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Biodiesel is Good, But Be Careful - 4/2/08

At almost four dollars a gallon for diesel, trying to use vegetable oil in your tank is very tempting. Rudolph Diesel the inventor of the diesel engine used peanut oil on his first engine. Now home grown biodiesel is becoming a new trend. Diesel engine manufactures like Caterpillar is now certifying a number of their diesel engines to run on a mixture of 2:1 petroleum diesel and biodiesel. A few states are mandating the use of at least a small percentage of biodiesel to be used as an additive. Other states are sure to fallow.

Biodiesel is processed by a number of ways from used vegetable oil to animal fats. No manufacturer recommends using unprocessed used vegetable oil.

Biodiesel is rated by the percentage of the mixture with petroleum fuel. B100 would be 100% biodiesel, which B5 would be 5% biodiesel and 95% petroleum diesel.

The majority of biodiesel is produced from vegetable oils ranging from soybeans to rapeseed. The finished product is sulfur free and has a number of benefits over petroleum diesel. These include less soot, reduced emissions, and superior lubricity.

Some drawbacks to biodiesel are that it has solvent properties which can dissolve deposits in older fuel tanks, clogging fuel filters. The new low sulfur diesel fuel will have similar properties to be prepared either way. Biodiesel will also degrade faster and support more biological growth. It is not recommended to leave it in your tank longer than six months. It may gel at higher temperatures giving it a poor cold weather performance. Leave the pure cooking oil for the French fries.

Start making your own biodiesel fuel for only 70 cents a gallon! - Fuelmeister Biodiesel Processor

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