Biodiesel Benefits

From cleaner air to a cleaner world, biodiesel provides numerous advantages over petroleum fuels. Among the benefits:

Renewable Fuel Source. Unlike fossil fuels, biodiesel is made from vegetable oilseed crops grown in America, which replenishes the market annually with renewable feedstock.

Well-established distribution infrastructure. Biodiesel is compatible with the existing petroleum diesel infrastructure. In fact, biodiesel can also be blended with any percentage of diesel fuel.

No new vehicles or engine modifications. Biodiesel works in today¹s engines. No special vehicles or engine modifications are needed to comply with the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct) using biodiesel.

Performance. Recent studies show that biodiesel actually increases engine efficiency through a higher cetane rating and extends engine life through added lubricity.

Biodegradable and less toxic than table salt. Biodiesel is far less damaging to the environment than petroleum diesel, particularly in environmentally sensitive areas or in the event of a spill or leak.

Dramatically reduces emissions. Biodiesel reduces lifecycle CO2 emissions by over 78% compared to petroleum diesel. In fact, even blended with petroleum diesel, biodiesel significantly reduces emissions.

Made in the USA. Biodiesel benefits American farmers, businesses and the national economy. Job creation, new markets for domestic agricultural products and keeping our energy dollars domestic are just a few of the many economic benefits gained by using biodiesel instead of petroleum diesel.

Energy Balance. According to a report by the U.S. Department of Energy and the Department of Agriculture, the "energy yield of biodiesel is (3.2/0.83) 280 percent greater than petroleum diesel fuel. biodiesel yields 3.2 units of fuel product energy for every unit of fossil energy consumed in its life cycle...By contrast, petroleum diesel's life cycle yields only 0.83 units of fuel energy per unit of fossil energy consumed."

Source: Biodiesel Benefits at Maricopa County Air Quality Department shape_circleWebsite. Maricopa County Air Quality Department 1001 North Central Avenue, Suite 400, Phoenix AZ 85004 shape_circle (602) 506-6010