Biodiesel for beginners/Biodiesel 101

Biodiesel is made from vegetable oil or animal fat and is biodegradable. Biodiesel is made through a process called transesterification. This process makes vegetable oil and animal fat into esterified oil, which can be used as diesel fuel, or mixed with regular diesel fuel. Gas stations are selling biodiesel with pumps marked as B5, B20 or B100, where the letter “B” indicates it’s Biodiesel and the number indicates the percentage of Biodiesel mixed with regular Diesel. Pure Biodiesel is referred to as B100.

Any Diesel engine can run on Biodiesel. Though any type of vegetable oil or animal fat can be used to make biodiesel, soybean and rapeseed oil are the most popular types. Many biodiesel fans collect used oil from restaurants to make biodiesel at home. The emissions
from Biodiesel are lower than regular diesel and it’s biodegradable if spilled.

Commercially available Biodiesel is approved for use in the US and can be used in any older model Diesel vehicle without modifications. Where can you buy Biodiesel? Click this link to find out.

One thing to remember when using Biodiesel is that, in winter the fuel tends to gel which can make starting the car a challenge. To overcome this problem, the Biodiesel has to be mixed with “winterized” Diesel or an anti-gel additive available at gas stations. In extreme cold climates, an electric fuel heater might also be needed to help with starting the car.

Watch this primer on Biodiesel:

List of easily available Diesel cars which can use Biodiesel:
-Volkswagens with a TDI Engine (Jetta, Jetta Wagon, Golf, New Beetle, Passat)
2004+ Mercedes E320 CDI
2005+ Jeep Liberty CRD

Full list is available here

Another great alternative fuel that is becoming available is clean Diesel or Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD). ULSD, also known as S15 has 15 parts of sulfer per million (PPM). All Diesel vehicles manufactured after 2007 have to use ULSD. I will be blogging more about ULSD soon.