Biodiesel reduces carbon dioxide exhaust emissions by up to 80%.
     Biodiesel produces 100% less sulfur dioxide than petroleum based diesel, and sulfur dioxide is the major component of acid rain.
     Biodiesel reduces exhaust smoke (particulates) emissions by up to 75% so the usual black cloud associated with a diesel engine can be eliminated.
     The smell of the biodiesel exhaust is far more pleasant than petroleum based diesel, some times smelling like pop corn or doughnuts if the fuel is made from a waste vegetable oil feedstock.
     Biodiesel smells better than diesel fuel so it is a pleasant experience re-filling the vehicle’s tank.
     Biodiesel is much easier to handle and does not require mechanics to use barrier cream on their hands to protect the skin from cracking or redness.
     Biodiesel is much less dangerous to put in a vehicles fuel tank as the flash point of biodiesel is ± 150°C (300°F) as opposed to petroleum diesel which is at ± 70°C (150°F).
     Biodiesel degrades about 4 times faster than petroleum diesel after spillage, with most of a spill broken down after just 28 days.
     Biodiesel provides significant lubricity improvement over petroleum diesel fuel so engines last longer, with the right additives engine performance can also be enhanced.
     Low Sulfur and Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel require additives to add the lubricity back into the fuel, biodiesel is a totally renewable additive for this role and complements the use of ULSD.
     Biodiesel reduces the classic diesel engine "knocking" noise.
     Biodiesel does not require any changes to the existing storage infrastructure so can be used in any tank or storage facility right away.
     Biodiesel can be mixed in with existing diesel to create various mixtures like a B5 or B20 blend.
     A diesel engined vehicle does not need to be modified in anyway to use biodiesel.

  • It sounds feasible, but it is a threat to the food resources of the third world. More countries will grow crops, in order to generate bio-fuel. Also countries which suffer from hunger and starvations.
    Moreover it will reduce the areas of rainforests like in Brazil.
    There are far better alternatives: f. e. hydrogen could be produced from sun/wave generated electricity. The fuel can also used with combustion chamber cars. The electricity could be transfered to gasstations which convert electricity to hydrogen - f. e. it works in Iceland.
    The vast deserts on earth could be plastered with solar panels or solar steam plants. This would also give nations, which suffer from starvation a source of income.

    But unfortunately mankind in the developed countries like USA insist the must invest, in order to built up a violent force.

    By the way biodiesel does not work in winter time and the add very aggressive chemicals to biodiesel, in order to keep it fluent.

    • "threat to the food resources of the third world. More countries will grow crops, in order to generate bio-fuel. Also countries which suffer from hunger and starvations.
      Moreover it will reduce the areas of rainforests like in Brazil."

      you can’t be serious? There are plenty of farmers in the US, some being paid not to grow food. I don’t think they are going to start chopping down the rainforest.

      The cat is out of the bag. We have had alternative technologies since the 60’s and instead pretend that killing for oil is the only way. There are an infinite number of better ways to harness energy... wind, solar, tidal...but at this point biodiesel seems like the way to turn things around right now. Truckers use a huge amount of fuel shipping all of our products around the country. The biodiesel is interchangeable with regular diesel so it is really easy to try it out and once the truckers smell the exhaust and notice how much better their trucks are running...why go back to regular diesel? Now if these truckers start to advertise that they are running on biodiesel, the American people will start to support these truckers and the companies they drive for. Once people know the facts, there is no going back.

    • I suggest looking at BD not as a replacement technology - and becoming embroiled in arguments about long-term agricultural trends (regardless of present-day US farm subsidies, the fact remains that arable regions are being depleted), but one that ’capitalizes’ on what already exists, and often ends up in the waste stream - used vegetable oil. I think of it as an intermediate step, one that we can easily employ today to, at least individually, reduce the price and the environmental consequences of petroleum.
      I have been sincerely and enthusiastically seeking avenues to build such a ’refinery’ in my locale - one that could bring employment at a living wage to many people who will process both the fuel as well as soap from the glycerin - all as part of reclaiming an urban brownfield.
      If anyone has suggestions/contacts/investment capital - please write to me at admin-at-299e-dot-net
      Thank You!

