Fatty Acid methyl Ester

(FAME)
or
Fatty Acid Ethyl Ester
(FAEE)

What is Biodiesel and is it safe to use it ?

A fuel made by reacting vegetable oils or
animal fats with methanol or ethanol.
A cleaner-burning diesel replacement fuel
Fatty acid alkyl esters [FAME or FAEE]
Operates in compression-ignition engines
Blends of up to 20% biodiesel (mixed with
petroleum diesel fuels), considered
compatible with most diesel engines and
storage and distribution equipment.
Users may not get engine warranty from the
diesel engine makers. Long term effects are
not evaluated and yet to be declared as safe.
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 Higher blends, even pure biodiesel (100%

biodiesel, or B100), can be used in many

engines built since 1994 with little or no

modification.

Transportation and storage, however, require

special management. Material compatibility

and warrantee issues haven't been resolved

with higher blends.
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 Using biodiesel in a diesel engine reduces

emissions of unburned hydrocarbons,
carbon monoxide, sulfates, polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons, nitrated polycyclic
aromatic hydrocarbons, and particulate
matter.
The use of biodiesel decreases the solid
carbon fraction of particulate matter and
reduces the sulfate fraction. The soluble, or
hydrocarbon, fraction stays the same or
increases. It works well with diesel oxidation
catalysts.
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 Emissions of nitrogen oxides increase with

the concentration of biodiesel in the fuel.

Some biodiesel produces more nitrogen

oxides than others, and some additives

have shown promise in modifying the

increases.
More R&D is needed to resolve this issue.

 Biodiesel is susceptible to oxidation.

It has been observed that biodiesel from

Jatropha curcas oil is relatively unstable on

storage.
It forms residual products such as insoluble
gums and aldehydes that may cause engine
problems like filter clogging, injector coking,
and corrosion of metal parts.
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 Fatty acid chain / biodiesel with unsaturation

in its fatty acids offers high reactivity with
oxygen.
As the Jatropha curcas biodiesel contains
about 75% of unsaturated fatty esters, its
oxidation stability is expected to be seriously
impacted.
Further, the fatty oils with more poly

unsaturation, are more prone to oxidation

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Multi-purpose
nonedible oil seed producing trees?

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The schematic shows the reactions taking place

where one molecule of triglyceride (a plant oil,
say, jatropha) reacts with three molecules of
methanol to produce three molecules of methyl
ester (bio-diesel), while one molecule of glycerol
separates

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Biodiesel
Will biodiesel damage my engine?
Noif the biodiesel meets the standards of
ASTM 6751
One exception:
Biodiesel can damage certain natural
rubber engine components over time
Older engines may require the replacement of
fuel lines and some gaskets
These components are unlikely to fail
immediately but may fail with increased
biodiesel use
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SVO and WVO

Straight Vegetable Oil is not biodiesel
This includes Waste Vegetable Oil

Diesel engines can be modified to run on

vegetable oil
Some users who have modified engines have

reported long term problems using SVO

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SVO and WVO

Main Problems:
These fuels are too thick.
The must be thinned to function in a diesel engine
How? By heating or a by chemical reaction (the
chemical reaction is the biodiesel production)
Problem is worse the lower the temperature
Modified engines still typically use SVO in
conjunction with diesel for start up and shut down
No government incentives for SVO and WVO

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Finally, What is Biodiesel?

Alternative fuel for diesel engines

Made from vegetable oil or animal fat
Meets health effect testing (CAA)
Lower emissions, High flash point (>300F), Safer
Biodegradable, Essentially non-toxic.
Chemically, biodiesel molecules are mono-alkyl esters
produced usually from triglyceride esters
Fatty Acid
Alcohol
Glycerin

Vegetable Oil

Biodiesel

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