> Is there any difference in energy content between, for instance, one liter > of sunflower biodiesal and one liter of palm-oil biodiesal? In other words, > is there a better performance in km/liter for the better oil? .....................
Mike, Technically, the answer is yes. Examine the following: Each oil is going to have a different fatty acid profile makeup - different amounts of multiple types of constituent oils such as lanoleic, linoleic, etc. As each oil has a different makeup of varying components, the post transesterification results will have some differences from oil to oil as well. Oils have differing original heat values and the final biodiesels are subject to similar variations. Your question or implication that some oils may form better biodiesels relative to final energy content is logical and accurate. The $64 million dollar question, however, is actually a number of primary questions. Secondary and tertiary questions can be omitted for the moment. The biggies are: 1) What is the ranking of each biodiesel from highest energy value to lowest, per gallon or liter? 2) What is the yield of biodiesel from each oil from highest yield to lowest, per gallon or liter? 3) What is the coking potential of each biodiesel, based upon static tests over time? 4) What is the cloud point of each oil's biodiesel from highest temp to lowest? 5) What variances occur in answers to the above three questions when using differing alcohols to form the esters, such as methyl, ethyl, iso-propyl, iso-butyl, etc? While there are some studies that try to corner the elusive answer to your question, absolutely no one to date, at least relative to general knowledge, has conducted an experiment of appropriate breadth, depth and duration to accurately answer the question "What is the best oil from which to manufacture biodiesel?" There are a lot of oils, a lot of alcohols, several different processes and a somewhat large cost factor incurred to analyze each variable accurately. Until such a time as these measures are taken, you'll be relatively safe to continue with mainstays such as rapeseed, soy, used veg and animal oils, palm or any others that have logged hundreds of thousands of miles and been documented. Going beyond that, you'll probably need a reasonably large grant in order to determine the unequivocal answer. Hope this answers your question... :-) Todd Swearingen Appal Energy [EMAIL PROTECTED] Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
