History and Background
The idea of using vegetable oil as a fuel has been around as long as the diesel engine. In fact, their histories are inseparable. Rudolph Diesel (1858-1913), the inventor of the diesel engine, chose biofuels, specifically peanut oil, as the fuel for his high-efficiency engine. In a time that was powered by the inefficient and highly resource consumptive steam engine, Diesel envisioned an engine that produces higher efficiency while consuming fewer resources. He designed an internal combustion engine that compresses air to high temperatures, injects fuel into the piston chamber, which becomes ignited by the high temperature of the compressed air, and forces the piston down. Comparatively, the steam engine produced only 12% efficiency while Diesel’s first diesel engine design in 1893 produced 26% efficiency.
By 1897, Diesel had created an engine that operated with 75% efficiency. He took this design to the Exhibition Fair in Paris, France in 1898, where he ran his model off peanut oil. With biofuels available to small scale industries like farmers, Diesel hoped that his design would help these industries run off of locally grown, readily available fuels that would allow them to become more competitive with larger scale industries that, at this time in history, also controlled energy production. Thinking sustainably, Diesel recognized the amount of resources that went into steam production and the resulting efficiency, and believed that he was creating a more sustainable engine for the future.
Diesel hoped that his design would be a viable engine in America, where he believed American’s would accept his design because of the availability of biofuels. Adolphus Busch acquired the rights to the production of the patented diesel engine in America in 1898, but the design of the engine was not altered until after World War I. After World War I, the engine was redesigned to accommodate less viscous fossil fuels. At this time in history, the petroleum industries were expanding and were influencing the engine and machinery industries. Ultimately, biofuels were phased out of use as a fuel for the stationary diesel engine and were mostly replaced by fossil fuels.
As the diesel engine became compacted for use in the transportation industry, the idea of using biofuels arose again, yet briefly. Mercedes-Benz was the first automotive industry to use diesel engine in the 1930’s. In America, Henry Ford believed that biofuels could be the primary fuel for the diesel driven transportation industry. Ford even invested in expanding research and development of biofuels in the Midwest. Though, the rise of the petroleum industry in America yet again phased out the use of biofuels.
Today, with our heavy dependence on expensive foreign oil, people are looking again at vegetable oils as a source for fuel. Diesel fuel is typically cheaper than other types of petro-fuels because it is less processed. Vegetable oil can be found relatively cheap if not free from restaurants that are looking to dispose of their ‘waste’. Since vegetable oil can be used in existing diesel engines, in some cases diesel engines require some slight modifications, it is a solution to lessening our dependence on foreign oil and lowering the cost of our energy bills.
Links for more info:
http://www.ybiofuels.org/bio_fuels/history_diesel.html
http://www.frybrid.com/history.htm
http://www.boulderbiodiesel.com/tom/Diesel101/
http://www.wnbiodiesel.com/technology.html
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/FTPROOT/environment/biodiesel.pdf |
