Many of the large vehicles, like trucks, tractors, and buses run on diesel fuel. However, we all know that diesel isn’t renewable and contributes to the greenhouse effect. Biodiesel, on the other hand, is renewable and is made from fats of animals, grease, or oils from vegetables.
Comparing biodiesel and regular diesel from petroleum, biodiesel produces much less pollution than the other. The good news is that vehicles that run on diesel can also run on biodiesel. This is because the chemical characteristics of biodiesel are very similar to that of the diesel from petroleum.
Biodiesel can be used as a substitute for diesel fuel but or it can also be used to blend with petroleum diesel. This helps make the fuel greener while not affecting the fuel economy of the vehicle.
Biodiesel Blends
Vehicles that have a diesel engine will work well with biodiesel blends that contain 5% of biodiesel (B5). Those that have 20% biodiesel mixed with 80% petroleum diesel are known as B20. These are used by some government and federal fleets. School buses, garbage trucks, military vehicles, snowplows, mail trucks as well as snowplows also used the B20 biodiesel blend or even higher biodiesel blends. Biodiesel blends are available to the public and almost every state has them.
Many of those in the trucking industry prefer to use biodiesels at low-levels, usually the B2 and B5 blends. This is because biodiesel also has lubricating capabilities. This helps improve the engine performance of the trucks.
Pure biodiesel or B100 is also available but biodiesel blends are preferred because pure biodiesel is a solvent. It can potentially harm the rubber components of older vehicle models. Creating biodiesel blends prevents this from happening.
Increasing Use Of Biodiesel
In previous decades, it has been observed that there has been an increase in the use of biodiesel. This may be due to the positive effects of the biodiesel to the environment plus the different incentives offered by the government for consuming biodiesel.
The increase in the consumption of biodiesel is not only observed in the United States. An increase is also evident in the worldwide consumption. Many other countries also have incentives to encourage the use of biodiesel and biodiesel blends.