    • Not only American farmers are subsidiesed in the fashion you are describing - take Europe f. e..
      But in order to maximize profits companies will definitely not use the crops of developed countries like
      U.S. or Europe.
      Also the press giving as the view as if Brazilians are the major contributors to the deforestation of the rainforest, it is the international investment, which does the damage! There is endless list of who is doing that.
      Why have a fuel solution, which still generate fumes and exhausts and which also takes lots of chemical stabilizers, in order to keep this fuel useable f. e. in winter time. Hydrogen can be transmitted through electrical wires to fuel station plants, so this even solves the transportation
      issue, too.

    • Must be magic, how do you transfer a volitile gas such as hydrogen down a bunch of copper or silver wires?

      Cmon, how do you get the gas in and out of the wires?

    • "I don’t think they are going to start choping down the rainforest?" What planet have you been on? In MAy 2005, the Brazilian govt said that the chopping down was accelerating---mostly because of the cycle: timber cut, then cattle, then ownership rights, then sale to farmers for growing govt subsidized soybeans for biodiesel. Brazil is now the worlds #1 supplier of soybeans. Europe has said that to prevent competition with food growing, it will have to begin importing soybeans to meet its biofuel goals. Everywhere, planting food crops on good farmland increases ag runnoff---a major pollution source. It has led to "dead zones" off the river deltas of many large rivers such as the missippi. The present systems in place in the US, Brazil and Europe, do not meet many of the goals that they were intended to, especially as an environmental benefit. Using prime farmland for growing food crops for fuel is a profoundly crummy choice for land use. It’s akin to covering prime farmland in solar cells, only doing thatwhich would also be stupidwould at least be more environmentally sound.
      Using food for fuel increases agricultural runoff, silt buildup and pollution in rivers, and worsens the so-called dead zones that form offshore river deltas, such as the Mississippi. It adds CO2 to the atmosphere (except in the rare instance when it is captured and used), usually uses coal as a heat source, and it is questionable whether there is a net air-pollution benefit when added to fuel. In Brazil, massive swaths of the Amazon are continually being cut down for biofuel use. And all of it made possible by huge government subsidies. The pro-environmental reasons pale in comparison to the negative effects. It is more about politics than anything.
      It does, however, ease dependency on oil imports. It does so at the expense of the environment!!!
      Look, growing corn, rapeseed, soy, etc, takes a lot of sunlight. But it also takes a lot of water, fertilizer (made from natural gas), plowing, processing (with heat from burining coal) all to make a fuel that has less energy than other fuels, in the case of ethanol (which also has a higher VOC so it might not be beneficial in gasoline for the atmosphere. Bio diesel requires methanol, which is proven to mix well with water (groundwater and surface water), and is a proven very troublesome pollutant. This is more about politics (vote buying and contributions) than about environmental benefits.
      Would you favor putting solar panels over farmland? It would be more environmentally sound, but not a good use of the land. I likethe part about the deserts, though.

    • The only reason the Ag runoff is a polllutant is because companies like Monsanto sell you toxins as fertilizer. While in the short run these chemicals raise yield they provide an economic crunch that puts farms out of business. Namely the high yields drive the price down while the chemicals sterilize the soil so the farmer is forced to buy more and more chemicals to maintain the yields. It is a catch22 with the winner being Monsanto.
      Proper crop rotation and modern organic techniques can provide a sustainable crop yield with no pollutive runoff. Thus solves the problem. Bio-diesel is not a silver bullet anser to our fuel problems but it does provide a needed crutch and a bridge to the future. It can be used with existing hardware which will buy us much needed time for the costly investment of switching over to hydrogen/solar/wind etc.

      A good solution today is better than a perfect solution tomorrow
      Because we can all agree that time is running out on this particular problem. The crunch time is here.

    • You are on crack. Please put down the pipe and learn a little about science.

      Hydrogen transmitted down wires.

      Tin-foil makes a nice hat, too.

