Biodiesel Fuel Pros and Cons

The term biodiesel refers to the diesel fuel extracted from animal fats and plant matter, which is used to operate standard diesel engines. Owing to the fact that biodiesel is biodegradable and pollution free, it is considered to be one of the best alternative fuels available today. Although, its possible to produce biodiesel from animal fat, most of it is produced from plant oil. Popular crops used to produce biodiesel include soybean, canola, cottonseed, peanut and sunflower. At present, when we are on the verge of fossil fuel exhaustion, we seriously need to examine some of the major biodiesel fuel pros and cons, in order to check whether it has the capacity to replace fossil fuels as the major source of power generation or not. Read more on vegetable oil diesel.

Pros and Cons of Biodiesel

Like its other counterparts, biodiesel fuel also has its own advantages and disadvantages. The biggest advantage of biodiesel is that it can play a significant role in reducing the harmful carbon dioxide emissions. However, there do exist some drawbacks of biodiesel which may become a hindrance in the introduction of biodisel as an alternative to the harmful carbon emitting fossil fuels. Let's have a detailed look at the major biodiesel fuel pros and cons.

Biodiesel Fuel Pros
By far the biggest advantage of biodiesel fuel is that it is non toxic and biodegradable, which makes it one of the most environment friendly alternative of power generation. A study at the United States Department of Energy revealed that introduction of biodiesel fuel can reduce carbon dioxide emissions caused by burning fossil fuels by a whopping 75 percent. This fuel doesn't contain toxic chemicals, like sulfur, which are responsible for harmful emissions. In fact, hazards like acid rain can be eliminated forever by introducing biodiesel for our day to day use. You don't even have to modify the engine, as biodiesel fuel can easily operate a standard diesel engines. It can also double up as a lubricant, and help in lubricating the various parts of the engine, thus making it less vulnerable to wear and tear. It is much more safer than conventional diesel. More importantly, for a country like the United States, wherein a large part of oil required for power generation is imported, tapping the resources available within the country can help in boosting the economic strength of the nation to a great extent.

Biodiesel Fuel Cons
The energy content of biodiesel is 11 percent less than that of petroleum based diesel. This means the power generation capacity of the engine will decline considerably when biodiesel is used to power it. It is possible to modify the engine to eliminate this loss of power, but this modification goes against the EPA guidelines and hence cannot be executed. Owing to its poor oxidization qualities, bioldiesel can lead to some problems serious problems when stored. When stored for longer periods, biodiesel tends to turn to a gel like substance, which can lead to clogging of various engine parts. These biofuels may also lead to microbial growth, and thus cause some damage to the engine. As the use of biodiesel fuel will increase, more and more crops will have to be produced to satiate the requirement. This will lead to severe crisis wherein we will have to come up with one option, either food or fuel. The prices of various agricultural commodities will also soar. Due to over farming, the soil quality will also start depreciating and creating new areas to produce these crops will lead to destruction of natural habitat.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Biofuels

These were some of the major biodiesel fuel pros and cons, which should be taken into consideration before coming to any conclusion about the use of biodiesel as an alternative to fossil fuel. The pros and cons of biofuels are being scrutinized by the researchers all over the world, in order to make this fuel more efficient. As of now, we can just hope that their research yields results, and we get the best fuel, some time soon.

By Abhijit Naik