What is biodiesel? In short, biodiesel is a fuel that’s suitable for use in diesel engines that is not based on petroleum. Biodiesel is often made from plant sources. It’s also possible to mix biodiesel with petroleum-based diesel fuel in any ratio. Since most any engine designed to run on diesel fuel can use biodiesel, it would seem that this biofuel could displace a great deal of fuel pumped from the ground. In some cases, it is possible to run diesel engines on straight vegetable oil (often referred to as SVO or WVO), but SVO isn’t the same as biodiesel. There is a bunch of complex chemistry that goes into producing biodiesel from many different sources, and it all has to do with the transesterification of fats and oils. Excuse me? Transester-huh? Yeah, it’s about as complicated as it sounds, but the really short version of the story is that alcohol (methanol, ethanol etc.) is used to modify the chemical makeup of the original oil. Now that we’ve identified what biodiesel is and isn’t, let’s discuss why you should care and whether you can use it in your own vehicle. Car Blog Greenon. Gallery: Austin Alt Car: Biofuel Hummer Continue reading Greenlings: What is biodiesel? Auto Blog: Biodiesel , AutoblogGreen Exclusive , Green Daily Greenlings: What is biodiesel? originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Thu, 26 Feb 2009 11:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds .Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green | Car Blog Green

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Greenlings: What is biodiesel?