How can I make my own biodiesel? I would like to know more about biodiesel and how it works. I’m trying to find a new fuel for biodiesel but I don’t understand much about it yet. Could you also make biodiesel from water?
Answer
Hi Mikel
Yes, you can make biodiesel from, for example, cooking oil. But you can also use other oils such as rapeseed. If you analyze the different types of biodiesel, you will notice that they are all slightly different, rapeseed oil contains slightly different fatty acids (in type and proportion) than olive or corn oil. More information can be found, for example, at biodiesel nederland.
You can find various methods for making biodiesel via the internet (see, for example, the website of the eurekas). This is also sometimes done in secondary schools. You can also visit the chemistry forum, where many pupils and students have already posted questions about biodiesel.
You cannot make biodiesel from water, but you can make hydrogen gas, which is also an energy source that is being researched a lot. When you burn hydrogen gas, a lot of energy is released.
To make that hydrogen, one usually starts from water, by means of electrolysis you can split water into hydrogen gas (H2) and oxygen gas (O2). That takes a lot of electrical energy. Electrolysis is the opposite of what happens in a (car) battery: you apply a voltage, which is a form of energy, namely electrical energy, and as a result you can initiate reactions that would otherwise not occur.
A disadvantage of hydrogen gas as an energy source is that it is explosive, so you have to ensure that the risk of explosion is as small as possible, this is one of the challenges.
Want to know more about hydrogen? Have a look here.
Answered by
Dr Marina Vanhecke
analytical chemistry toxicology soil remediation
UC Leuven Andreas Vesaliusstraat 13 | 3000 Leuven Hertogstraat 178 | 3001 Heverlee UC Limburg Campus Diepenbeek, Agoralaan Building B bus 1 3590 Diepenbeek
http://www.ucll.be
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