B100
Biodiesel is more than a perfect replacement for petroleum diesel, it is basically what Rudolph Diesel developed his engine to run on in the 1890's. Embracing biodiesel is returning to the roots of fuel use history. Rudolph preferred peanut oil because it was a local crop to his homeland. Rudolph's engine was an evolution of Otto's 4-stroke ICE. However, Rudolph used compression to ignite his fuel oil, while Otto used spark plugs to ignite his hydrogen.
Today, it is imparitive that we utilize the grease traps of the Nation as the feedstock for biodiesel processing. It is imorale to feed that stuff to cows and pigs and it is unhealthy to filter out the chunks and burn it straight. Used cooking oil becomes increasingly carcinogenic the more it is repeatedly heated and cooled and is thus a necessity to replace old cooking grease with fresh oil to keep the carcinogens out of the peoples bellies. To keep those carcinogens from being released into the atmosphere for us all to breath, the grease must be processed into biodiesel so the carcinogens go out with the glycerin.
Algae is the best feedstock for oil to process into biodiesel which can replace JP8 and all petroleum based diesel, the world over. All we have to do is feed algae the dirty exhaust from coal fired power plants. The algae cleans up the exhaust, providing cleaner air for humans to breath. The algae can be manipulated into an extended dark cycle where it produces hydrogen instead of oxygen. We can harvest that H2 for fuel. Then we can bring the algae back to vibrant life with light and harvest the oil from it to make biodiesel from. The leftover cellulose from the press can be eaten as a food, or fed to livestock, all while cleaning up that darn dirty coal!!!!!
Liquid biofuels are great because they pour into our existing
infrastructure. But we have to be realistic about how finite they are.
Making them and using them locally to displace petroleum is great.
However, the longer we hold on to this liquid fuel addiction that has
been bestowed upon the citizens of the world, the harder it will be to
pull out the nozzle later.
We must transition back to the gaseous fuels that automobiles were designed to run on. Methane is paving the highway back to hydrogen. In 1809 it was low pressure hydrogen stored in a balloon between the drivers legs. Today we can store hydrogen as a liquid at cryogenic temperatures, as a solid in a metal matrix that acts like a sponge, chemically in structures or as a high pressure gas at atmospheric temperature.
Compressed Hydrogen is great because it is compatible with compressed natural gas. Fully embracing the natural gas stage of mankinds fuel use evolution is paving the highway back to hydrogen.