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Habitat Magazine Insider Guide

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BIOFUEL PROS & CONS

Biofuel Pros & Cons

 

Note: Environmental effects below refer to end-use, and do not include effects associated with fuel production and transportation.

PROS

  • Can be used wherever diesel fuel is utilized: vehicles, electricity generators, marine vessels, and oil-fired heating systems.
  • The soybean-oil portion is biodegradable, nontoxic, odorless, and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics.
  • Reduces problems associated with cold weather, stability, material compatibility, and storage-tank cleanliness.
  • Provides increased lubricity.
  • Can reduce carbon-dioxide greenhouse emissions that may contribute to global warming, as well as other harmful emissions including sulfur oxides and possibly nitrogen oxides.
  • Cleaner-burning properties enable cleaner heat exchangers in boilers and warm-air furnaces, theoretically reducing cost of annual cleaning and tune-up.

 

CONS

  • Costs as much as 20 cents a gallon more than diesel fuel.
  • Possible two percent increase in nitrogen-oxide emissions.
  • Limited emission benefits compared to new, low emission engines or after-market add-ons such as PM traps.
  • Cold-flow management costs.
  • Lack of American Society for Testing and Materials standards.
  • Biofuel produced from feedstocks with high levels of saturated fatty acids (tallow, lard, some yellow grease) has a risk of freezing in tanks and forming crystals that plug fuel filters.

 

Sources: U.S. Dept. of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); University of Idaho; New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.

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