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How Is Biodiesel Fuel Made?

by Contributing Writer

Ingredients

Biodiesel fuels are made from common cooking oils (or recycled vegetable oil) and soybean oil. Glycerin is divided from the mix of vegetable oils and fats, yielding methyl esters, which is used as biofuel. The glycerin is removed from the biodiesel mix and used for other kinds of products like soap. The primary resource produced, methyl esters, is created by chemical manufacturing methods. Methanol is transmuted into sodium methoxide, which results in an economic form of alcohol. Ethanol is also used to produce the same fuel, but produces a higher grade of alcohol. Lipid transesterification changes base oil into methyl esters. Fatty acids will remain in the base oil, which will be treated with an acidic catalyst to create biodiesel fuel.

Two kinds of biodiesel

There is a difference in the kind of biodiesel fuels used for running machines or powering vehicles. Some vehicles are completely reconfigured to run purely on vegetable oils (bio), though most biodiesel operating vehicles run on a combination of both bio mass (animal fat, vegetable oil, alcohol) and diesel (commercial petroleum diesel [hydrocarbon based]). A combination of petroleum diesel and bio mass (vegetable waste oil) will work in diesel vehicles that have not been reconfigured, as long as the mix (80 percent of the volume) is standard petroleum diesel. The term biodiesel blend refers to the mix of organic and petroleum fuels.
Process

Methanol is mixed with sodium hydroxide. Vegetable oil is added into the mix of methanol and sodium hydroxide. The ingredients are stirred in a mixer. After mixing, the glycerol settles and the catalyst dissolves in the mixture. The esters are cleaned in water, dried by vacuum chamber and finally filtered. When using feedstock, the product is cleansed in an alkaline solution. Alkaline solution is created by mixing sodium hydroxide in water. Oil is acquired by grinding vegetable seeds. The seeds are cooked to release the necessary oils. Alcohol and catalyst are blended in a container. Vegetable oil is mixed into ethanol. Up to about eight hours of heating are applied to the container. Glycerin is pulled to the bottom of the container and extracted from the mix by gravitational force. Glycerin is evaporated or distilled, while the portion of ethanol is reprocessed. Catalyst residues are cleansed out of the bio fuel with warm water.
Regulation and commonalities

Running a car on pure vegetable oil alone is not approved by the Environmental Protection Agency. The fuel must pass government regulations to qualify as biodiesel (refer to EPA in Resources section). Biodiesel is composed of a lengthy link of fatty acids that are taken from animal fat and vegetable oils. Biodiesel is commonly blended with petrodiesel fuel for commercial and consumer vehicle operation.