New method for making diesel fuel uses vegetable oils

A Portuguese oil company plans to announce it is building a 6,500-barrel-a-day plant to make diesel fuel from vegetable oils using a method akin to refining oil.
The New York Times

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[ehoff61]

Hooray for Portugal

"Using algae, jatropha or oilseed crops like canola as a source of diesel would reduce carbon dioxide buildup in the atmosphere from diesel engines by 50 percent to 70 percent"<br /><br />"jatropha, a hardy shrub from Central America whose oil has long been burned in lamps"<br /><br />It just goes to show you that the 'materials and technology' for clean fuels has been around for centuries. It's only in the interest of profits that the Americans, the British, and all the other 'civilized' greed/power corrupt have refused to be conscientious citizens of this wonderful host planet.

[ehoff61]

Hooray for Portugal

"Using algae, jatropha or oilseed crops like canola as a source of diesel would reduce carbon dioxide buildup in the atmosphere from diesel engines by 50 percent to 70 percent"<br /><br />"jatropha, a hardy shrub from Central America whose oil has long been burned in lamps"<br /><br />It just goes to show you that the 'materials and technology' for clean fuels has been around for centuries. It's only in the interest of profits that the Americans, the British, and all the other 'civilized' greed/power corrupt have refused to be conscientious citizens of this wonderful host planet.

[spothannah]

new method

It's a start. Every little bit helps. We need to all work together. No doubt about it.

[spothannah]

new method

It's a start. Every little bit helps. We need to all work together. No doubt about it.

[Brad Hansen]

Not a new method

This method has been around since the 1930s, at least. Do a web search on "transesterfication".<br /><br />Galp Energia may have a new process that makes transesterfication more economical or faster, but the method is old, old, old.<br /><br />And the method doesn't "add hydrogen to oils" -- that process is called hydrogenation and produces solid fats, like margarine. Imagine trying to pump Crisco through a diesal fuel line. You'd have a lot of unhappy truckers!<br /><br />Transesterfication substitutes a hydrogen atom for a long chain ester, thus producing a more liquid, easier flowing product than the source vegetable oil -- exactly the opposite result from hydrogenation.

[Brad Hansen]

Not a new method

This method has been around since the 1930s, at least. Do a web search on "transesterfication".<br /><br />Galp Energia may have a new process that makes transesterfication more economical or faster, but the method is old, old, old.<br /><br />And the method doesn't "add hydrogen to oils" -- that process is called hydrogenation and produces solid fats, like margarine. Imagine trying to pump Crisco through a diesal fuel line. You'd have a lot of unhappy truckers!<br /><br />Transesterfication substitutes a hydrogen atom for a long chain ester, thus producing a more liquid, easier flowing product than the source vegetable oil -- exactly the opposite result from hydrogenation.