Alternative Fuel

With the rising cost of fuel, Sunday drives and trips to grandma's are no longer relaxing past-times. Enjoying the journey has been replaced with counting the mileage and crimping the budget. Beside the issue of price, a growing desire to "reduce, reuse and recycle" has also left consumers wondering "What next?" and often, "What else?" when filling their tank at the gas pump. A variety of alternatives to petroleum fuel have recently been presented to consumers, though not all of them are yet viable on a widespread scale. Hydrogen is still years away, Ethanol or E85 is not available in all locations and buying a Hybrid may not meet the average consumer's budget.


One option that makes the most sense (especially to those with diesel-powered vehicles) and the most of our resources is biodiesel. This alternative fuel is most commonly made from fats and vegetable oils through a process called transesterfication. Don't let the complicated name fool you, the concept is quite simple: it takes the oils and separates the glycerin (used to make soaps, etcetera) and replace it with methanol to create methyl esters, a.k.a biodiesel. Put simply, it takes one type of trash and turns it into two usable products. It may be easy to read about biodiesel and even advocate it, but placing a foreign substance in your vehicle may be a more intimidating task. However, biodiesel fuel that meets specifications is perfectly safe to use in your diesel engine vehicle, usually with little or no modifications. As with all fuels, it is always a good idea to check with your manufacturer and implement regular maintenance procedures. Biodiesel can be used separately or in a mix with petroleum diesel, and both options are beneficial to your vehicle and environment. In fact, biodiesel eliminates most of the exhaust emissions found in petroleum-diesel vehicles; making it the safest fuel to use and the most economic way to reuse resources among consumer fueling options.


About the Author
Homebiodieselkits.com is a great resource for information on making biodiesel, they also offer complete biodiesel processors that do all of the work for you.