Alternative fuel From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Typical Brazilian filling station with four alternative fuels for sale: biodiesel (B3), gasohol(E25), neat ethanol (E100), and compressed natural gas (CNG). Piracicaba, So Paulo, Brazil. Alternative fuels, known as non-conventional or advanced fuels, are any materials or substances that can be used as fuels, other than conventional fuels. Conventional fuels include: fossil fuels (petroleum (oil), coal, propane, and natural gas), as well as nuclear materials such as uranium and thorium, as well as artificial radioisotope fuels that are made in nuclear reactors. Some well-known alternative fuels include biodiesel, bioalcohol (methanol, ethanol, butanol), chemically stored electricity (batteries andfuel cells), hydrogen, non-fossil methane, non-fossil natural gas, vegetable oil, and other biomass sources. Contents [hide]

1 Background 2 Biofuel
o o o

2.1 Biomass 2.2 Algae based fuels 2.3 Biodiesel

3 Alcohol fuels 4 Ammonia

5 Carbon neutral and negative fuels 6 Hydrogen 7 HCNG 8 Liquid nitrogen 9 Compressed air 10 Natural Gas Vehicles
o o o

10.1 CNG Fuel Types 10.2 Practacality 10.3 Environmental Analysis

11 Nuclear power and radiothermal generators

11.1 Nuclear reactors 11.2 Radiothermal generators

12 See also 13 References 14 External links

[edit]Background The main purpose of fuel is to store energy, which should be in a stable form and can be easily transported to the place of production. Almost all fuels are chemical fuels. The user employs this fuel to generate heat or perform mechanical work, such as powering an engine. It may also be used to generate electricity, which is then used for heating, lighting or electronics purposes. [edit]Biofuel Main article: Biofuel

Alternative fuel dispensers at a regular gasoline station in Arlington, Virginia. B20biodiesel at the left and E85 ethanol at the right. Biofuels are also considered a renewable source. Although renewable energy is used mostly to generate electricity, it is often assumed that some form of renewable energy or a percentage is used to create alternative fuels. [edit]Biomass Main article: Biomass Biomass in the energy production industry is living and recently dead biological material which can be used as fuel or for industrial production. [edit]Algae based fuels Main article: Algae fuel Algae based biofuels have been hyped in the media as a potential panacea to our Crude Oil based Transportation problems. Algae could yield more than 2000 gallons of fuel per acre per year of production.[1] Algae based fuels are being successfully tested by the U.S. Navy[2] Algae based plastics show potential to reduce waste and the cost per pound of algae plastic is expected to be cheaper than traditional plastic prices.[3] [edit]Biodiesel Biodiesel is made from animal fats or vegetable oils, renewable resources that come from plants such as, soybean, sunflowers, corn, olive, peanut, palm, coconut, safflower, canola, sesame, cottonseed, etc. Once these fats or oils are filtered from their hydrocarbons and then combined with alcohol like methanol, biodiesel is brought to life from this chemical reaction. These raw materials can either be mixed with pure diesel to make various proportions, or used alone. Despite ones mixture preference, biodiesel will release a smaller number of its pollutants (carbon monoxide particulates and hydrocarbons) than conventional diesel, because biodiesel burns both cleaner and more efficiently. Even with regular diesels reduced quantity of sulfur from the ULSD (ultra-low sulfur diesel) invention, biodiesel exceeds those levels because it is sulfur-free. [4]

[edit]Alcohol fuels Main articles: Alcohol fuel, Butanol fuel, Ethanol fuel, and Methanol fuel Methanol and Ethanol fuel are primary sources of energy; they are convenient fuels for storing and transporting energy. These alcohols can be used in internal combustion engines as alternative fuels. Butanol has another advantage: it is the only alcohol-based motor fuel that can be transported readily by existing petroleum-product pipeline networks, instead of only by tanker trucks and railroad cars.[citation
needed]

[edit]Ammonia Ammonia can be used as fuel. A small machine can be set up to create the fuel and it is used where it is made. Benefits of ammonia include, no need for oil, zero emissions, low cost,[5]and distributed production reducing transport and related pollution. [edit]Carbon neutral and negative fuels Carbon neutral fuel is synthetic fuel such as methane, gasoline, diesel fuel or jet fuel produced from renewable or nuclear energy used to hydrogenate waste carbon dioxiderecycled from power plant flue exhaust gas or derived from carbonic acid in seawater.[6][7][8][9] Such fuels are potentially carbon neutral because they do not result in a net increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases.[10][11] To the extent that carbon neutral fuels displace fossil fuels, or if they are produced from waste carbon or seawater carbonic acid, and their combustion is subject to carbon capture at the flue or exhaust pipe, they result in negative carbon dioxide emission and net carbon dioxide removal from the atmosphere, and thus constitute a form of greenhouse gas remediation.[12][13][14] Such carbon neutral and negative fuels can be produced by the electrolysis of water to make hydrogen used in the Sabatier reaction to produce methane which may then be stored to be burned later in power plants as synthetic natural gas, transported by pipeline, truck, or tanker ship, or be used in gas to liquids processes such as the Fischer Tropsch process to make traditional transportation or heating fuels.[15][16][17] Part of a series on Environmental economics Concepts[show] Policies[show] Dynamics[show] Carbon related[show]

