Transcript Bio-diesel Fuels - The Kenneth Frawley Collective

Bio-diesel Fuels
By: Gloria, Melissa, Chris,
Edward, Luis, Albert
Brief History on Bio-diesel fuels
• The concept of using
vegetal oil as an engine
fuel dates back to 1895
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. Unfortunately, R.
Diesel died 1913 before
his vision of a vegetable
oil powered engine was
fully realized.
Brief History Continued
• Bio-diesel (or bio-fuel) is the name for a
variety of ester-based fuels (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 through a
simple transesterification process. This
renewable source is as efficient as
petroleum diesel in powering unmodified
diesel engine.
Where does Bio-fuels come from
• Bio-diesel is produced from virgin vegetable oils (mono-alkyl esters
of long chain fatty acids) through a refinery process called
transesterification. This process uses a chemical reaction to remove
glycerin from the oils. Bio-diesel can be produced using a variety of
U.S. crops including flaxseed, cottonseed, sunflower and canola.
However, most bio-diesel sold on the open market today comes
from soy bean, a crop currently grown by over 400,000 farmers in 29
states.
• Fuel-grade bio-diesel must be produced to strict industry
specifications (ASTM D6751) in order to insure proper performance.
Bio-diesel is the only alternative fuel to have fully completed the
health effects testing requirements of the 1990 Clean Air Act
Amendments. Bio-diesel that meets ASTM D6751 and is legally
registered with the Environmental Protection Agency is a legal motor
fuel for sale and distribution.
• Raw vegetable oil or homegrown bio-diesel that does not meet
ASTM fuel specifications cannot be registered with the EPA, and is
not a legal motor fuel.
How Bio-diesel is made
• How is Biodiesel Made? Making biodiesel is a fairly
simple process. The vegetable oil or animal fat is
reacted with methanol or ethanol and a catalyst, such as
sodium hydroxide, to produce a methyl ester - the
biodiesel. The methanol or ethanol and the catalyst
used in the process are recovered and can be reused. The bi-product of biodiesel production is
glycerine, which can be used for other purposes such as
the making of soap.
Where Bio-diesel come from
Who's using Bio-fuels
• Bio-diesel use in America has nearly tripled each year
since 1999, rising from 500,000 gallons produced then to
over 75 millions gallons produced in 2006. Each year,
more fleet managers turn to bio-diesel to meet
increasingly stringent emissions standards, to voluntarily
mitigate their impact on the environment, or to begin
reducing their dependence on foreign oil. Below is a brief
list of just a few of the 200 fleets now using bio-diesel in
the U.S.
Who's using Bio-fuels Continued
Arapahoe Basin Ski Resort (CO)
Aspen Skiing Company (CO)
Baltimore Gas & Electric (MD)
Town of Breckenridge (CO)
Cedar Rapids Transit (IA)
Cincinnati Metro (OH)
City of St. Louis (MO)
Clark County School District (NV)
Deer Valley School District (AZ)
Florida Power & Light Co. (FL)
Georgia Power Co (GA)
Lambert Int’l Airport (MO)
US Military
NASA
Yellow stone National Park
Las Vegas Water District (NV)
Medford School District (NJ)
New Jersey Dept of
Transportation (CA)
Peterson Air force Base (CO)
Prince Kuhio Charters (HI)
Rockland Industries (AZ)
City of Taipei, Taiwan
St John’s School District (MI)
Scott Air Force Base (IL)
USDA-Ag Research Service (MD)
USDA-Forest Service (WY)US
Postal Service (FL, NY, and CA)
University of South Dakota (SD)
University of Vermont (VT)
Yellowstone National Park (WY)
Prices
Do we need to modify engines ?
• Engine Modifications for Ethanol blends of 14% to
24%
The following engine modifications were carried out by
car companies in Brazil, in the 1970’s, when vehicles
were operating on ethanol blends of between 14 and
24% ethanol:
• Changes to cylinder walls, cylinder heads, valves and
valve seats
• Changes to pistons, piston rings, intake manifolds and
carburettors
• Nickel plating of steel fuel lines and fuel tanks to prevent
ethanol E20 corrosion
• Higher fuel flowrate injectors to compensate for
oxygenate qualities of ethanol
Why aren’t we using alternative
fuels ?
• “There is still a trillion barrels of oil
beneath the earths crust. $100 trillion
dollars worth business yet to be done”
-Wally E. Rippel
Research engineer, Aero-environment