Biodiesel is a type of renewable fuel that is produced from agricultural crops, used cooking oil, and sometimes animal fats. It’s an alternative fuel for future as fossil fuels is depleting in a lightning speed and was predicted to be used up by 2050. Dated back to 1895, the invention of diesel engine that can run on a variety of fuels by Dr. Rudolph Diesel is a great breakthrough in Bio-fuel sectors. In fact, he demonstrated the use of peanut oil in powering the engine in Paris at the World’s Fair. There is only a small difference between petro-diesel fuel and biodiesel that enable one fuel can be substituted for another under many conditions. However, Biodiesel does not stand a good stead in the international market despite its early start and was replaced by the petro-diesel which is cheaper and more plentiful. Interest in Biodiesel was only revived after the oil crisis in 1973. Nowadays, the market for Biodiesel is booming due to the depletion of the non-renewable resources such as fossil fuels. Besides that, it is environmentally friendly as it does not emit as much GHG (Greenhouse gases) as compared to that of conventional fuel during the combustion. Currently, it is blended with petro-diesel fuel and acts as an additive for ‘anti-knock’ because large scale production has yet to be implemented and not all countries are capable in producing it. It also plays a role in oil spill clean-up as the methyl esters produced in the Biodiesel process can be formulated into Bio-based solvent for shoreline washing agent. Until today, it remains true that no one knows how to produce inexpensive bio-fuel and it has to depend of subsidies from government in order to gain popularity in the market!
Similar to Bio-Ethanol, Biodiesel can be divided into 3 categories namely first generation, second generation and third generation.