Carbon neutral fuels have been proposed for distributed storage for renewable energy, minimizing problems of wind and solar intermittency, and enabling transmission of wind, water, and solar power through existing natural gas pipelines. Such renewable fuels could alleviate the costs and dependency issues of imported fossil fuels without requiring either electrification of the vehicle fleet or conversion to hydrogen or other fuels, enabling continued compatible and affordable vehicles.[15] Germany has built a 250 kilowatt synthetic methane plant which they are scaling up to 10 megawatts.[18] [19][20] Commercial developments are taking place in Columbia, South Carolina,[21] Camarillo, California,[22] and Darlington, England.[23] The least expensive source of carbon for recycling into fuel is flue-gas emissions from fossil-fuel combustion where it can be extracted for about USD $7.50 per ton.[8][11][16] Automobile exhaust gas capture has also been proposed to be economical but would require extensive design changes or retrofitting.[24] Since carbonic acid in seawater is in chemical equilibrium with atmospheric carbon dioxide, extraction of carbon from seawater has been studied.[25][26]Researchers have estimated that carbon extraction from seawater would cost about $50 per ton.[9] Carbon capture from ambient air is more costly, at between $600 and $1000 per ton and is considered impractical for fuel synthesis or carbon sequestration.[11][12] Nighttime wind power is considered the most economical form of electrical power with which to synthesize fuel, because the load curve for electricity peaks sharply during the warmest hours of the day, but wind tends to blow slightly more at night than during the day. Therefore, the price of nighttime wind power is often much less expensive than any alternative. Off-peak wind power prices in high wind penetration areas of the U.S. averaged 1.64 cents per kilowatt-hour in 2009, but only 0.71 cents/kWh during the least expensive six hours of the day.[15] Typically, wholesale electricity costs 2 to 5 cents/kWh during the day.[27] Commercial fuel synthesis companies suggest they can produce fuel for less than petroleum fuels when oil costs more than $55 per barrel.[28] The U.S. Navy estimates that shipboard production of jet fuel from nuclear power would cost about $6 per gallon. While that was about twice the petroleum fuel cost in 2010, it is expected to be much less than the market price in less than five years if recent trends continue. Moreover, since the delivery of fuel to a carrier battle group costs about $8 per gallon, shipboard production is already much less expensive.[29] However, U.S. civilian nuclear power is considerably more expensive than wind power.[30] The Navy's estimate that 100 megawatts can produce 41,000 gallons of fuel per day indicates that terrestrial production from wind power would cost less than $1 per gallon.[31]

[edit]Hydrogen Main article: Hydrogen fuel Hydrogen is an emissionless fuel. The byproduct of hydrogen burning is water, although some mononitrogen oxides NOx are produced when hydrogen is burned with air.[32][33] [edit]HCNG Main article: HCNG HCNG (or H2CNG) is a mixture of compressed natural gas and 4-9 percent hydrogen by energy.[34] [edit]Liquid nitrogen Liquid nitrogen is another type of emissionless fuel. [edit]Compressed air The air engine is an emission-free piston engine using compressed air as fuel. Unlike hydrogen, compressed air is about one-tenth as expensive as fossil oil, making it an economically attractive alternative fuel. [edit]Natural Gas Vehicles Compressed natural gas (CNG) and Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) are two a cleaner combusting alternatives to conventional liquid automobile fuels. [edit]CNG Fuel Types CNG vehciles can use both renewable CNG and non-renewable CNG. [35] Conventional CNG is produced from the many underground natural gas reserves are in widespread production worldwide today. New technologies such as horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing to economically access unconventional gas resources, appear to have increased the supply of natural gas in a fundamental way. [36] Renewable natural gas or biogas is a methanebased gas with similar properties to natural gas that can be used as transportation fuel. Present sources of biogas are mainly landfills, sewage and animal/agriwaste. Based on the process type, biogas can be divided into the following: Biogas produced by anaerobic digestion, Landfill gas collected from landfills, treated to remove trace contaminants, and Synthetic Natural Gas (SNG).[37] [edit]Practacality Around the world, this gas powers more than 5 million vehicles, and just over 150,000 of these are in the U.S.[38]. American usage is growing at a dramatic rate. [39]