    • One of the answers to the ’problem’ of converting food production into biodiesel for fuel, at least in the temperate latitudes, is industrial hemp.
      It can be grown on the effluent from factory farms and sewage treatment ponds and with use of the right cultivars (eg. Fin315 or similar) produce a significant quantity of oil seed.
      The following experiment in NZ showa a way forward in making this possible

      *************
      Media Awareness Project

      New Zealand: Hemp Tested For Sewage Treatment
      URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v05.n1919.a03.html
      Newshawk: Beth
      Rate this article Votes: 0
      Pubdate: Tue, 06 Dec 2005
      Source: Manawatu Evening Standard (New Zealand)
      Contact: editor@msl.co.nz
      Website: http://www.manawatueveningstandard.co.nz/
      Address: PO Box 3, Palmerston North, Manawatu, New Zealand
      Fax: +64 6 350 9836
      Copyright: 2005 Manawatu Evening Standard
      Author: Jill Galloway
      Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?330 (Hemp - Outside U.S.)

      HEMP TESTED FOR SEWAGE TREATMENT

      Feilding has its own crop of hemp which scientists are testing to check its anti-pollution powers for
      rivers.

      Hemp looks like marijuana but has less than 100th of the hallucinogenic THC chemical in it than the
      illegal drug has.

      Massey University horticulture lecturer Mike Nichols says the trial planting covering a fifth of a
      hectare is about 40 centimetres tall and masters student Randall Gibson has just begun taking
      samples from plants.

      "Hemp is known to be a good absorber of nitrogen and phosphorous, both of which are river
      pollutants," Dr Nichols says.

      The planting has been done in conjunction with the Feilding sewage treatment plant, which has
      treated waste going into the Oroua River.

      The hemp is in "tertiary treated waste" which means it has gone through several treatments before
      being put on paddocks, Manawatu District Council waste manager Bill Smith says.

      It’s the hemp plant’s rapid growth and use that makes it attractive as a trial crop.

      "Hemp has many uses, including fibre for clothes or to make a tough material which can even be
      used as a replacement for some plastics in cars," Dr Nichols says.

      He has a licence to grow the hemp and has told Feilding’s police, as the crop looks like marijuana.

      The cultivar being grown could grow to be more than 2 metres tall. Some plant types grow to 4
      metres, Dr Nichols says.

      "Although it’s early days, the results look promising and hemp has a lot of potential as a crop which
      can take nutrients out before they reach water," Mr Gibson says.

      The hemp crop is being grown at three planting densities and will be tested monthly to check
      absorption rates of phosphorus and nitrogen.
      MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman

    • re scarcasm on hydrogen down wires-
      The refrence is to electroliticly produced hydrogen

    • Here is an Irish "refinery", that is up and running.
      They purchase locally farmed biomass, and then process out the fibre for animal feedstuffs, and then sell the biodiesel back to local hauliers and farmers.

      All set up and helped by the government in Brussels.

      If the link doesn`t work, just run a search on —EILISH OILS.

      [http://www.eilishoils.com/]

      Also SUNDANCE RENEWABLES these people are from Wales. and are collecting and refining waste oils from caterers.

      [http://www.sundancerenewables.org.uk/biodp/uvo.htm]

      The age of crude oil is over.

    • To crack smoker no. 2: do you know what the efficiency of generating electricity form hydrogen is? What the losses are over transmission systems? What the waste heat component is to the atmoshpere?

  • If we spent as much money on alternative energy solutions as we do on war...we wouldn’t be n any more wars.

    • way to go dudes I am proud of you noone is fighting over soy beans GOD BLESS YOU Dennis Merrick Lueders Texas

    • Believe it or not; but the volkswagens, audis, and all the european diesel engines, with Bosch fuel pumps run more or less on pure vegetable oil.

      Rapeseed oil. Olive oil. Sunflower oil. Corn oil.

      "Bio diesel" is a euphimism. There are miles of info out on the net. Most veg oils require a small amount of white spirit. Even used cooking oil from restaurants, once filtered, provides excellent fuel.

      Any search engine, with "veg oil motoring"/ "cooking oil bio diesel."

      NO MORE FOSSIL FUELS>

    • The big reason that the first world corporations keep the lid on veg oil is that it also means "portable electricity".

      Leave the grid....

