Biodiesel Fuel Isn't Just Vegetable Oil. The Process...

There are 4 main agro-energy production chains:

• Ethanol and the cogeneration of energy
(in the case of sugarcane)
• Biodiesel from animal and plant sources
• Forest biomass
• Residues and wastes from agriculture and agro-industry

Ethanol is by far the most developed chain as it became commercial in the 70´s, especially in Brazil, where the market has been consolidated since then. On the other hand, biodiesel and other agro-energy options are still incipient.

The main drivers behind the biofuels production are:

• They pollute a lot less
• They are renewable
• They become competitive when petroleum prices increase, and petroleum price is very high at the moment.

Biodiesel is a renewable fuel produced by a chemical reaction of alcohol and vegetable (or animal) oils, fats or greases. Through a refinery process called transesterification, the reaction removes the glycerin, a by-product that can harm the engines. The resulting biodiesel can be used in any normal petrodiesel engine, in pure form or in different blends.

With reference to biodiesel feedstock, there is a lot of research being done to see which feedstock is more efficient; the challenge is to discover the `sugarcane` of biodiesel, in reference to sugarcane being the most efficient feedstock to produce ethanol. Different to ethanol, where the fuel is produced mainly from sugarcane and corn, a variety of oils can be used to produce biodiesel. Among the oilseeds, by far the most commonly used is soybeans, more due to availability than actual efficiency. About 90% of all biodiesel fuel stock is soybeans. Other crops are rapeseed, sunflower, canola, palm oil and hemp. A characteristic in biodiesel production, is that small farmers are also producing the fuel. Two examples are Jatropha and castor seed, which can be produced by clusters of small farmers, located around a biodiesel processing plant. This gives small farmers the possibility of cashing in on the biofuel boom.

Animal fats used to produce biodiesel include tallow, lard, yellow grease and chicken fat. One of the largest meat processors in Brazil, Bertin, uses pure biodiesel from animal fats in all its trucks. There are other studies underway. It seems that there is a company in New Zealand that uses sewage as a substrate for algae to then produce biodiesel.

Biodiesel is safe, biodegradable, and considerably reduces serious air pollutants. Blends of 20% biodiesel with 80% petroleum diesel (B20) can generally be used in unmodified diesel engines; however, users should consult their OEM and engine warranty statement. Biodiesel can also be used in its pure form (B100), but it may require certain rubber components of the engine to be modified to avoid maintenance and performance problems and may not be suitable for wintertime use.

Biodiesel has physical properties very similar to conventional diesel and therefore the global market is poised for explosive growth in the next ten years. Although Europe currently represents 90% of global biodiesel consumption and production, the U.S. is now ramping up production at a faster rate than Europe. Brazil is expected to surpass U.S. and European biodiesel production by the year 2015.
It is possible that biodiesel could represent as much as 20% of all on-road diesel used in Brazil, Europe, China and India by the year 2020. If governments continue to aggressively pursue targets, enact investor-friendly tax incentives for production and blending and help to promote research & development in new biodiesel feedstocks, such as algae for biodiesel, the prospects for this fuel may become realized faster than anticipated.

In the USA, the market for biodiesel is growing at an alarming rate. Biodiesel consumption in the country grew from 25 million gallons per year in 2004 to 78 million gallons in 2005. Biodiesel production in the U.S. reached 300 million gallons in 2006, and should reach approximately 750 million gallons per year in 2007. However, it is very important to note that this is far less than the US ethanol production of 17 billion gallons in 2006.

Another important comparison is with Europe, where biodiesel already represents 2% of all road transportation fuel while in the US it only represents 0.5% of all petrodiesel consumption. Demand for biodiesel grew so fast in 2006 that the seventy or so existing major biodiesel plants were barely able to keep up. To meet this demand, over fifty new, larger-scale plants are in construction and are expected to come online between 2007 and 2008. Not only will these fifty plants more than double the U.S. production capacity, but the size and production volumes of the new plants are much bigger on average. However, the number of retail outlets for biodiesel in the U.S. grew more than three fold from 300 in 2005 to over 950 retail sites in 2006. 

In other parts of the world, biodiesel is becoming increasingly important as governments react to growing petroleum import dependency and enact new alternative fuels policies and targets. Economic and environmental security concerns are giving birth to new government targets and incentives in China, India, Brazil and Europe, aimed at reducing petroleum imports and increasing the consumption and production of alternative and renewable fuels. Biodiesel is a natural fit in places like Europe, China, India and Brazil where diesel fuel is more commonly used in than it is in the U.S. 

In these markets, the prospects for biodiesel as a replacement for diesel are not only bigger in terms of total market share, but also in terms of conversion rates among existing drivers. Brazil is an example of biofuel use. Sugar cane ethanol has been utilized since the earl 70’s, and today a major part of its vehicles run on it.

In today’s economy, fuel is a main concern. Today’s society is totally dependent on fuel for transportation, heating, and other petroleum products, petrochemicals and plastics.  The world economy is dependent on petroleum in so many ways, that it is unimaginable to be without it now.

Petroleum is non-renewable, taking millions of years for the earth to produce.  At the rate the world is going now, it will only take a few more years for us to deplete it. This is a very serious issue. Others forms of fuel must be found quickly and biofuel is the most obvious answer. A global petrochemical distribution infrastructure is already in place with fueling stations and tanks designed for liquid fuels. With biofuels we can use the system that is already there.  

The problem is that there is not enough worldwide production of vegetable oil and animal fat to replace the total consumption of petrodiesel. The question is, however, what is the impact of the amount of land needed, plus the fertilization and pesticide use, in the production of biofuels?