How do I prove that my biodiesel is different from the vegetable oil from which the diesel was derived? I am making biodiesel for a science project on a very very minimalistic budget (25 dollars). Is there a cheap yet effective way to tell the difference between biodiesel and vegtable oil? I do not have anything that runs diesel in my home. Please exclude things that can be derived locally, unless you know for a fact that this is something that can be found anywhere (i.e. in a supermarket).

Biodiesel is made by chemically reacting vegetable oil or animal fat (or combinations of oils and fats) with alcohol (usually nearly pure methanol or 200 proof ethanol) and a catalyst (sodium hydroxide, or lye). The oil is chemically acidic; the alcohol is chemically a base. This chemical reaction breaks the fat molecules in the oils into an ester, which is the biodiesel fuel, and glycerol. This reaction is called transesterification. Since the biodiesel is less dense than the glycerol, it floats on top of the glycerol and may be pumped off, or the glycerol can be drained off the bottom. The fuel can then be filtered and used in heating or lighting applications. Some people use it in diesel engines without further processing, but others recommend removing impurities (soap, un-reacted alcohol, and sodium hydroxide) by a washing process.

Waste Vegetable Oil (WVO) is vegetable oil that has become unfit for food preparation. The common causes of this degradation are: Chemical degradation, including oxidation. Its uses include: Animal feed additive. Fuel for waste-to-energy plants. Use as a biofuel, especially: As feedstock for the production of biodiesel by transesterification. But it was the waste vegetable oil (WVO) that MVNU”s Pioneer College Caterers paid a fee to get rid of each month that got him excited. Could the University somehow transform that to power maintenance equipment or even buses? That’s when he found two resources that made the idea a reality a company and a champion.

The concept of using vegetable oil as a fuel dates back to 1895 when Dr. Rudolf Diesel developed the first diesel engine to run on vegetable oil. He demonstrated his engine at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900 and described an experiment using peanut oil as fuel in his engine. Because used vegetable oil may contain a number of food particles and other contaminants, a biodiesel conversion kit also contains a special filter mounted near the engine block. This filtering process ensures that only heated vegetable oil reaches the engine, reducing the risk of clogged fuel lines and contamination of the engine block. Biodiesel fuel blends containing both petroleum and organic materials have already been filtered, so that fuel is not sent through the filter. Biodiesel blends also use oils which have been processed to remain liquefied regardless of air temperature.

The used vegetable oil mixed with the fuel drawn from the fuel tank 3 via the fuel line 4 and the throughflow quantity meter 20 is transferred via the fuel filter 5 and the temperature sensor 21 to the fuel pump 14. Because of the fuel return lines present in Diesel engines–the fuel pump delivers considerably more than the engine consumes, so-called dual line system in order to avoid used oil accumulations in the tank, the return line 18 must be carried back directly into the fuel line 4. The functions of the dual line system cooling and ventilation of the fuel can also be assumed by other known ventilation systems, if necessary.

A biodiesel kit is a great way to save a substantial amount of money on your fuel costs. The basic function of such a kit is to convert vegetable oil into biodiesel, a fuel source that can be used in vehicles that currently run on diesel fuel. It is important to note that not all car companies endorse the use of biodiesel fuel in their vehicles and will void the warranty if an engine is damaged by its use. Be sure to research this before buying a new vehicle with a diesel engine. For older diesel cars and trucks there are engine conversion kits that will make the change to cleaner burning biodiesel much easier.

Biodiesel kits are becoming very popular, especially with people who are using biodiesel exclusively. People who have large amounts of used vegetable oil at their disposal find a kit makes sense. It takes longer to make biodiesel using used oil then fresh oil, but it can still be done with the same outcome.

One of the best reasons for buying a biodiesel kit rather than building your own is that they have been designed by real engineers who have thought of things that may be you wouldn’t have thought about (such as safety features). One of the most important safety features you should be looking for when considering purchasing a biodiesel kit is a “closed system” processor which means that when the chemical reaction is taking place no fumes can escape, which is extremely important because if these fumes are inhaled they can be harmful to you.