      Electrical power from sunflowers...

      ..http://www.justgenerators.co.uk/pages/Briggs_Pro_Diesel_4000.htm

  • I have only this Portuguese version, sorry.
    The title is "Biodiesel, a false solution for a real problem".
    For any comments my email is <jfgf.consult@mail.telepac.pt>
    Jorge

    Biodiesel, uma falsa solução para um problema verdadeiro

    Jorge F. G. de Figueiredo [*]

    Com a aproximação do Pico de Hubbert — o pico máximo da produção petrolífera mundial — muita gente parece entrar em transe. Surgem assim propostas absolutamente irrealistas, quando não disparatadas. Uma delas é a peregrina ideia de que os biocombustíveis — biodiesel e bioetanol — poderiam vir a substituir os combustíveis convencionais de origem fóssil numa proporção significativa, em misturas com diferentes proporções. Ora, pelo menos no caso do biodiesel isso é praticamente impossível e nem sequer desejável.

    Cada hectare de girassol, uma das plantas adequadas para produzir o biodiesel (a outra é a colza), pode produzir 0,68 tonelada de biodiesel. A União Europeia fixou metas de produção de biodiesel para o período 2005-2010. Essas metas vão dos 3,2 milhões de toneladas equivalentes de petróleo (tep) em 2005 até 10,3 milhões de tep em 2010. Ora, para atingir tais metas seria preciso dedicar a essa cultura áreas que vão dos 4,7 milhões de hectares (2005) até os 15 milhões de hectares (2010). Isso corresponde a uma proporção de 5,7% (2005) a 18,2% (2010) da terra arável disponível na Europa dos 25. O quadro abaixo resume estes dados:

    UE-25: Projecções do consumo de gasóleo nos transportes
    UE-25 2005 2010
    Consumo de diesel (Mtep) 159,9 177,8
    Meta p/ biodiesel (Mtep) 3,2 10,2
    Biodiesel do girassol (t/ha) 0,68 0,68
    Terra necessária p/ biodiesel (ha) 4.705.882 15.000.000
    Terra arável na UE-25 (ha) 82.400.000 82.400.000
    Proporção da terra arável (%) 5,7% 18,2%

    Na realidade, basta pensar na imensa proporção da terra arável que seria desviada para a produção de biodiesel para se ter sérias dúvidas acerca da factibilidade de um tal projecto. E se se considerasse apenas a Europa dos 15, a proporção de terra arável a ser utilizada seria ainda pior. Assim, é muitíssimo duvidoso que fosse desejável desviar uma tão grande proporção de terras agrícolas boas para a produção de alimentos com a produção desse substitutivo do gasóleo. Trata-se de um assunto com muitas implicações, até mesmo de ordem ética e moral.

    Tenciona a UE substituir o consumo europeu de combustíveis fósseis por biocombustíveis numa proporção de 2% em 2005, que irá aumentando progressivamente até chegar a 5,75% em 2010 (Directiva 2003/30/CE). Estas percentagens incluem também a gasolina, a ser substituída por bioetanol. É verdade que a produção do bioetanol (que pode ser extraído da beterraba, do trigo e da batata) é menos devoradora de terra que a do biodiesel. Mas, seja como for, estar-se-á a desviar estes outputs agrícolas de finalidades alimentares e a utilizar mais terra agrícola adicional. Ora esta não é infinita. A Europa dos 15 tem apenas 53,2 milhões de hectares de terra agrícola disponível e a Europa dos 25 tem 82,4 milhões de hectares. Se se adicionassem os dois candidatos à UE (Bulgária e Roménia) tem-se a Europa dos 27, com 95,7 milhões de hectares de terra agrícola.

    Assim, mesmo admitindo a factibilidade de um tal projecto, verifica-se que há pelo menos uma questão de timing: não é provável que se possa pôr a produzir os 15 milhões de hectares destinados ao biodiesel em apenas cinco anos, além das infra-estruturas logísticas e industriais (fábricas de éster metílico) correspondentes. Ora, o timing aqui é uma questão crucial pois o pico petrolífero vai certamente verificar-se antes do ano 2010. Os interessados na questão do pico de Hubbert têm a oportunidade de participar na próxima conferência da Association for Study of Peak Oil (ASPO), que decorrerá em Lisboa dias 19 e 20 de Maio nas instalações da Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (ver http://www.cge.uevora.pt/aspo2005/).

