Biodiesel is fuel made out of vegetable oil or animal fat through the process of transesterification. It is used to power various vehicles which are powered by diesel engines.

Biodiesel was first intruduced to the world in 1937. when a patent was claimed in Belgium. Biodiesel can be used pure (it’s called B100), but can also be mixed with petroleum in any amount. It’s use is growing all the time, both in USA and other parts of the world (especially Europe). The largest car manufacturing companies are accepting biofuels and make cars which have biodiesel-ready engines. Biofuel fuel is also used to power trains and aircrafts.

When compared to other diesel fues, biodiesel has better lubricating properties. It is liquid, but it’s color changes between brown and golden. It’s boiling point is very high. It’s quality is not questionable since it has many standards to prove that, such as EN 14214 and ASTM D6751.

Biodiesel can sometimes contain small amounts of water, and that can cause problems because of several reasons. Water reduces the heat of combustion, it causes corrosion of the engine parts, it freezes at 0°C (32°F) and some other reasons. That’s why it’s very important to get the biodiesel without any water at all.

As far as biodiesel production is concerned, the whole process is done through the process of transesterification of vegetable oil and animal fats. There are several ways of doing that process, such as the batch process, supercritical processes, ultrasonic and microwave processes, etcetera. A by-product that comes out when producing biodiesel is glycerol (1 tonne of biodiesel, 100kg of glycerol).

Biodiesel production is growing all the time. Around 4 million tons was the global production in 2005, mostly in EU. The annual growth rate (2002-06) was over 40%.