The processing of biodiesel may require a number of biodiesel filters in order to ensure that the end product is of excellent quality. When you try to recycle waste vegetable or surplus corn oil and make them into biodiesel, you might need a biodiesel filter for your engine to make sure that contaminants can’t enter into the engine and damage it. Different biodiesel filters may be required for a number of different applications.

Biodiesel is made by chemically reacting vegetable oil or animal fat (or combinations of oils and fats) with alcohol (usually nearly pure methanol or 200 proof ethanol) and a catalyst (sodium hydroxide, or lye). The oil is chemically acidic; the alcohol is chemically a base. This chemical reaction breaks the fat molecules in the oils into an ester, which is the biodiesel fuel, and glycerol. This reaction is called transesterification. Since the biodiesel is less dense than the glycerol, it floats on top of the glycerol and may be pumped off, or the glycerol can be drained off the bottom. The fuel can then be filtered and used in heating or lighting applications. Some people use it in diesel engines without further processing, but others recommend removing impurities (soap, un-reacted alcohol, and sodium hydroxide) by a washing process. Cartridge biodoesel filters include spin on filters as well as filter components housed inside a permanent housing. Usually, a pump is used to feed these kinds of biodiesel filters.

1853-1976
Long before the advent of diesel engine, studies on conversion of vegetable oil into biodiesel were conducted in 1853 by the two scientists Duffy and Patrick. It was only on August 10, 1893 that Rudolf Diesel ran the first diesel engine at Augsburg, Germany and the day is still commemorated as the “International Biodiesel Day” every year in honor of that landmark event. In 1900 at the World Fair in Paris, Otto Company of France demonstrated a diesel engine that ran on peanut oil devised by Rudolf Diesel which was a pioneering effort in the development of biodiesel although strictly speaking it was not exactly biodiesel but biofuel since transesterification, the process for converting vegetable oil into biodiesel was unknown at that time. Rudolf Diesel being a visionary realized the important role the fuel made from biomass was going to play in future for running engines. However the makers of biofuel from vegetable oil were finding the process expensive and the petroleum industry took this opportunity to aggressively market petroleum diesel which was cheaper. Petroleum oil compared to vegetable oil was found to be less gelling and the diesel engines were modified accordingly by the manufacturers during the twenties to enable use of petroleum diesel. Biomass fuels like biodiesel as a result got shelved for many years and the manufacturing facilities fell into decay. In spite of this slump, the IC engines continued to use vegetable oil as fuel during the period from the twenties and up to the fifties in countries like the UK, France, Germany, Brazil, China and Japan. The first production of actual biodiesel was by Chavanne, a scientist at the University of Brussels in Belgium who got a patent for it in 1937. This patent was for the process of transesterification or alcoholysis by which vegetable oil was converted for use as fuel. The process involved treating vegetable oils with ethanol and methanol to replace glycerol with alcohol after separating fatty acid from the glycerol. This production process continued till the mid seventies.

1977-1989
A modified process of transesterification to produce biodiesel using ethanol was patented in 1977 by Parente, a Brazilian scientist. This process has since been recognized and accepted by the automobile industry as the standardized one for making biodiesel internationally. Another product ‘bio-kerosene’ by Tecbio owned by Parente has also been patented and certified by Boeing and NASA for use as aviation biodiesel. In 1979 a process was developed in South Africa whereby sunflower oil was converted to biodiesel by the process of transesterification. However it was not before 1983 that biodiesel suitable for use in automobile engine was produced, tested and accepted worldwide. The first plant using rapeseed oil to produce biodiesel at industrial scale was set up in 1989 by the Austrian firm Gaskoks.

1990-Present
Biodiesel plants started to be set up in many European countries from the early nineties. Continuous researches are being conducted to increase the proportion of the fuel up to 50% in combination with petroleum diesel. Service stations in Europe are selling 100% biodiesel. Minnesota in 2005 became the first state in the USA to stipulate minimum 2% biodiesel to be mixed in diesel fuel.

More articles:
Biodiesel Fundamentals – Biodiesel: Applications & Uses