ADVANTAGES OF BIODIESEL

• Blends of 20% biodiesel with 80% petroleum diesel can be used in unmodified diesel engines. Biodiesel can be used in its pure form but many require certain engine modifications to avoid maintenance and performance problems.

• It was stated that about half of the biodiesel industry can use recycled oil or fat, the other half being soybean, or rapeseed oil according to the origin of these feed stocks.

• Biodiesel is nontoxic, biodegradable. It reduces the emission of harmful pollutants (mainly particulates) from diesel engines (80% less CO₂ emissions, 100% less sulfur dioxide) but emissions of nitrogen oxides (precursor of ozone) are increased.

• Biodiesel has a high cetane number (above 100, compared to only 40 for diesel fuel). Cetane number is a measure of a fuel's ignition quality. The high cetane numbers of biodiesel contribute to easy cold starting and low idle noise.

• The use of biodiesel can extend the life of diesel engines because it is more lubricating and, furthermore, power output are relatively unaffected by biodiesel.

• Biodiesel replaces the exhaust odor of petroleum diesel with a more pleasant smell of popcorn or French fries.
  

By developing methods to use cheap and low quality lipids as feedstocks, it is hoped that a cheaper biodiesel can be produced, thus competing economically with petroleum resources.

Part of the information above originally published at: http://www.cyberlipid.org/glycer/biodiesel.htm