International holidays - International Biodiesel Day

At the end of the 19th century, a then little-known German inventor named Rudolf Diesel applied for a patent for a new heat engine that would later bear his name. In 1853, forty years earlier, the transesterification reaction was discovered, which made it possible to increase the plasticity of fats and their stability to oxidation, while increasing the melting point. How are these two events related? Transesterification is used to create biological fuels, which were first used for a diesel engine at a presentation in Augsburg, Germany on August 10, 1893. Subsequently, all development of the new engine was carried out at a local enterprise, where Diesel received support and financing for his project. During the presentation, a unique fuel was used at that time, obtained from peanut oil - an affordable product, the production of which was several times cheaper than oil refining. Since then, August 10 has become an unofficial biodiesel holiday. This fuel is obtained by processing animal and vegetable fats. Its main advantage is environmental safety. When using it, the emission of soot and carbon dioxide, which causes irreparable damage to the ozone layer of the planet, is significantly reduced. The fuel does not cause any harm to either plants or animals. When it gets into water or soil, it is simply processed by microorganisms. The complete biological breakdown of the substance takes only a month, but for ordinary bags made from oil, this process drags on for 700-1000 years. Fuel does not poison the environment, which is especially important today, when the world is on the verge of an environmental disaster. Various raw materials are used to produce biodiesel. Typically, each individual region or country has its own “recipes”. In Asia, palm and coconut oils are actively used. In Africa and the USA, fields are sown with soybeans, and in Europe rapeseed is grown for this purpose. In each country, for the production of biodiesel, the crop that is profitable to grow in the given climatic conditions is selected. In rare cases, fish oil, waste vegetable oil, castor oil, and animal fats are used. The undisputed leader among sources of vegetable fats is rapeseed. This is the cheapest oil of all, but soon it may have to give way to algae, which is already being considered as a promising option for the production of biodiesel.