Advanced BioFuels USA

(Advanced Biofuels USA) Since 2011, one of Advanced Biofuels USA’s most popular publications has been “What’s the Difference between Biodiesel and Renewable (Green) Diesel?”  The update of this paper has been expanded to answer the question, “What Renewable Fuels Can Be Used in Compression Ignition Engines?”

This paper begins by explaining briefly how diesel (compression ignition (CI)) engines work and how they are different from spark ignition engines which use gasoline or gasoline-alternative renewable fuels like ethanol, biobutanol, methanol and others. Next, and in greater detail, it focuses on exploring advanced renewable, sustainable fuels that are currently available or in development for use in CI engines.

The first version of this paper asked “What is the Difference between Biodiesel and Renewable Diesel?” because those were the two renewable fuels available at the time. This revision updates information on those fuels and add others that have been commercialized or are in development since that initial publication.

This paper is organized by fuel, including how the fuel is made, what feedstock may be used to make it, its properties, specifications, and environmental impact.

Renewable alternative fuel options for use in CI engines discussed in this review include:

• Biodiesel
• Renewable diesel which goes by many names including:
  • Hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO)
  • Hydrogenation-derived renewable diesel (HDRD)
  • Hydroprocessed renewable diesel (HRD)
  • and others
• Co-processed diesel
• Straight vegetable oil (SVO)
• Renewable dimethyl ether (rDME)
• Ethanol
• Lignin ethanol oil (LEO)

It also briefly addresses diesel generators (gen sets), stationery (non-mobile) diesel engines, “marine diesel,” and some renewable options for those uses.

Interest in renewable fuels for shipping and maritime use has increased due to the International Maritime Organization’s regulations intended to reduce sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and other pollutants from global shipping exhaust.  Some of the renewable fuels included in this paper are being studied as replacements for bunker oil and other marine applications to meet these requirements.

Sustainability and Transportation Defossilization Programs

This paper is designed to help the general public better understand renewable fuel options for CI engines. It will be particularly useful for fleet managers and those working on incorporating transportation and equipment into corporate, government, and regional sustainability programs, as well as for those interested in investing in renewable fuels.

This will also be a useful reference for people working on or reporting on policy and legislation to defossilize transportation systems, such as the Transportation and Climate Initiative being discussed in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast and the Midwestern Clean Fuels Policy.

This paper may also be used as a CI engine renewable fuels introduction or overview by teachers, faculty, and students of engineering, science, environmental studies, automotive mechanics courses, and others. This is not intended to be an SAE study or academic treatise, but rather an introductory overview of current and developing options.

In considering the utility of this publication, Advanced Biofuels USA president Doug Root explained, “For novices to renewable fuels this may be overwhelming. For ‘old hands’ this will be familiar, in general, and a stimulus to dig deeper into the original research publications for topics of particular interest. For those in the mid-range of experience with renewable fuels this will be an essential document.”

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About Advanced Biofuels USA

Advanced Biofuels USA, a nonprofit educational organization advocates for the adoption of advanced biofuels as an energy security, military flexibility, economic development, climate change mitigation and pollution control solution.  Our key tool for accomplishing this is our web site, www.AdvancedBiofuelsUSA.org with a 35,000-item online library, a resource for everyone from opinion-leaders, decision-makers and legislators to industry professionals, investors, feedstock growers and researchers; as well as journalists, teachers and students.  Technology neutral and feedstock and product agnostic, Advanced Biofuels USA’s work is respected around the world.

In addition, the organization prepares technology assessments, presents briefing documents to Congressional staff, participates in international conferences on renewable fuels, provides both background and attributed interviews for a wide range of journalists and broadcast reporters, consults with international conference organizers, conducts presentations and lecture for civic and school groups, and provides general assistance to those interested in any facet of the world of advanced biofuels.

They take seriously the importance of shaping public discussion, focusing on high-impact solutions.

What’s the Difference between Biodiesel and Renewable (Green) Diesel? or What Renewable Fuels Can Be Used in Compression Ignition Engines?

See also tags.  Related Articles and Presentations:

RENEWABLE DIESEL 2030 SUMMARY (Emerging Markets Online)

Renewable Fuels in Engines: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Biodiesel vs. Renewable Diesel  (Biofuels Digest)

DigestConnect #17 – Renewable diesel Looking at 11 technologies, 21 projects and 13 emerging projects, plus market drivers and economics; with Emerging Markets CEO Will Thurmond and Digest editor Jim Lane (Biofuels Digest)

Top Renewable Diesel Projects and Pathways: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Renewable Diesel Now (Biofuels Digest)

Biodiesel Performance: Go Inside a Diesel Engine VIDEO (Renewable Energy Group)

Circular scale: T2C finds a path to feedstock-scaled renewable diesel from biogas (Biofuels Digest)

Co-Locating Renewable Diesel with Ethanol Biorefinery: The Digest’s 2020 Multi-Slide Guide to Saola Energy’s Renewable Diesel (Biofuels Digest)

Euglena Starts up Integrated Biofuels Isoconversion Unit in Japan (Fuels and Lubes Daily)

New Process Turns Carbon into Cleaner, High-Performance Diesel Biofuel Blendstock (National Renewable Energy Laboratory/Phys.org)

Brazil’s Petrobras Develops a Greener Diesel than Biodiesel (La Opinion de Murcia) 

Sylvatex’ Fuel Application (Sylvatex)

Biodiesel reduces deposits in common rail injectors (AGQM)

Clean Engines Due to the Use of FAME (LifePR)

Renewable Diesel: From Production to Pump Recording available on YouTube (NATSO Inc./EcoEngineers)

Making Biodiesel from Dirty Old Cooking Oil Just Got Way Easier (EurekAlert!/RMIT University)

‘A spatially orthogonal hierarchically porous acid-base catalyst for cascade and antagonistic reactions‘, with collaborators from University College London, University of Manchester, University of Western Australia, University of Plymouth, Aston University, Durham University and University of Leeds, is published in Nature Catalysis (DOI: 10.1038/s41929-020-00526-5).

Honeywell Introduces Simplified Technology to Produce Renewable Diesel (Honeywell UOP)

Big News for the Big Heavy: As renewable diesel surges, HONEYWELL UOP dials up a one-step process to collapse capex  (Biofuels Digest)

Battle Of The Biofuels: Renewable Diesel vs. Biodiesel (Biofuels Digest)

ExxonMobil enters renewable diesel tech arena with EMRD (Biobased Diesel Daily)

What is biodiesel and how does it benefit the environment? Acts as a substitute for petroleum diesel (TurnTo23)

UW-Madison alternative fuels researcher applies for corn-to-diesel patent (Fox 6 Milwaukee)

Renewable Diesel Basics (Renewable Energy Group)

CLEARFLAME ENGINE TECHNOLOGIES HITS MULTIPLE MANUFACTURING, CUSTOMER PILOT, AND FUELING MILESTONES, HIGHLIGHTING ABILITY TO LEVERAGE EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE AND QUICKLY APPLY GREEN SOLUTIONS TO HEAVY-POLLUTING DIESEL ENGINES, AT SCALE (ClearFlame)