FAQ

• Why don't you use water to wash biofuel?   Because we know other solutions to be better. We recommend DRY washing using Ion Exchange Resin - needing no water. It is faster than water (approx. 1 hour to wash up to 3200 litres of biodiesel). It is more environmentally safe than water with no possibility of groundwater contamination in a closed system. With Ion Exchange systems (originally designed for the nuclear and water purification industries) the process is a clean, controllable, less expensive and more effective than water washing.
• What is Biodiesel?   Biodiesel is the name of a clean burning alternative fuel, produced from domestic, renewable resources. Biodiesel contains no petroleum, but it can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a biodiesel blend. It can be used in compression-ignition (diesel) engines with little or no modifications. Biodiesel is simple to use, biodegradable, non-toxic, and essentially free of sulphur and aromatics.
• Is Biodiesel the same thing as raw vegetable oil?   No! Biodiesel is produced from any fat or oil such as soybean oil, through a refinery process called transesterification. This process is a reaction of the oil with an alcohol to remove the glycerine, which is a by-product of biodiesel production. Fuel-grade biodiesel must be produced to strict industry specifications (ASTM D6751 in the United States, EN14214 in Europe) in order to insure proper performance. Biodiesel is defined as mono-alkyl esters of long chain fatty acids derived from vegetable oils or animal fats which conform to ASTM D6751 specifications for use in diesel engines. Biodiesel refers to the pure fuel before blending with diesel fuel. Biodiesel blends are denoted as, "BXX" with "XX" representing the percentage of biodiesel contained in the blend (i.e.: B20 is 20% biodiesel, 80% petroleum diesel).
• Is biodiesel used as a pure fuel or is it blended with petroleum diesel?   Biodiesel can be used as a pure fuel or blended with petroleum in any percentage. B20 (a blend of 20 percent by volume biodiesel with 80 percent by volume petroleum diesel) has demonstrated significant environmental benefits.
• How do biodiesel emissions compare to petroleum diesel?   The use of biodiesel in a conventional diesel engine results in substantial reduction of unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter compared to emissions from diesel fuel. In addition, the exhaust emissions of sulphur oxides and sulphates (major components of acid rain) from biodiesel are essentially eliminated compared to diesel. Of the major exhaust pollutants, both unburned hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides are ozone or smog forming precursors. The use of biodiesel results in a substantial reduction of unburned hydrocarbons. Emissions of nitrogen oxides are either slightly reduced or slightly increased depending on the duty cycle of the engine and testing methods used. Based on engine testing, using the most stringent emissions testing protocols required by EPA for certification of fuels or fuel additives in the US, the overall ozone forming potential of the speciated hydrocarbon emissions from biodiesel was nearly 50 percent less than that measured for diesel fuel.

Process

• What percentage of oil is converted to biodiesel?   With our HIGH TEMPERATURE, PRESSURISED process we routinely exceed 98.5% conversion ratios. These are the highest we have ever found in our market segment. This has been audited in the USA by an NBB (National Biodiesel Board) auditor. Many people tell us they achieve only 96% (and many below this). What does this mean for your business? Again, let us use 1000 litres of input oil as our basis. 98.5% conversion ratio means 1000 litres of input oil will generate 985 litres of biodiesel. 96% conversion ratio means 1000 litres of input oil will generate 960 litres of biodiesel. So if you compare using the two systems above the EuroFuelTech reactor would generate an EXTRA 25 litres of biodiesel every 1000 litres produced. Thus every 10,000 litres of input oil the EuroFuelTech reactor could generate 250 litres of additional biodiesel. This means (assuming a profit of 20p per litre) an extra £50 of profit every 10,000 litres produced. In business, where every penny counts, this is valuable income.