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Does Biodiesel A Good Replacement For Fossil Fuels?

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Is biofuel a good replacement for fossil fuels?

Fossil fuels are a fuel made from plant and animal matter that have been compressed over millions of years. These fuels consist of coal, oil and gas and when burnt to create energy, they produce gases that damage our atmosphere. To cut down on these gases other types of fuels have to be used one of these replacements for fossil fuels is biofuel.
Coal has to be crushed then burnt whereas oil and gas can be directly burnt.
The process of burning fossil fuels for energy is; Fuel is burnt to heat water into steam which is then used to turn turbines to then turn generators which produces electricity.

Biofuel
The process of burning biofuel is the same as fossil fuels apart from the fuel is a …show more content…

Biodiesel is used by itself but bioethanol has to be mixed with petrol to be used. Biodiesel can be used in most diesel engines, and also emits less hydro1carbons than petroleum diesel. It is also as efficient as petroleum diesel. Biodiesel is made of plant oils and animal fats such as canola oil and used cooking oil and even things such as algae. Some of these things are not that useful and making them into fuels gives them a use which cuts our production of greenhouse gases.

Biodiesel is a hydrocarbon with 17 carbon atoms which includes an ester group at the end of the chain. This hydrocarbon is the end product of an interaction of triglyceride and methanol. The interaction between the two leaves fatty acid esters at the end of a hydrocarbon chain, which is the biodiesel, and glycerine which can be used in food processing. The ester group is the difference between petrodiesel and biodiesel. Using bio diesel reduces the amount of sulfur emissions but increases the amount of nitric oxide …show more content…

Another advantage of using a biofuel is that the plants used to make the fuel take in some of the carbon dioxide produced when burning the fuel reducing the amount of carbon dioxide that ends up in the atmosphere. Biodiesel can also be blended with other fuels such as petrodiesel, this reduces the gas emissions of the fuel but also keeps its energy output high. Biodiesel has better lubricity then petrodiesel, meaning it prevents wear on parts such as the fuel injector. There is more oxygen in biodiesel which makes it easier to burn. Also this means less carbon monoxide is produced but, this means more carbon dioxide is produced because of the extra oxygen. This amount is still less than the amount produced when petrodiesel is burnt.

There is also a disadvantage to this though. The fuels are made from plants and these plants have to be grown, replacing areas of which are used for growing food for us. A disadvantage of using a biodiesel blend is that the more biofuel in the blend the less energy that can be produced. Biodiesel has a higher freezing temperature then petrodiesel meaning it is not a very good choice of fuel in colder climates or

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