History of Biodiesel
Developed in the 1890s by inventor Rudolph Diesel, the diesel engine has become the engine of choice for power, reliability, and high fuel economy, worldwide. Early experimenters on vegetable oil fuels included the French government and Dr. Diesel himself, who envisioned that pure vegetable oils could power early diesel engines for agriculture in remote areas of the world, where petroleum was not available at the time. Modern biodiesel fuel, which is made by converting vegetable oils into compounds called fatty acid methyl esters, has its roots in research conducted in the 1930s in Belgium, but today’s biodiesel industry was not established in Europe until the late 1980s.
Future of Biodiesel
Due to its clean emissions profile, ease of use, and many other benefits, biodiesel is quickly becoming one of the fastest growing alternative fuels in the world. With minimal subsidy biodiesel is cost competitive with petroleum diesel, and millions of users have found and enjoyed the benefits of the fuel. The future of biodiesel lies in the world’s ability to produce renewable feedstocks such as vegetable oils and fats to keep the cost of biodiesel competitive with petroleum, without supplanting land necessary for food production, or destroying natural ecosystems in the process. Creating biodiesel in a sustainable manner, will allow this clean, renewable, and cost effective fuel to help ease the world through increasing shortages of petroleum, while providing economic and environmental benefits well into the 21st century.
