|
Problems with & Disadvantages of Biodiesel - The Alternate View - Reference & Resources The Energy Portal @ Oilgae.com (So what’s the Oilgae story?)
|
||||||
|
|
Nature gave us oil from algae; perhaps we should try Nature’s way again
Problems with and Disadvantages of Biodiesel
..
..
Oilgae Highlights
See also the following sections under Biodiesel
..
..
Problems with and Disadvantages of Biodiesel
While biodiesel has its myriad advantages and benefits, there is a flip side as well. This section provides inputs on the various (perceived) disadvantages of biodiesel, as well as problems that have been reported while using biodiesel.
Some of the disadvantages of and problems with biodiesel are:
· It is currently more expensive (see also: Biodiesel – Performance, Costs & Use – from the Dept of Energy, Govt of USA) · Disadvantages of using biodiesel produced from agricultural crops involve additional land use, as land area is taken up and various agricultural inputs with their environmental effects are inevitable. Switching to biodiesel on a large scale requires considerable use of our arable area. Even modest usages of biodiesel would consume almost all cropland in some countries in Europe! If the same thing is to happen all over the world, the impact on global food supply could be a major concern, and could make some countries being net importers of food products, from their current status of net exporters! It Could so happen that most lands on the planet are deployed to produce food for cars, not people! ( see also: Biodiesel & Deforestation, Amount of Biodiesel That Could be Produced from Available Land in the UK – An Estimate) · It gives out more nitrogen oxide emissions (Nitrogen oxide emissions from biodiesel blends could possibly be reduced by blending with kerosene or Fischer-Tropsch diesel) (NOx & Biodiesel – Journey to Forever, Study Shows NOx Emissions Reduction in Biodiesel with Additives – PDF) · Transportation & storage of biodiesel require special management. Some properties of biodiesel make it undesirable for use at high concentrations. For example, pure biodiesel doesn't flow well at low temperatures, which can cause problems for customers with outdoor storage tanks in colder climates. A related disadvantage is that biodiesel, because of its nature, can’t be transported in pipelines. It has to be transported by truck or rail, which increases the cost. · Biodiesel is less suitable for use in low temperatures, than petrodiesel. The “cloud point” is the temperature at which a sample of the fuel starts to appear cloudy, indicating that wax crystals have begun to form. At even lower temperatures, the fuel becomes a gel that cannot be pumped. The “pour point” is the temperature below which the fuel will not flow. As the cloud and pour points for biodiesel are higher than those for petroleum diesel, the performance of biodiesel in cold conditions is markedly worse than that of petroleum diesel. At low temperatures, diesel fuel forms wax crystals, which can clog fuel lines and filters in a vehicle’s fuel system. Vehicles running on biodiesel blends may therefore exhibit more drivability problems at less severe winter temperatures than do vehicles running on petroleum diesel. · Another disadvantage of biodiesel is that it tends to reduce fuel economy. Energy efficiency is the percentage of the fuel’s thermal energy that is delivered as engine output, and biodiesel has shown no significant effect on the energy efficiency of any test engine. The energy content per gallon of biodiesel is approximately 11 percent lower than that of petroleum diesel. Vehicles running on biodiesel are therefore expected to achieve about 10% fewer miles per gallon of fuel than petrodiesel. · There have been a few concerns regarding biodiesel’s impact on engine durability · Biodiesel has excellent solvent properties. Hence, any deposits in the filters and in the delivery systems may be dissolved by biodiesel and result in need for replacement of the filters. Petroleum diesel forms deposits in vehicular fuel systems, and because biodiesel can loosen those deposits, they can migrate and clog fuel lines and filters. · The solvent property of biodiesel could also cause other fuel-system problems. Biodiesel may be incompatible with the seals used in the fuel systems of older vehicles and machinery, necessitating the replacement of those parts if biodiesel blends are used.
..
..
More Links on Biodiesel Disadvantages
· Biodiesel Suffers an Image Setback · Colorado Region has Problems with Biodiesel · Truckers Report Problems with Biodiesel · Biodiesel Fuels between Acceptance & Quality (PDF) · Environmental Evaluation of Biofuels – Takes a Life Cycle Analysis Approach (PDF) Feeding Cars, not People – George Monibot
Energy Sources - Main Sections
Alternative Renewable Energy > Geothermal, Hydro-power, Ocean Energy, Hydrogen Energy, Solar Energy, Wind Energy, Radiant Energy, Waste to Energy, Bio-based Energy (Biodiesel, Alcohol Fuels > Ethanol Fuel, Biomass, Fuel from Animals)
Alternative Energy, Non-renewable > Alternative Fossil Fuels (Synfuel, Syngas), Nuclear Energy
Main Sections @ Oilgae Energy Portal
Notes:
Add Links/Submit Links: Do you have a web resource that belongs to here? If you have a web site that you wish to include in this page, do let us know the details by sending a note about your URL to [narsi]@[esource].[in] to add URL (pl remove the [ ] to get my email address!). We’ll quickly review the web site, and if found relevant, add it to the database. Thanks!
Oilgae.com content is available under GNU Free Documentation License: All content at Oilgae.com is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation (GFDL). Put simply, under this license, anyone is free to copy & use any amount of content @ Oilgae.com, make changes to it and use it in any way they wish, as long as they also allow the same rights to anyone else for this content and give credits to Oilgae by giving a link to the specific page/s from where the content was taken (a mention of Oilgae.com and a brief description about the site is enough for offline usage). Put not so simply, see the Oilgae.com GNU Free Documentation License .
About Oilgae - Oilgae - Oil & Biodiesel from Algae
has a focus on biodiesel production from algae while also discussing
alternative energy in general. Algae present an exciting possibility as a feedstock
for biodiesel, and when you realise that oil was originally formed from
algae - among others - you think "Hey! Why not oil again from
algae!"
|
|||||