Your Questions About Biodiesel Production

admin answers:

First writer is correct. Another consideration when looking at Bio-Fuels is not just the energy costs, but the Water costs. Here in the Midwest, Water is constantly in shortage. Corn based Ethanol from irrigated land uses 2000 gallons of water just to grow one bushel of corn. And ethanol has LESS energy than gasoline. However, Soybeans that can be made into Bio-Diesel, only need about 300gallons of water per bushel…and Bio-Diesel actually has MORE energy/gallon than straight Diesel.

We can never produce enough Bio Fuels to offset oil imports in any significant way, but they can be used effectively to ‘Stretch’ our supplies for a while untill we can come up with a suitable alternative.

There is a GREAT article about Ethanol Production in the latest issue of Car and Driver magazine. It will answer alot of your questions about Bio-Fuels in relation to the energy issues today. BTW…There is NO CRISIS!!! Just temporary price spikes due to political instability in the world today.

admin answers:

Running straight vegetable oil doesn’t require methanol. If you need to convert oils and triglycerides then ethanol will also do it. But ethanol is drinking alcohol so you have to deal with the tax man and such when you make or handle ethanol.

Methanol isn’t as toxic as it is made out to be, but you do need to avoid drinking, inhaling or getting it all over you.

admin answers:

It appears the EU supports the use of biodiesel. If you look at the European Biodiesel Board’s website you’ll see that Spain produced significant quanities of biodiesel in 2005. Whether or not it is legal for private production is another. You should contact the EBB and ask them. You should probably also contact your local government officials.

admin answers:

If you’re checking out home biodiesel production and looking to meet european standards, you could try contacting one of the current biodiesel manufacturers and asking them what european standards they are complying to.

They would also be up on any recent changes or upcoming changes that need to be met.

Not sure of current list of manufacturers but dmoz has a list of links one of which might have them ..

Http://dmoz.org/Science/Technology/Energy/Renewable/Biomass_and_Biofuels/Biodiesel/

Some EU law links on this topic ..

Http://www.biofuelsystems.com/atex.htm

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/atex/index_en.htm

admin answers:

Nature has kept waste vegetable oil for millions of years and we’ve still been able to use it as fuel. It might take a bit more refining but it could still be done.