Lab 10

Making bio diesel and bio ethanol 


Bio diesel is simply saturated fats combined with alcohol to make a fuel source for diesel engines. The chemicals are called long chain alkyl (methyl, propyl or ethyl) esters. Bio diesel is usually mixed with different amounts of fossil fuel made diesel. This takes strain off the farmers to make large amounts of plants just for fuel. There is a push in many nations around the world to begin to use bio diesel for its renewable properties and its lower emissions. Other advantages of bio diesel is that it can be made at home using left over cooking oil and fryer oil that would normal be thrown out. However, the home made brews may not be as pure as commercial made bio diesel. There are a few other negatives associated with bio diesel. One is that the liquid is very viscous and in colder climates can become too viscous for the engine to start. This requires external heat sources to keep the bio diesel warm in colder climates. Also, water is sometimes a contaminated issue in bio diesel. This is left over from the chemical reaction processes that create bio diesel. Other arguments is the amount of farming it takes to create bio diesel. In some cases its less efficient to make bio diesel than to not make it. Another concern is its economic cause of raising food prices. This causes many poor nations to have problems buying food to feed themselves.  
Bio diesel is a good idea that needs some work to become a solution. Research into algae and other methods of making bio diesel will be excellent and take strain off food producers to make bio fuels instead of food.