[MUSIC] >> Skip, thanks very much for the talk. I have a couple questions though, as usual. >> Okay. >> So, the process to make biodiesel certainly looks pretty simple. I mean, I know that people can actually make this stuff in their garage. And obviously the environmental advantages seem really obvious and beneficial. So, you know, why is biodiesel not a bigger part of our fuel market today? >> Its cost and availability of feed stock. There just isn't much oil around or the oil is very expensive and competes with food. >> So I know that we use waste oils, waste cooking oils. You know, french fries are the sort of famous one. So what are some of the other feed stocks? I meant that obviously in limited supply but what are some of the other bean stocks that you guys think about? >> Well, soybean oil, palm oil, coconut oil, are all things that have been used around the world, datropha oil, those are all, datropha oil is sort of interesting, but the reason why I have been intrigued by algae. You know, I've been participating with you guys here at the university because those are all things that the algae doesn't take away from food generation. And it's not using airable, airable land or drinking water to grow. So but algae turns out to be a pretty good feed stock. >> Right, and most of the petroleum that's underground came from. [CROSSTALK] >> Came from. [CROSSTALK] >> In the first place. >> Alright. Good. Okay, so I think a lot of people didn't know or don't know that fuel must meet a certain specification before it can be sold. You showed us the ASTM specification for the biodiesel that you guys have produced here. >> Mm-hm. >> So, once in meets that specification, this can be blended and sold on the market right now? >> Yeah. You have to be a licensed distributor. There's regulatory things you have to go through. >> Okay. >> Technically you'd have to have a license and pay taxes. You know, for transportation fuels and things like that. But the guy that makes it in their own garage, you know, and it's ready to go. But the quality, as soon as it meets the ASDM quality then it can be blended and put it in anybody else's fuel. >> Okay. So, so there even the oil that we produce on campus, we actually could be, we could sell it. But if we develop [CROSSTALK]. >> Yeah we could sell it if we had the licensure to sell it. >> Okay. Then the other thing I, I you know, you were talking specifically about biodiesel today. But I also hear about renewable diesel. >> Mm-hm. >> So what is the difference between a renewable diesel and a biodiesel? >> Well it, renewable diesel looks a lot like just regular diesel, and then has all the problems associated with regular diesel in terms of the particulate matter, the carcinogenic nature of what the output and emissions are, the soot, and, and the lubricity issues. So, bio diesel is still better that the renewable diesel in that regard. And in fact, a lot of people are talking about making bio diesel a mandatory small blend part of all diesel. >> Okay. But renewable diesel still implies that it comes from a re, renewable- >> A renewable source. Yeah. >> A renewable source. So in fact you can take the vegetable oil that you talked about and turn that into renewable diesel. And how is the process different? >> Well it'd be a high temperature and pressure process so that you'd crack and move away that, it's called decarboxylation, you get rid of that ester group on there. But that's where you run into the problems of reformation reactions that then make some of these. Poly-, ar-, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and other things that are bad for the fuel. >> kind of. So, but, but in other words, pretty similar to what happens in a refinery anyway. >> Anyway. Absolutely. >> Okay. Okay. so, here in the US, we tend to have a lot more gasoline, cars than, than we do diesel-powered cars. As you mentioned you know, diesel in the United States is mostly in our trucks and in the buses, etc. But in Europe I know they have a lot more diesel powered cars. And I see ads on TV now that diesel powered cars seem to be coming to the United States. So I guess the question is, you know, what's the big difference between the two and why do we have more gasoline cars and Europeans have more diesel? >> It's mostly cultural and political. The political climate in Europe is that they subsidize the diesel, so it's actually less expensive than the petroleum gasoline. So as a result, there's one incentive. The other incentive is that at every gas station in Europe, you'd find a diesel pump. In the United States, it's maybe one in every three. So the availability's a little different. There's also a different style in the driving. They tend to drive from city to city over longer distances, which really then value that heavier engine and the longer-distance travel, rather than a series of short hops that gasoline engines are really better suited toward. >> Okay. But so, if, if diesel engines are, are better, as you pointed out, in terms of mileage, in terms of ability to pull, they seemed in some ways to be superior to gasoline. So, you know, what is the sort of research that has to be done, and what specifically are, is your group doing now, that's going to allow us to get more of this biodiesel or renewable diesel sort of into the market? >> So one of the things you have to do is you have to always look at the combustion. And the processing quality of the fuel. Some of the things that we're looking at are, are there other ways to, let's say dry. If you're one of the big, expensive parts, is to remove that water, typically by heating. We're starting to look at different kinds of solvent extraction. And the solvent extraction we're using, is by modifying the glycerol that's a waste product and turning it into a molecule that we can now use to extract the water from the biodiesel. And so we're also looking at different ways to more effectively do the analysis, so for example, that X-ray fluorescence technique is only just now recently been used by ASTM. Before, it had to be the ICP method. So we're sort of moving in that direction. So that's we're, what we're looking at. On campus, there are people in the chemical engineering department. We're looking at the way the fuels combust in engines, and so that's, then you're trying to tailor the way the engine's work so as to maximize the energy efficiently and to minimize the amount of pollutants that come out the tailpipe. >> All right, excellent. So good future for diesel, whether it's renewable diesel or biodiesel. >> I think you'll see more diesel cars on the road, right. Like, in the Volkswagens and the BMWs that are now starting to come to the United States, yeah. >> All right, well, thanks very much for telling us today about biodiesel. >> All right, thank you. >> Thanks.
