When developed from the right sources, biofuels offer huge potential as a clean-burning alternative to oil.

Better Biodiesel




Rick

Biofuels offer an alternative to petroleum products for liquid fuel? There's the question of economies of scale. One person may make and use his own biodiesel. Maybe a thousand people in a city. But millions of vehicles? It is not simply a question of the cost of a 40 gallon batch. How about a million gallons? Even a million gallons wouldn't last long. Then there's the billion Chinese to consider who want the cooking oil for domestic use, rather than selfish Americans diverting food products to power their capitalistic little diesel cars and trucks. Marxism would dictate that for the benefit of the workers and politicians, government would seize stockpiles of veggie oil, for redistribution to McDonalds employees.

Vegetable oil is a much more limited resource than petroleum, and so is the land and water required to grow it.

quote:

Vegetable oil is a much more limited resource than petroleum, and so is the land and water required to grow it

Not to mention time.

Continuous Processor


University of Connecticut




Rick

Academic Paper

Recent developments in microbial oils production: a possible alternative to vegetable oils for biodiesel without competition with human food?

Gwendoline Christophe; Vinod KumarI; Régis Nouaille; Geneviève Gaudet; Pierre Fontanille; Ashok Pandey; Carlos Ricardo Soccol; Christian LarrocheI,

Laboratoire de Génie Chimique et Biochimique; Clermont Université; Université Blaise Pascal; BP 10448, F63000; Clermont-Ferrand - France
Biotechnology Division; National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology; CSIR, Trivandrum 695019 - India
Departamento de Engenharia de Bioprocessos e Biotecnologia; Universidade Federal do Paraná; Curitiba - PR -Brasil


Abstract:

Since centuries vegetable oils are consumed as human food but it also finds applications in biodiesel production which is attracting more attention. But due to being in competition with food it could not be sustainable and leads the need to search for alternative. Nowdays microbes-derived oils (single cell oils) seem to be alternatives for biodiesel production due to their similar composition to that of vegetable oils. However, the cold flow properties of the biodiesel produced from microbial oils are unacceptable and have to be modified by an efficient transesterification. Glycerol which is by product of transesterification can be valorised into some more useful products so that it can also be utilised along with biodiesel to simplify the downstream processing. The review paper discusses about various potent microorganisms for biodiesel production, enzymes involved in the lipid accumulation, lipid quantification methods, catalysts used in transesterification (including enzymatic catalyst) and valorisation of glycerol.


Rick

From the Biofuelnet.ca blog:

A promising feedstock for biodiesel production: camelina





Rick

From Biofuels Digest



What’s new, different and hot in military and aviation biofuels..





Rick

Tank Porn

VIRTUAL TOUR: Biodiesel Production Continuous Flow Scale Model



Rick

Organic Valley is committed to utilizing responsible and renewable energy.


Traveling Biodiesel Processor Boosts Self-Sufficiency of Organic Valley Farms




Rick

Breaking News:

'Pure evil' swindler sent to prison after bilking biodiesel, gold, ore investors of $6 million





Rick

Having a job while in college can be stressful, but creating your own company is a whole other briquette in the fire.


Better biodiesel: ISU graduate students receive grant to continue biochar research






Rick

EU to limit biofuels


EU agrees 7% cap on 'harmful' biofuels




Rick

Want to save the Rainforest?

Subsidies to industries that cause deforestation worth 100 times more than aid to prevent it






Rick

The pendulum swing left today....


Peak Soil: Why Biofuels are Not Sustainable and a Threat to America’s National Security




Rick

Johno's latest creation:


JohnO's Semi-Continous Processor




Rick

Fire Rages

Fire gets stronger after 2 explosions at Viesel Fuel biodiesel company in Stuart



Rick

Cruze Review

Cruze Diesel Road Trip reveals the good and bad, but no ugly



Rick

food vs fuel

The problem with biofuels





Rick

Nearly all of the biofuels problems relate to ethanol not biodiesel. The myoptic media likes to lump them together for their dumbed-down audience.

At the farmstead scale, Fuelfarmer has shown biodiesel can be successfully done in Virginia with a small percent of cropland, comparable to what one would set aside for feeding draft animals traditionally.

Big oilcrop producers find they can get a high value food oil product and biodiesel can be made from the 'waste' and substandard crop percent.

It's not feasible to replace any significant portion of the diesel fuel market with biodiesel, however enough can be produced to be used as a fuel additive for all petro-diesel to make it burn cleaner and reduce toxic pollution