Comments on: Photos: Betting big on biodiesel

Start-up GreenFuels Technologies uses algae to help curb power plant emissions, while others want to pump biodiesel into your car.

Algae? Nothing with vegetable oil.

I'm amazed that so little attnetion has been given by the leading governments of the benefits and practicalities of using vegetable oils as a sustainable fuel.
I already run my Citroen C5 on rape-seed oil. At a cost of nothing. I recycle the oil from my local takeaway food outlets which they give me for nothing.
My car runs better than it does on diesel and it costs me nothing at all.
In this supposedly fuel aware climate we are now in, no attention has been made to the easy and sustainable use of veg oil. In fact the UK government is very Unfriendly in its use. I am supposed to make a self declaration to the Customs & Excise and pay fuel duty of something like 26 pence per liter. If the governmet was at all serious in this issue it would firstly bring the use of this type of fuel more into the public domain, and secondly it should scrap this self disclosure on its use. I mean, I can use it for cooking without paying tax so why should I pay extra when I put it into my fuel tank.
For those interested in this use in their diesel motors visit www.vegoilmotoring.com
I am absolutely amazed that this issue hasn't been picked up by the Green Party or Friends of the Earth

[pigonthewing]

did you even bother to read the article?

From the article:
"Biodiesel, which is often created with vegetable oils from crops such as soybeans, can be used as an alternative to petroleum-based diesel fuel in cars or trucks."

From the Biodiesel website
(http://www.biodiesel.org/resources/biodiesel_basics/default.shtm):
"Biodiesel is made through a chemical process called transesterification whereby the glycerin is separated from the fat or vegetable oil. The process leaves behind two products -- methyl esters (the chemical name for biodiesel) and glycerin (a valuable byproduct usually sold to be used in soaps and other products)."

Reading is important.

[NewWorldDan]

Do your homework

You get your fuel from local food outlets. That's great, but there isn't enough of them for all but the tiniest fraction of drivers to get their fuel that way. It's also inconveinant. If the demand rose, you'd start paying for it. You also state that you're supposed to pay a fuel duty. That's a duty that's collected to subsidize road construction and maintenence. By not paying your fair share, you're unfairly taking advantage of the public roads. That's why you should "pay extra" when you put it in your tank. It's not about the fuel itself, it's a tax that's in theory, roughly proportinal to the wear and tear your car puts on the roads. Simply put, if you tried to commercially farm soy or canola for use as a fuel, you'd find that the end product would still come out to about 50% more than todays high gas prices. That's why no one does it. If it were more economical than gasoline, everyone would be using it.

Bio-Diesel

While I agree with most everything you have said I can only
speak to the government of the US. I do not think its so much a
lack of gov't attention here as it is a lack of media attention.
When was the last time that you watched the news and saw a
lead story that was positive or uplifting? The media would
rather talk about the problems of existing energy supplies then
the promise or hope associated with potential energy supplies.

[ecacofonix]

Biodiesel from Algae Link

A page that provides more info on biodiesel from algae - http://www.castoroil.in/reference/plant_oils/uses/fuel/sources/algae/biodiesel_algae.html

Hope this helps

NS, Castor Oil Online @ http://www.castoroil.in

[jjfa]

Betting big on biodiesel

At first glance this strikes me as an industry that could lend itself to multiple small scale production units which in turn could lead to providing employment to more impoverished communities in sunny countries? A large number of small algae farmers supplying a central processing plant? The economic benefits are obvious, if it works, but also by spreading the control over energy production more evenly it could have significant political implications. Perhaps I am getting ahead of facts - they still have to produce biodiesel on a commercial scale - but one can only hope that it works out.

[Gary Bridge]

Is biodiesel really bio? or biodegradable?

The folks are trying soooo hard here to produce a new fuel from
something such as waste french fry grease or growing algae to
press the "bio oils" from this algae to then go through
transestrification processes removing glycerine to end up with a
diesel substitute.

The product of their labors (albeit sulfur free) still floats on this
planet's water bodies just like the Exxon Valdez oil spill did and
still does. That is the problem herein with biodiesel. It doesn't
readily biodegrade. It isn't water soluble. It is still an OIL...

Biodiesel needs to become soluble with water - so once diluted
in water it could become a free lunch for mother nature's
microbes and all living plants and trees. To make biodiesel
water soluble, a magic atom of oxygen (derived from boiling
H2O into steam) needs to be catalyzed and attached as an OH
group to each molecule.

But what then? Biodiesel would become a blend of higher mixed
alcohols instead. By adding an oxygen atom to the simplest of
hydrocarbons or methane gas - converts it into a methanol
liquid. Add oxygen to ethane gas (two methanes) and it
becomes synthetic ethanol. Add an oxygen atom borrowed from
water to either C3 propane or C4 butane and these float on
water hydrocarbons become three-carbon propanol or four-
carbon butanol alcohols.

The magic to cleaning up this climate impaired planet might be
as simple as adding a "magic oxygen" atom to our fuel supplies
- and borrowing it from H2O on this blue planet - even seawater
can be boiled into steam.

Clouds of brown urban smog are principally unburned oily
hydrocarbons. When oxygen is added to a fuel's recipe and
thereby causing oily hydrocarbons it to become oxycarbon
alcohols - nearly complete oxidation combustion occurs and
what does leave the tailpipe as emissions is water soluble.
Emissions from combusting neat alcohols will dilute in the
planet's atmosphere of water vapor and further oxidize and thus
biodegrade.

Simply ask yourself the first question when looking at any new
biofuel being promoted - IS IT BIODEGRADABLE? IS IT WATER
SOLUBLE?

Just my two cents worth for those well meaning people who miss
the big picture here in their excitement to do anything to replace
a portion of oily fossil fuel usage on this planet.

G. C. Bridge