    Mas não é apenas a questão da terra que está posta em causa com a falsa solução do biodiesel. É também a dos próprios custos de produção desse combustível. É voz corrente que o seu preço actual é quatro a cinco vezes mais elevado do que o gasóleo normal de origem fóssil. Se assim é, que preço terá de atingir o barril de petróleo para viabilizar este projecto de substituição de combustíveis? Se o barril de petróleo atingir o preço nominal de US$380 em 2015, como prevê o banco francês de investimento Ixis-CIB, fazendo a interpolação obtem-se cerca de US$ 215 em 2010. Assim, mesmo que se admitisse que o custo de produção do biodiesel não aumentasse nesse período (hipótese improvável), na melhor das hipóteses ficará elas por elas em relação ao petróleo.

    Em Portugal fracassou o projecto de demonstração do biodiesel, efectuado com a colaboração da Carris e da Câmara Municipal de Lisboa. O referido projecto foi efectuado com biodiesel importado e caro e a fábrica de éster metílico prevista para Évora nunca chegou a funcionar. Plantações imensas de girassol no Alentejo ficaram no chão, pois nunca chegaram a ser colhidas. Na verdade, foi uma demonstração pseudo-ecológica para satisfazer uma opinião pública sensível a essas questões. Contudo, quer com gasóleo quer com biodiesel os motores de Ciclo Diesel emitem partículas sólidas na mesma, o que prejudica a saúde dos utentes que as respiram. Não basta pintar girassóis nos autocarros da Carris para ele ser verdadeiramente ecológico. A verdadeira ecologia tem de ter consistência, viabilidade económica e ser real.

    O grave nesta questão do biodiesel, pelo menos do ponto de vista português, é que se estão a dissipar muitos esforços com uma solução que não tem pés para andar. Tais esforços no rumo errado desviam aqueles que deveriam estar a ser aplicados no rumo certo, ou seja, o da única solução em veículos de propulsão alternativa que é verdadeiramente factível e aplicável no plano imediato: a dos veículos a gás natural (VGNs).

    Os VGNs estão plenamente desenvolvidos do ponto de vista tecnológico (já há mais de 4 milhões em circulação no mundo todo); todos os grandes fabricantes de veículos, ligeiros ou pesados, dispõem de versões a gás natural; podem ser generalizados no país em curto prazo; beneficiam o ambiente pois a molécula de metano tem apenas um átomo de carbono; beneficiam a balança de pagamentos portuguesa com a redução da factura petrolífera; não implicam um grande salto tecnológico pois funciona nos motores clássicos do Ciclo Otto; tem custos de investimento e de exploração reduzidos, competitivos com a gasolina e com o gasóleo; constituem uma solução perfeitamente generalizável, tanto para frotistas como para particulares; e são uma solução para o futuro, pois o esgotamento do petróleo no planeta verificar-se-á muito antes do esgotamento do gás natural.

    É relativamente fácil iniciar em Portugal e no imediato um projecto de generalização dos VGNs em escala maciça. Basta para isso instalar postos públicos de abastecimento de gás natural comprimido (GNC) nas principais cidades portuguesas. Os cinco únicos postos agora existentes no país não são para utilização pública e sim para o abastecimento de determinadas frotas. A instalação de postos pode ser conseguida com um mínimo de apoio governamental, desde que haja vontade política nesse sentido. A Alemanha neste momento está a instalar novos postos públicos de GNC à razão de um por semana. E nós em Portugal ainda não temos nenhum. Aqui está uma tarefa meritória e útil que pode ser empreendida por este novo governo.
    10/Maio/2005

    [*] Economista especializado em energia. Vice-Presidente da Associação Portuguesa do Veículo a Gás Natural (http://www.apvgn.pt). As opiniões expressas não implicam necessariamente as da APVGN.

