bio diesel fuel

[pagey3]

I have a friend who sells biodiesel, he has explained to me how eco-friendly, biodegradable, cheap, and generally great it is. He said any diesel car can run on it, the only inconvenience is that after a few months the filter will need changing as the biodiesel cleans the engine out of all the crap, but once you have your new filter you can run your vehicle on it no worries.

If this is so true, why isn't biodiesel being sold in every filling station world wide? if fossil fuel resources are depleting, why isn't this form of fuel wildly popular?

[jake-the-peg]

Because you get 60 gallons (270litres) of biodiesel per acre (out of soya beens)

Diesel is 18p/litre wholesale = �48 per acre

Ignoring turning the oil to biodiesel

Wheat say 7 Tonnes per acre - wheat about �100 per Tonne

�700 tonnes per acre

In order to make biodiesel profitable (and even feasible how many acres at 60 gallons an acre do you need?) you need to go from converting waste chipshop oil to growing crops with enough yield per acre to make actually growing the raw material profitable.

This report claims that algae could produce 15,000 gallons per acre - if that's true or even half true the possibilities suddenly become very interesting indeed - but it does seem an awfully big claim

http://www.i-sis.org.uk/GAFCCAB.php

[pagey3]

so (sorry for being thick here) does that basically mean that to supply it in any massive quantities you'd need a massive amount of land?

interesting - thanks jake :-)

[ianess]

Bio-diesel is 95% ordinary diesel plus 5% vegetable oil. It's just commercialism and political claptrap telling you that it will save the environment.
Better to scrap the jet engine and allow the ozone layer to correct itself naturally.

[jake-the-peg]

Although Biodiesel can be blended with petroleum diesel at any ratio Biodiesel proper is derived from biological sources and is defined by international standard EN 14214.

And I think you may be confusing Ozone layer erosion with climate change?

Anyway the UK used 20 billion litres of petrol alone in 2002 that would be 74 million acres of land producing soya or 1.3 million acres of algae if that report is correct.

To put that in perspective England has a total of 23 Million acres of agricultural land.

I'm sure you can see why that report would be a big deal if it's all it says it is!