How Is Sunflower Oil Used in Biodiesel?

Bio-Diesel

      How Is Sunflower Oil Used in Biodiesel?


It is hard to imagine that the bright and yellow sunflower can be destined for something greater such as biodiesel. If someone had told me this many years ago, I would have been extremely surprised. A sunflower to biodiesel? That's a correlation that many people still aren't able to make. So how does it happen, how is sunflower used in biodiesel?

First of all, what is biodiesel? Biodiesel is a form of biofuel that is a substitute to diesel. It is a vegetable oil fat-based diesel fuel consisting of long-chain alkyl esters. It can be used in standard diesel engines and as a back up in diesel-fuelled generators. That means that many trucks whether it's used for transport or commercial purposes can run on biodiesel.

So how does sunflower oil fit into this equation? Many restaurants, café's and catering companies make use of many litres of sunflower oil on a daily basis. Due to health and safety standards, the oil that is used once for frying or cooking cannot be used again. This diminishes the quality of the oil and its nutritional benefits. Therefore, these restaurants, café's and caterers dispose of their used oil via accredited used oil collectors. A certified used oil collector cannot allow that oil be recycled back into the human food chain. Thus they find other means to dispose of the used sunflower oil. You guessed it. Yes, it is recycled into biodiesel. As mentioned earlier in this article, certain chemical combinations are used in conjunction with the sunflower oil to create a stable and sustainable bio fuel that can be used in diesel powered vehicles. That means it replaces the need for conventional diesel because the vehicle is able to run efficiently on the recycled biodiesel.

Furthermore, because the biodiesel is made from locally collected used sunflower oil, local laboratories are able to create the biodiesel. Thus there are no import costs because the biodiesel is locally produced making it more cost effective than standard diesel.

Biodiesel is slowly but surely making its appearance into our world. It may be a few years before enough can be produced to satisfy the demand, but it is good to know that we are moving forward and finding alternative fuel sources. With a fuel source such as sunflowers that are readily available worldwide and can be grown annually in large quantities, it's good to know that we can sustain our standards of living without compromising our planet.

Golden Fry is an approved used oil collector. We are pleased to announce that Golden Fry Biodiesel is now available to all businesses. We have been using Biodiesel in our vehicles and we want other businesses to benefit from it as well.

Feel free to contact us to find out more information:
Tel: 0105957981 or E-mail: hassim@goldenfryoil.co.za

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/expert/Hassim_Seedat/1452013



Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/8404686