    • CARO AMIGO

      È NATURAL QUE PUXE A BRASA PARA A SUA SARDINHA....
      ACHO QUE A SOLUÇÃO TAMBEM NÃO É O GÁS NATURAL....É O HIDROGÉNIO...
      POIS O UNICO RESIDUO É VAPOR DE ÁGUA...
      CUMPRIMENTOS
      CARLOS CORREIA

  • just to point out a simple point the diesel ( compression ignition ) engine was originally designed to run on filtered ( low processed ) hempseed oil. There is absolutely no mechanical or combustion physics excuse for not using bio-diesel routinely. There are however several mechanical and ECONOMIC reasons to use it as a primary fuel.

    regards grem

    • Get rid of those nasty polluting, soil & water destroying, diseased cattle....and we will have plenty of land available for biofuel crops.

      I’m all for biodiesel and will be using it exclusively on our new (pending) adventure. It’s makes perfect sense.
      www.outonthelimb.blogspot.com

    • The term biodiesel is usually used for the fatty acid methylesters that result from the reaction of vegetable oil (triacylglycerols) with methanol and lye (sodium hydroxide; chemical formula is NaOH). Although it is derived from vegetable oil, biodiesel is not the same thing as vegatable oil. Biodiesel is less viscous than vegetable oil, and so it is easier to use in existing diesel engines. As others have pointed out, it has excellent lubricity and low sulfur and particulate emissions. IMHO, the hard part is producing vegetable oil in sufficient quantities to make a serious dent in our use of petroleum products. I’m thinking about it....

    • Whilst thinking, or indeed, instead of thinking, join the discussion/plan.
      http://forums.biodieselnow.com/forum.asp?FORUM_ID=50.

      The big problem for the west is that a bunch of psychopaths have got control over most of the crude oil of the planet. The (western) oil companies would like to extract and sell that first.

    • This begs the question of where the vegetable oil comes from. Obviously from vegetative growth. But what promotes vegetative growth? Obviously sunlight, water and fertile soil. And how do you get fertile soil? Not so obviously by adding to and maintaining the fertility and tilth. Before this gets to be circular, following all the reasoning, it generally requires more energy to plant, control weeds, and keep soil productive than is possible to extract from biodiesel grown on that soil. Remember, a lot of the energy is left in the biomass after the oil is expressed. In other words, if the biodiesel from a farm were to be used to keep the farm running and productive, i.e., to be used in all the farming processes as well as the production of fertilizer, even if it is totally organic, there would be an energy shortfall. Biodiesel would make sense if means for maintaining soil fertility could be harvested by utilizing the sun’s energy (sea kelp?) and very low-energy farming techniques are employed (Amish farming?). In the highly mechanized energy wasteful farming methods employed in America, biodiesel is a scam if it it is touted to replace fossil hydrocarbon fuel for the general public, especially in internal combustion engines for domestic at-will travel.

    • Biodiesel is one of the answers (I’m running B100 made from scavanged fry oil from the local restaurants).
      If an agricultural supply is wanted in the northern hemisphere, the answer is industrial hemp. A cultivar with maximum oil seed production like Fin 315 or the Canadian developments from that base is required. Plant it on the waste stream from the cattle factories and sewage outfalls, as in the Australian experiments, for a supply of nutrient . Doesn’t require herbicide, pesticide, etc. and even the fibre can be utilized, as well as the oil.
      The energy left in the biomass after the oil is extracted goes into ’protein supplements’, animal feed, etc.
      The energy left in the waste from the biodiesel conversion process is compostable, and goes back into the growing cycle.
      Economically possible.
      In the USA, politically impossible. An that’s the problem.
      Reefer madness uber alles.
      Good luck to all of us.

    • Hello all - I actually am running B100 in my diesel scout II - it works great. Better still - as others have mentioned you can make biodiesel out of waste oil - and you can also modify a diesel engien to run on plant oils directly. Minnesota is going to make it so that all diesel in the state has 2% biodiesel. Oregon - via a company called Sequential is going to have a commercial pump available in Eugene Oregon. It really is an answer for the short term.......long term may be diesel hybrids. Anyway - it works and its a real answer and its something you can do to fight the war on terrorism while you fight the neoconservative US agenda.

