THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY

Biodiesel

Blessing or Environmental Hazard?

"The use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today. But

such oils may become in the course of time as important as the petroleum and

coal tar products of the present time"

Rudolf Diesel, 1912

Prepared by Philipp Hinderberger

BISC 180

June 4, 2008

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Abstract

The German inventor, Rudolf Diesel, already recognized the importance of bio-

fuels in 1912. His vision was a locomotive engine powered by renewable plant based

oils. During the 1920s locomotive manufacturers chose, however, to change their en-

gines to utilize the lower viscosity of petro diesel, which ultimately replaced vegetable

oils. It took about 60 years and advancements in biotechnology to make biodiesel techni-

cally and economically competitive to ordinary diesel. Biodiesel has earned a lot of

praise in recent days and promises to be an environmentally friendly and sustainable

energy source that will solve the problem of diminishing petrofuels in the future. How-

ever, propagators tend to ignore its negative aspects, such as solidification and toxicity at

low temperatures, incompatibility with old diesel engines and high production and refin-

ing costs. Another controversy faced by biodiesel supporters is the issue of using larger

areas of agricultural land for the biomass crop rather than food crops. The agriculture in-

dustry is focusing on fuel production at the expense of basic necessities, which ultimately

harms developing countries. This paper will discuss positive, as well as negative aspects

of this promising biotechnological advancement, its social, political, economic and health

implications and conclude with some final thoughts on long-term applications.

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Introduction

Biodiesel could be best explained as `an alternative engine fuel, extracted from

biological sources like plants and animals′. In biochemical language, it is a mono-alkyl

ester of a long chain of fatty acids derived from vegetable oils or animal fats, subsequent-

ly processed and refined to use as a fuel in diesel locomotives. The concept of using veg-

etable oils as a fuel is quite old. Interestingly, Rudolf′s engines had the capability to use

vegetable oil as a fuel. But mass availability of petroleum especially in the 20th century

replaced all other fuels. A test conducted in 1930 found that any prolonged use of con-

centrated original vegetable oil could result in incomplete combustion, engine choking

and eventually engine failure (Duffield et al., 1998). This problem was later resolved by

transesterification of oil that resulted in high quality, long-term functioning biodiesel.

Biodiesel: Blessing or Environmental Hazard?

In this age of increasing problems related to pollution and energy savings, nations

are adopting strategies of using natural resources. Use of biodiesel is one such example.

In this situation, there is a question on whether incomplete combustion or engine choking

can be completely exterminated through the use of modern bio-gases. If not, what could

be the associated disadvantages? The biodiesel to run an engine effectively and clearly is

taken from soya or other recycled frying oil. It is then blended with a portion of alcohol

and sodium hydroxide to form combustive energy.