Hi my name is John Hay from Nebraska Extension this video will give an
overview of biodiesel for use with your farm diesel engines biodiesel is a fuel
made from organic materials it can be used as a fuel additive when mixed with
petroleum diesel fuel or as a diesel fuel substitute biodiesel quality is
improved in recent years and few issues exist when it's purchased from a quality
fuel distributor this video will explore some considerations for using biodiesel
for personal or commercial applications and will also cover common issues with
homemade biodiesel
before biodiesel was developed farmers and tinkerers use straight vegetable oil
in diesel cycle engines with moderate success Rudolf Diesel designed his
compression-ignition engines with a variety of fuels in mind and early
versions of his engines ran on peanut oil at the Paris Exposition of 1900
straight vegetable oil has a high viscosity which proved to be a problem
causing injector failure biodiesel solves this viscosity problem by
breaking the large vegetable oil molecules into smaller methyl esters
using a chemical reaction called transesterification biodiesel is most
commonly made from soybeans but also may be produced from other types of
vegetable oil and even animal fats other than soybeans common oil seeds used for
biodiesel production are corn, canola, other rape seeds, and sunflower similar
to the ethanol industry biodiesel producers use nomenclature to describe
the amount of biodiesel in their blends a blend of B1 contains 1%
biodiesel B20 contains 20% biodiesel and B100 is pure 100% biodiesel
biodiesel is energy content is close to that of petroleum diesel a blend of 5%
percent biodiesel only reduces the energy content of fuel by 0.4 percent
and similar fuel mileage can be expected in fact biodiesel blends below 5%
meet petroleum diesel standards and can be sold with no labeling as a result
when biodiesel prices are low biodiesel may be blended into the diesel
fuel at the pumps you are to use Argonne National Labs calculates the biodiesel
has 74% lower greenhouse gas emissions and reduce particulate emissions
compared to petroleum diesel fuels therefore if you're looking to lower
your carbon footprint making the switch to biodiesel is one way to do so
additionally biodiesel has high lubricity this is a benefit as modern
ultra-low sulfur diesel fuels need added lubricity biodiesel blends as low as 1%
provide lubricity and replace the need for other lubricity additives although
it's not marked on the pump like octane values for gasoline cetane values for
diesel are important and must be higher than 40 and are usually between 42 and
45 at the pump biodiesel has higher cetane values
at 47 to 65 and higher cetane values can lead to smoother diesel operation
biodiesel has characteristics which in some instances have led to a poor
reputation diesel fuels can form crystals when cold and plugged fuel
filters fuel companies adjust to outside temperatures by changing fuel mixes in
the winter months to fuels which can handle the low outside temperatures
biodiesel generally forms crystals at higher temperatures than petroleum diesel
these values for crystal formation may be called the cloud point the pour point
where the cold filter plug point the source of the oil to produce the biodiesel
will impact the blends cloud point for example soy biodiesel has a cloud point
of 34 degrees Fahrenheit whereas biodiesel made from animal fat make
cloud at temperatures as high as 59 degrees Fahrenheit in the early years of
biodiesel expansion biodiesel blends caused fuel filter plugging due to the
high cloud point at cold temperatures the industry has since worked hard to
remedy these issues producing fuels with cloud points that match the climatic
conditions of the markets in which they are sold because biodiesel fuels are
made from agricultural products such as soy, canola, corn, and animal fats farmers
who use biodiesel are helping to increase the demand for their own
products the discussion so far has talked about the characteristics of
biodiesel fuel but not all biodiesel fuels are created equal the reason we
have so much trust in the fuel we buy from distributors is that they sell a
fuel which meets rigorous quality standards when biodiesel meets these
rigorous standards it can be similarly trustworthy biodiesel can be made with a
relatively easy chemical reaction and on the farm production has been done by
farmers across the nation yet the challenge is making the fuel
with high enough quality for use in modern engines for this reason many
engine manufacturers write "no homemade biodiesel" in their operators manuals if
you are interested in homemade biodiesel to do your homework on fuel quality and
take care to understand how the use of these fuels will impact your equipment
biodiesel can increase demand for farm products can improve engine emissions
and increase fuel lubricity if biodiesel is purchased from a quality supplier low
blends below 5% will well on all your diesel engines check
your owner's manual to determine if you can use higher blends and do your
research before undertaking homemade biodiesel thank you for watching please
subscribe to our Energy Answers for the Beginning Farmer and Rancher channel my
name is John Hay from Nebraska Extension