    • Never been on a farm or operated a tractor have you? My tractor can till many acres of land with less than one gallon of diesel. An don’t even mention chemicals. When you use good composted manure (gives of heat and methane for other uses), you can mantain good growing conditions with less than 50lbs of fertilizer per acre. When we get our BioDiesel plant going, we will be working the land with waste fryer oil. We can "drill" for oil in our neighborhood restaurants. All of my vehicle purchases from now will be diesel and they will all run on BioDiesel. You have to start somewhere so start at home – Texas. You will never find a more ecologicaly friendly group of people than the small farmers. Can you think of a better way to dispose of waste fryer oil than to burn it place of fossil fuels? I think not.

  • BIKE, USE YOUR BIKE, RIDE IT EVERYWHERE, THEN MAYBE EARTH WILL REST....

  • I weel go nou an geet me sum of that there b-o diesel.

    tanks alot

    • It is time to realise that biodiesel will not only run cars and trucks and trains and boats, but also, with very little modification, biodiesel will also run as aviation fuel.
      Not that the large oil companies will actively push for the introduction of biodiesel as jet fuel.
      Because the asians have control of the production.

  • first of all let me tell you where i am coming from. i am conservative who does not believe in kyoto or other global warming bunk. if global warming is happening there is nothing that you or i can do about it. that said, i believe in green energy as part of a national security agenda. biodiesel is probably the best and most commonsense way to move from an oil import economy to a self sufficient sustainable "home grown" energy society. i don’t see the "big oil" companies as the problem. I see governments like the UK who derive a huge amount of tax revenue from the rising price of oil. it does not benefit Gordon Brown one bit if suddenly we all go from 20 miles to the gallon to 100. think about it.

    R Pettengill

  • I am an organic farmer.....I just want some things to at least be thought about from the view of an organic farmer. For bio-diesel to be truly effective its ingredients must be grown organically, and sustainably or we are just trading problems. I will explain: commercial farming practices are raping the earth, corn and soybeans as major row crops strip the earths soil.....crop rotation (along with organic practices) is an ancient, simple practice and can prevent this. Instead they use a combination of pesticides, herbicides and synthetic fertilizers. This allows them to plant the same crop in the same spot year atfer year. Cost effective??? We are gaining superbugs, superweeds and have disease in the field that is then sprayed with more chemicals. A vicious cycle that is not good for mother earth or her inhabitants.
    There is one other very strong point I need to make. In organic farming we use animal manure as our source of nitrogen......in commercial farming they use a synthetic nitrogen. How is this made??? I cannot write you the step by step process, but I do know that petrolium is used in the process. This doesn’t seem very logical to me. Essentially non-organic bio-diesel needs oil to grow the plants used in making it.
    I am not saying that I am against boi-diesel. We actually own a 1970 mercedes bio-diesel, love it! I am saying that we have the knowledge to do it responsibly.....so lets do it right!!!!

    • Hemp, Hemp, Hemp<hemp, and Hemp.

      Hemp; hemp,.... hemp.
      Grows well without pesticide, uses little fertiliser. Incredible yields of oil, fibre, and feedstuff.
      Good also for textiles and paper and itsunseeded female flowers produce medicines that are universally known to be the amongst the oldest and best on the planet. The only downside is that widespread use damages the financial returns of its competitor crops, such as cotton and timber.

      Its` oils and fibres are powerful and sustainable competitors to non-renewable crude (mineral)oil.
      Hemp, hemp, hemp.

    • I hear it’s great in brownies too!!!

  • What is the cost to produce biodiesel? cdvorchak@hotmail.com

    • Most analysis currently has it consuming more energy to create biodiesel than you get from it. This is the major problem! Before jumping on the bandwagon for ideological reasons, do the math.

  • Sorry, what I really meant to ask is what is the cost to produce ethanol?

    • Cost? Cost? , Well, lets see; Ethanol, like bio-diesel, has an infinite production cycle, the rest of the costs, such as labour, machinery, land, refining, distribution  etc. etc., are of course controlled by location, localised costs and so on. Which is why the chinese are planting thousands/millions of acres of palm oil trees. Crude oil has a finite production cycle. When its gone, it`s gone.

