ESL Basics

ESL Lesson 1
Oil in Our Every Day Life

ESL Lesson 2
The History of Mining

ESL Lesson 3
Economic growth

ESL Lesson 4
Delivery Systems

ESL Lesson 5
Cities and Population Movement

ESL Lesson 6
Recycling

ESL Lesson 7
Rubber

ESL Lesson 8
Farming

Biodiesel

Key questions on energy options

Is the energy source sustainable?
It depends on the source.

What are the potential negative externalities (effects) of producing/using this energy source?
Biodiesel in general suffers from far fewer negative externalities than most biofuels, but palm oil gets mixed reviews. On the one hand, it is a tropical crop like sugarcane ethanol, and the EROEI appears to be very good. On the other, rainforest is being destroyed to grow new palm oil plantations.

What is the EROEI?
By most accounts, the EROEI is greater than 3, which is respectable for a biofuel.

Is it affordable?
It is more expensive than conventional diesel. Current subsidies (government helps pay part of the price per liter or gallon) make it affordable.

Are there better alternatives?
Biodiesel can be a sustainable contributor (input) toward energy security.

Are there other special considerations?
Diesel engines are much more efficient than gasoline engines, which reduces the overall (total) fuel requirement.

In summary, are the advantages of the source large enough to justify any negative consequences?
Again, it depends on the source. If we are going to chop down rainforest to plant palm oil plantations, then no. If we are going to use waste oils and existing (already in place) high oil-yielding crops [grown sustainably], then yes.

I think the U.S. made a mistake by not favoring the diesel engine over the gasoline engine as has been done in many other countries. Diesel engines are much more efficient than gasoline engines, so a diesel fleet would stretch the fuel supply. Keep in mind the USA uses mostly gasoline powered automobiles and will use mostly ethanol in the conversion (switchover), while Asia and Africa use mostly diesel in their engines and will convert (switch) to bio-diesel. Different continents, different engines, different crops for fuel oils.

Bio-diesel can be produced sustainably, but caution is warranted (needed). We first need to make sure that absolutely all of the waste vegetable oil in the country gets collected and turned into biodiesel. But even growing crops for biodiesel may be done sustainably. Biodiesel derived (produced) from soybeans, while expensive to produce, comes at a much lower environmental price and a much better EROEI than corn ethanol. Then there is the added benefit of 1). A higher BTU/heat value per gallon; and 2). The higher (better) efficiency of the diesel engine. These factors combined mean that we would need less than half the biodiesel to drive the same amount of miles we could if using ethanol.

Biodiesel refers to a diesel-equivalent, processed fuel derived from biological sources (such as vegetable oils), which can be used in unmodified (no special changes) diesel-engined vehicles. This is distinguished (show differences) from the straight vegetable oils (SVO) or waste vegetable oils (WVO) used as fuels in some modified (changed with parts to allow special fuels to be burnt by the engine) diesel vehicles.

Virgin oil feedstock; rapeseed and soybean oils are most commonly used, soybean oil alone accounting for about ninety percent of all fuel stocks other crops such as mustard, flax, sunflower, canola, palm oil, hemp, jatropha.

List of crops below from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel
Check out Oil Palm information at: http://www.theoildrum.com/node/2214
Coco bio-diesel from the Philippines: www.alternativesource.org/tags/coco-biodiesel

Typical oil extraction from 100 kg. of oil seeds

Table source: http://www.globalpetroleumclub.com ( but they forgot Hemp)

Yields of common crops

- Note: Chinese Tallow (Sapium sebiferum, or Tradica Sebifera) is also known as the "Popcorn Tree".
Source: The Global Petroleum Club
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel

Continue to: Biomass Gasification

TOP

ESL Lesson 7

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Rubber
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Bio-fuels and Ethanol
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Liquid Fossil Fuels
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Grain Ethanol
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Sugarcane Ethanol
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Cellulosic Ethanol
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Biodiesel
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Biomass Gasification
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Wind and Solar
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Conservation
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