Alternative Sources of Energy: Biodiesel

Biodiesel (or biofuel) is the name for a variety of fatty esters generally defined as the monoalkyl esters made from vegetable oils, such as soybean oil, canola or hemp oil, or sometimes from animal fats. This renewable source is as efficient as petroleum diesel in powering unmodified diesel engine.

The concept of using vegetal oil as an engine fuel likely dates when Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913) developed the first engine to run on peanut oil, as he demonstrated at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900.

Rudolf Diesel firmly believed the utilization of a biomass fuel to be the real future of his engine. He wanted to provide farmers the opportunity to produce their own fuel. In 1911, he said “The diesel engine can be fed with vegetable oils and would help considerably in the development of agriculture of the countries which use it”. 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?

After R. Diesel death the petroleum industry was rapidly developing and produced a cheap by-product "diesel fuel" powering a modified “diesel-engine”. Thus, clean vegetable oil was forgotten as a renewable source of power.

Modern diesels are now designed to run on a less thick fuel than vegetable oil but, in times of fuel shortages, cars and trucks were successfully run on preheated peanut oil and animal fat.

Today’s diesel engines require a clean-burning, stable fuel operating under a variety of conditions. In the mid 1970s, fuel shortages spurred interest in diversifying fuel resources, and thus biodiesel as fatty esters was developed as an alternative to petroleum diesel. Later, in the 1990s, interest was rising due to the large pollution reduction benefits coming from the use of biodiesel. The use of biodiesel is affected by legislation and regulations in all countries. The EU Council of Ministers adopted new European rules for the detaxation of biodiesel and biofuels on October 27, 2003. Large-volume production occurs mainly in Europe, with 1.4 million tons per year. In USA soybean oil is the principal oil being utilized for biodiesel (about 80,000 tons in 2003).

Biodiesel is sold commercially in Europe, America and Australia. The world biodiesel sources were in 2002: rapeseed oil (84%), sunflower (13%), soybean oil (1%), palm oil (1%), and others (1%).

3. Say whether the following statements are true or false:

3.1. Biodiesel is mostly made of vegetable oils. True / False

3.2. Rudolf Diesel used a biomass fuel in his engine. True / False

3.3. The use of biodiesel is regulated by legislation. True / False

3.4. Biodiesel is very popular in the world. True / False

4.PRACTICE: Writing an abstract.

An abstract is a brief summary of a research article, thesis, review, conference proceeding or any in-depth analysis of a particular subject or discipline, and is often used to help the reader quickly ascertain the paper’s purpose.

Find a scientific article on your speciality in your native language. Translate the title of the article and write an abstract to the article in English. Use the phrases below (choose the ones you think suitable):

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