      Why use ethanol?

      The "petrol/ethanol engine" is a very poor cousin to the "diesel engine", it has higher operating temperatures, and produces less power per litre of fuel.

  • Those touting biodiesel include everyone from Bush to the environmental movement. However they are all wrong; the energy returns from biodiesel, if examined from a thermodynamic perspective, shows that it and ethanol do not and cannot offer a sustainable means of providing a significant amount of our energy needs. http://petroleum.berkeley.edu/papers/biofuels/nrrethanol.2005.pdf
    Although this analysis was predictably refuted by the US corn grower association, it stands up to close examination and has not been properly refuted to date.
    Sure using waste cooking fat and even chicken entrails and abbatoir waste (yes some are doing this!) may cut down on otherwise wasteful practices but it is completely illusionary that biofuels can do anything like provide the amounts of energy we now produce, if made out of food crops.
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/guardianweekly/story/0,,1363756,00.html
    However if we are talking biofuel and more especially biodiesel then the most exciting potential crop is not what we would normally consider a crop but Algae - algaeculture can indeed provide a sustainable means of producing biodiesel. There is lots of information out there but here is one practical result.
    http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3665147a11,00.html?CFID=1227253&CFTOKEN=93035596

    If there is going to be a shift towards biofuels we need to examine all of the factors; nearly half the world is undernourished according to the FAO. If we start taking food out of peoples mouths to feed to far more demanding industrial factories, which is going to come out on top?

    If we are going to consider biofuels we cannot simply assume that they provide some sort of magic panacea for our continuance of our present profligate lifestyles in the North. there is a whole other world out there that is hungry and once food begins to be diverted towards fuel production these people will be even worse off than they presently are, if this is possible.

    The posts on this list are short on proper analysis and long on seeking means to continue to use motor cars as if they are in some way normal. Sure, use your fat oil but dont shift to soy, palm or canola. Soy is destroying not only the amazon but much else beside - the panatal, the pampas, the atlantic rainforest. It is genetically modified to resist herbicides - in 1997 argentina used 13.7 million liters of roundup (glyphosate), in 2005 it used over 150 million liters. That is a more than tenfold increase in less than ten years. Canola is also mostly GM, esp in canada. Palm oil has been responsible for the loss of more tropical rainforest in SE Asia than any other single event, including illlegal logging.

    biofuels? Hello, wake up and start looking at this debate from both sides or dont even go there.

  • How is biodiesel sustainable given the current energy needs? It energy intensive to produce. It seems another false hope.

  • If you’re not familiar with diesel generators you may be wondering what they are and how they work. A diesel generator is the combination of a diesel engine and an alternator or electric generator which is used to generate electrical energy. The alternator is the generator which generates the electrical power, whereas the engine is used to rotate the electrical generator, however diesel generators are mostly used as an emergency power supply.

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    Suction/ Intake
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    Power
    Exhaust
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    Suction Stroke
    The piston moves from the centre due to the inlet valve opening, the air is then drawn into the cylinder. When enough air is drawn with pressure the suction valve gets closed at the end of the stroke.

    Power Stroke
    Fuel is inserted into the hot compressed air, it starts burning and then maintains the pressure, when the piston reaches the top centre the supply of fuel turns off. The injection of the fuel at the end of the compression stroke continues until the cut off point. The inlet and the exhaust valve remain closed and the hot gases and compressed air now expand in the cylinder which causes the piston to move down until it reaches the bottom dead centre.

    Exhaust Stroke
    During this stroke, the piston again moves up and allows the exhaust valve opens forcing the inlet and fuel valve to become closed. The burnt fuel gases escape due to their own expansion, the remaining gases are pushed out by the upward movement of the piston through the exhaust valve. When it comes to the end of this stroke, the exhaust valve closes, and the cycle is completed.

    Diesel Generator Parts
    Below are the following components of a diesel generator:

    Engine
    Alternator
    Fuel System
    Governor
    Voltage Regulator
    Cooling and Exhaust Systems
    Lubrication System
    Flywheel
    Control Panel
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