2008 Woodie Awards
Piedmont Biofuels recycles caf oils
Lauren Newmyer
Issue date: 3/21/08 Section: News
Austic talked briefly about the chemical composition of biodiesel. He explained that diesel vehicles can run entirely vegetable oil, but due to its viscous nature, vegetable oil will clog up a diesel fuel injector. It needs to either be heated up or chemically altered.
Biodiesel is not unprocessed vegetable oil like the kind found in your kitchen or a mixture of vegetable oil and diesel fuel. It is a vegetable oil or animal fat that has undergone the process of transesterification. This means that by using a catalyst like potassium hydroxide (KOH) or sodium hydroxide (NaOH), the glycerol in the oil is replaced by a lighter and less viscous alcohol, such as methanol or ethanol.
Austic explained that biodiesel burns cleaner than petroleum oil. "It contains no sulfur and is carbon neutral," Austic said. "Biodiesel is biodegradable, non-toxic and renewable. You can drink it. It's not going to taste delicious, but you can drink it."
Biofuels have an advantage of being a replenishing resource. Feedstocks come from a variety of sources including chicken fat and the oils from canola, peanuts, rapeseed and soybean. Piedmont Biofuels buys these oils from restaurants as well as using those from the crops they grow on their own farm.
"A lot of people will refer to both biodiesel and ethanol as biofuel, but they are derived from different things and biodiesel is a replacement for petroleum diesel," Spang said. "I'm personally not a fan of ethanol because it is a virgin product. The corn is being grown for that specific purpose whereas biodiesel is a waste product."
Unlike much of the green progress that's been made in the automobile department, such as hybrid and electric powered cars, using biodiesel does not require buying a fancy new car. You simply need a car with a diesel engine, which are much easier to find used at a cheap price.
Piedmont Biofuels has a partnership with Elsbett technologies that allows them to sell and install Elsbett Conversion Kits, which convert vegetable oils into biofuel that you can run your car on.
Biodiesel is not unprocessed vegetable oil like the kind found in your kitchen or a mixture of vegetable oil and diesel fuel. It is a vegetable oil or animal fat that has undergone the process of transesterification. This means that by using a catalyst like potassium hydroxide (KOH) or sodium hydroxide (NaOH), the glycerol in the oil is replaced by a lighter and less viscous alcohol, such as methanol or ethanol.
Austic explained that biodiesel burns cleaner than petroleum oil. "It contains no sulfur and is carbon neutral," Austic said. "Biodiesel is biodegradable, non-toxic and renewable. You can drink it. It's not going to taste delicious, but you can drink it."
Biofuels have an advantage of being a replenishing resource. Feedstocks come from a variety of sources including chicken fat and the oils from canola, peanuts, rapeseed and soybean. Piedmont Biofuels buys these oils from restaurants as well as using those from the crops they grow on their own farm.
"A lot of people will refer to both biodiesel and ethanol as biofuel, but they are derived from different things and biodiesel is a replacement for petroleum diesel," Spang said. "I'm personally not a fan of ethanol because it is a virgin product. The corn is being grown for that specific purpose whereas biodiesel is a waste product."
Unlike much of the green progress that's been made in the automobile department, such as hybrid and electric powered cars, using biodiesel does not require buying a fancy new car. You simply need a car with a diesel engine, which are much easier to find used at a cheap price.
Piedmont Biofuels has a partnership with Elsbett technologies that allows them to sell and install Elsbett Conversion Kits, which convert vegetable oils into biofuel that you can run your car on.
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