International Biodiesel Day (10/08)

Every year on August 10, International Biodiesel Day is celebrated. This unofficial holiday of environmentally friendly fuel was established in memory of its first use – On August 10, 1893, a fuel-powered engine based on peanut butter was launched to disseminate information about the benefits of biodiesel fuel.

The diesel engine itself was created by the German engineer and inventor Rudolf Diesel in the 1890s, and the first public demonstration of its work took place on August 10, 1893 in Augsburg (Germany). This event is considered to be the first case of biodiesel use in history.

Biodiesel fuel, or biodiesel – is an environmentally friendly fuel for diesel engines, obtained by chemical treatment of vegetable or animal fats, as well as their transesterification products. The transesterification reaction allows you to reduce the melting point of fats, increase their plasticity and stability to oxidation. By the way, this chemical reaction was discovered in 1853, four decades before the invention of the diesel engine.

Crops are used to produce biodiesel, for example: in Europe more often – rapeseed, in the USA and Africa – soybeans, in Asia – coconut or palm oil. Waste vegetable oil, animal fats, castor oil, fish oil, etc. are also used. But more often biofuels are produced from rapeseed, as the cheapest among vegetable oils. And algae is considered a promising source of raw materials for the production of biodiesel.

The environmental friendliness of biodiesel is that when using it, the release of carbon dioxide and the amount of soot are reduced. It also does not harm animals and plants, and when it enters soil and water, it is processed by microorganisms. The period of its almost complete biological decay in soil or water is – months, which allows us to talk about minimizing environmental pollution.

Crops are used to produce biodiesel (Photo: belchonock, licensed by depositphotos.com)

Biodiesel fuel also has a number of technical advantages. Compared to mineral diesel fuel, it contains almost no sulfur, and at the same time is characterized by good lubricating properties, which extends the life of the engine. In addition, biofuel is relatively safe due to the high ignition temperature – 150°C. In addition, a by-product of biodiesel production is glycerin, widely used in industry.

But there are also disadvantages: in the cold season, the efficiency of this type of fuel decreases. Biodiesel fuel is not stored for a long time, and its production from plants occupies agricultural area.

Currently, biofuels are used on vehicles in their pure form and in the form of various mixtures with diesel fuel. The production of biological-type «pure» energy has already been normatively consolidated and is actively developing by 48 countries, including – USA, Brazil, Japan, China, India, Canada, etc. In the European Union, biodiesel from agricultural raw materials began to be produced in 1992, and 10 years later, 245 biodiesel production plants with a total capacity of 22 million tons were already operating here. Many countries have developed programs to partially replace petroleum motor fuels with various types of biofuels, including biodiesel.

In Russia, there is not yet a unified state program for the development of biodiesel fuel, but regional projects are being created and plans are being developed for the construction of plants for its production. The Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation has developed a bill according to which conditions will be created in Russia for the development of the bioindustry sector.



Postcard «10 August — International Biodiesel Day»

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