Biodiesel has emerged as an alternative to the standard diesel. This is made up of different biological ingredients like animal fat, soybeans and a lot more. The most important aspect of biodiesel is that it is a renewable fuel as the sources of this fuel can be produced again. At the same time, it is non-toxic too.
How biodiesel functions, is the most important question for the consumers. This use of biodiesel can be done in most of the diesel engines. The traditional diesel engines can be run on biodiesel without any kind of modification or nominal modifications.
Apart from biodiesel, other alternative fuels need engine conversion. Biodiesel is very much similar to the petroleum diesel. The biodiesel can be used in its purest from but at present, it is used with the traditional fossil fuel. The percentage of biodiesel in the fuel is represented through the 'x' sign.
Biodiesel is preferred over the standard diesel because there are a number of advantages of this fuel. There is no need for any special storing system to store biodiesel and it can be kept in the places where the standard diesel is kept.
At the same time, transporting biodiesel is also safe because the flash point of biodiesel is very high. The ignition temperature of standard diesel is nearly 125 degree F whereas biodiesel's ignition temperature is nearly 300 degree F. Another benefit of biodiesel is that it can be used in its purest form or it can be used with the standard fuel.
Handling biodiesel is also very safe as this is non-toxic in nature and is biodegradable too. Using biodiesel does not cause any kind of difference in the performance of the engine. Another aspect like fuel consumption, engine torque, auto ignition etc. are also similar to the standard diesel.
Apart from these, using biodiesel is environment friendly because the carbon dioxide emission, caused by biodiesel is very low in comparison to the standard diesel or other alternatives. At the same time, biodiesel increases the life of the engine because the lubricating factor present in biodiesel is higher than other fuels. Biodiesel is also a good replacement for sulfur that is used as a lubricating agent.
After burning, sulfur produces sulfur dioxide that is very harmful for the environment. On the other hand, biodiesel reduces shoot emission by nearly 40-60% and carbon monoxide emission by almost 50%. The amount of hydrocarbon emission is nearly 50% less in biodiesel than the standard fuel or other alternative fuel.