Biodiesel can be made from natural resources which are readily available.

There are many good reasons why biodiesel is a good fuel alternative to gasoline. Primarily, it is safer to the environment because it completely comes from renewable sources, is non-toxic, burns clean, and is totally biodegradable. Secondly, it is a renewable fuel and can easily be sourced out from natural, safe resources such as vegetable oils, soybean oils, canola oils, recycled cooking oils, sunflower oils, and animal fats.

Used as an alternative fuel, biodiesel has more benefits compared to petroleum. Its engine performance is either equal or even better than that of petroleum and it is readily available for people’s automobile use as it can be found in around 800 locations around the United States with 600 fleets currently using biodiesel blends. In 2005, an estimated 75 million gallons of biodiesel were sold, according a website of the US Environmental Protection Act.

Because of its safety and environmental-friendly components, biodiesel passed the standards of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments and has subsequently been tested for all other environmental safety standard requirements by the government and passed them all compared to other alternative fuels which had some harmful components. As an alternative fuel, biodiesel also cuts greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by over 50 percent compared to petroleum diesel which only reduces GHG emissions by 10 percent, according to a report by the US Department of Energy. With people becoming more aware about the protection of the natural environment and making individual contributions to stop the global warming, the use of biodiesel in everyday personal automobile use is seen as one big step in this endeavor. Environmental groups are also seen to push for greater efforts toward achieving this universal goal.

Converting to biodiesel is easy as it works with most current diesel engines. While it is presently more expensive than the regular gasoline sold for automobile use, the price is expected to go down in the coming years as more people convert to it and the demand increases. Since it can be made from natural resources which are readily available within the country, responding to an increasing demand is expected to be met without so much as a problem from the levels of production, marketing, and distribution. The expected increase in the people’s need for a more safe and environmental-friendly fuel in biodiesel is seen as a positive response to the growing concern in global warming. A study revealed that an estimated 33 percent of vehicle harmful emissions contribute to the global warming phenomena.

While touted as the best alternative fuel of the new future, biodiesel is not only highly recommended for daily automobile use, but is also being pushed as another alternative energy source for both generating and heating purposes. A test conducted by the National Oilheat Research Alliance (NORA) revealed that 80 percent low-sulfur heating oil and a 20 percent biodiesel (B20) decreased emissions of sulfur oxide by almost 80 percent or even more. Emissions of nitrogen oxide decreased by around 20 percent while carbon dioxide similarly lowered by 20 percent.

Going “green” in everything that people do is the new way to doing things. From recycling to reusing to reducing to making use of renewable and alternative sources of energy such as biodiesel, solar heat, water, and wind lead to better earth preservation and living in harmony with nature. Biodiesel is the future in alternative fuel, knowing that already people must do their share in saving our environment and start using what is only the best and safest for both man and the earth.

I have to confess I didn’t know much about ethanol until today, when I decided to actually make the effort to do some research on the subject.

What had I known previously? That for several years, gasoline had been mandated to be mixed with 10% ethanol, because it was better for the environment. However, because of the law of unintended consequences, the use of ethanol was driving up the cost of corn (from which it was made), and causing the poorer people of the world even more misery as they were now unable to purchase it cheaply as their staple food.

So, today, as I said, I began doing some research.

Ethanol can be made from several substances. In Brazil – the world’s largest ethanol producing country, they make ethanol out of sugar cane rather than corn. Sugar cane has a 30% greater concentration of sucrose than corn, and is also much easier to extract. In addition, the bagasse (the fibrous residue remaining after the stalks are crushed to extract their juice) is then used for a variety of purposes – nothing is wasted or dumped into landfills.

So why does the United States make its ethanol out of corn, I wondered. (One doesn’t really need to research that. Farmers already had corn crops in place, probably, and want to make money out of that, and our politicians want to keep our farmers happy. That’s why the US adds a tariff to ethanol produced outside the United States. Brazil ethanol is much cheaper than that produced in the US, because it does not need to be converted into sucrose – it already is sucrose. (In addition, Brazilian producers don’t have to pay their workers near as much as American farmers have to pay theirs.)

CNN Money reported on August 7, 2007: “The reason we use corn and grains in this country to make ethanol is that’s what we produce best. It’s the easier thing for us to do at the moment,” said Matt Hartwig, spokesman for the Renewable Fuels Association. “The likelihood that cane will become a huge ethanol food stock isn’t high, though you may see it in the future.”

This despite the fact that ethanol made from sugar cane is: “about six times more economical to produce than corn ethanol, and has the potential to help the environment because it requires few chemicals to grow.”

It’s the Corn Lobby in the US government that is producing a shift over to sugar cane – the government simply has too much invested in its corn-into-ethanol programs.

The energy crisis has already prompted a war; that is if you believe conspiracy theorists and the media. There might be some truth to this matter, at least if we take a closer look at the dynamics of supply and demand of fuel all over the world.

What is BioFuel?

Biofuel is an energy source derived from recently deceased biological matter while fossil fuel (i.e. raw material for gasoline, kerosene, diesel and etc.). In theory biofuel can be derived from any carbonated source, but in practice it usually comes from plants like corn, palm, sugar cane, wheat, and algae. These feedstock sources are popular for the two most popular end products which are used for cars and machineries: bioethanol and biodiesel. Bioethanol comes from either sugar crops or fermented starch. Biofuel does not just come from plant crops, although a margin of them does.

Since bio fuel may be gaseous, liquid, or solid fuel, other categories also apply. Way up in the Tibetan mountains, biofuels have been in use for hundreds of years. Tibetans use manure from their goats, donkeys, horses, and cows as a substitute for wood. Animal waste are common pollutants, converting it into useful energy helps eliminate its negative effects.

Biowaste

Other alternative fuel resources are used oils. People eat, and thousands and millions of gallons of used oils are thrown down the drain, which leads to rivers and oceans. Oil does not decompose so recycling and converting it into biofuel is in order. In addition, landfills maybe of some use after all. Landfills emanate polluting gas which contains methane, a combustible gas which is the primary content of the gas we use for cooking, and heat.

Biofuel and Cars

Liquid biofuels are getting generous media attention because of the worsening air conditions in severely populated areas. Cars produce almost 60% of our air pollution. Vehicles need highly combustible energy to function. Liquids and gases are easier to handle because it can be contained and pumped, so handling is less expensive.

There are two types of biofuels that maybe used in cars: biodiesel and bioethanol. Biofuel is very popular in Europe. In that part of the world most car manufacturers make vehicles with diesel engines, so using biodiesel instead of pure diesel is a relatively easy transition. If a car is unmodified, owners may blend up to 20% biodiesel with regular diesel. Biodiesel comes from fats and used oils, these by products are the processed through transesterification. Transestirification is a chemical reaction produced by adding an acid base to the fats. The result is biodiesel.

Bioalcohol is produced when starch, sugar, and cellulose are fermented. The results are three popular types of alcohols: ethanol, butanol, and propanol. Among the three it is argued that either ethanol or biobutanol may be used in gasoline running cars, but it seems that biobutanol won the bid because it now called biogasoline. Biogasoline is formed by acetone, butanol, and ethanol fermentation and scientific modifications.

With social enlightenment and a new found concern for the welfare of the environment, more and more sustainable power resources are being discovered and invented.