[edit]Environmental Analysis Because natural gas emits little pollutants when combusted, cleaner air quality has been measured in urban localities switching to natural gas vehciles [40] Tailpipe CO2 can be reduced by 1525% compared to gasoline, diesel [41]. The greatest reductions occur in medium and heavy duty, light duty and refuse truck segments. [42] CO2 reductions of up to 88% are possible by using biogas. [43] Similarities to Hydrogen Natural gas, like hydrogen, is another fuel that burns cleanly; cleaner than both gasoline and diesel engines. Also, none of the smog-forming contaminates are emitted. Hydrogen and Natural Gas are both lighter than air and can be mixed toghether. [44] [edit]Nuclear power and radiothermal generators Main articles: Nuclear power and radiothermal generator [edit]Nuclear reactors Nuclear power is any nuclear technology designed to extract usable energy from atomic nuclei via controlled nuclear reactions. The only controlled method now practical uses nuclear fission in a fissile fuel (with a small fraction of the power coming from subsequent radioactive decay). Use of the nuclear reaction nuclear fusion for controlled power generation is not yet practical, but is an active area of research. Nuclear power is usually used by using a nuclear reactor to heat a working fluid such as water, which is then used to create steam pressure, which is converted into mechanical work for the purpose of generating electricity or propulsion in water. Today, more than 15% of the world's electricity comes from nuclear power, and over 150 nuclear-powered naval vessels have been built. In theory, electricity from nuclear reactors could also be used for propulsion in space, but this has yet to be demonstrated in a space flight. Some smaller reactors, such as the TOPAZ nuclear reactor, are built to minimize moving parts, and use methods that convert nuclear energy to electricity more directly, making them useful for space missions, but this electricity has historically been used for other purposes. Power from nuclear fission has been used in a number of spacecraft, all of them unmanned. The Soviets up to 1988 orbited 33 nuclear reactors in RORSAT military radar satellites, where electric power generated was used to power a radar unit that located ships on the Earth's oceans. The U.S. also orbited one experimental nuclear reactor in 1965, in the SNAP-10A mission. No nuclear reactor has been sent into space since 1988. [edit]Radiothermal generators In addition, radioisotopes have been used as alternative fuels, on both land and in space. Their use on land is declining due to the danger of theft of isotope and environmental damage if the unit is opened. The decay of radioisotopes generates both heat and electricity in many space probes, particularly

probes to outer planets where sunlight is weak, and low temperatures is a problem. Radiothermal generators (RTGs) which use such radioisotopes as fuels do not sustain a nuclear chain reaction, but rather generate electricity from the decay of a radioisotope which has (in turn) been produced on Earth as a concentrated power source (fuel) using energy from an Earth-based nuclear reactor.[45] [edit]See also
Lead Replacement Petrol (LRP) is a fuel developed to provide an alternative to leaded petrol. Leaded [1] four star petrol was withdrawn from sale in 2000, eight years after the last cars using it were made, and LRP was introduced containing other metal salts (such as potassium or manganese), enabling the large numbers of cars still using the fuel to continue running. Leaded gasolin was containing a substance known as tetraethyl lead or TEL, a compound of lead in liquid form originally added to petrol to increase its octane rating. A side effect of adding TEL is that a layer of lead compounds forms on the valve faces of the engine, retarding wear. Lead is very toxic and lead compounds in exhaust gases escape into the atmosphere causing pollution. Impacts on human health are widely documented. This led to the introduction of lead-free petrol. With normal lead-free petrol an adjustment to the engine's ignition timing solved pre-detonation problems (pinking or pinging) caused by the lower octane rating, but this did nothing to prevent accelerated valve wear. The use of lead in petrol had allowed the machining of valve seats directly in the cast iron or aluminium cylinder heads (or block of side-valve engines). Over time these seats would heat up, erode and even micro-weld the valve to the seat causing rapid damage. Lead Replacement Petrol was introduced to address the issue of valve wear. However, by August 2002, it was reported in the British national media that most petrol stations would soon be withdrawing Lead Replacement Petrol from sale, despite there still being some 1.5 million cars using it. The supply of the fuel has since dwindled away to practically none. Older cars frequently seen on Britain's roads at the time which used the fuel included the 1976-1983 Ford Fiesta, 1980-1986 Ford [2] Escort, all but the newest Ford Sierras and most 1980s Austin Rover models.

10 strange alternatives to petrol

5
Share

Share

PA

You do not have to be that old to remember when motorists used to speak of rumours that petrol prices would one day hit 1 a gallon, or when it was possible to stick in a fiver and see the fuel gauge actually move.

Today paying a fortune for petrol is something we take for granted and it is hard even to conceive of a time when no one really knew what to do with the stuff because the alternatives seemed so much better.

The first man ever to sink a productive oil well, for example, 'Colonel' Edwin L Drake, nevertheless died penniless. Similarly, until the early 1900s, the Land Speed Record was routinely broken by battery- and steam-powered machines rather than any of these new-fangled internal-combustion-engined thingies.

But slowly but surely petrol became the default choice, although we now realise that its reign will be relatively shortlived. A century ago it was just one choice among many and, with talk of climate change and fossil fuel depletion meaning tens of millions of pounds are being spent seeking out new alternatives, it is beginning to look as if the same will soon be true again.

Beer

PA

Apparently the Swedish authorities nab some 200,000 gallons of alcohol being smuggled into the country each year. Instead of simply pouring it down the drain, or sneakily selling it on, the powers-that-be have come up with a novel solution for dealing with the confiscated stash.

Blended into a doubtless unpalatable cocktail, the booze is used to produce a form of biogas which is suitable for powering a variety of vehicles. So far these include public service buses and at least one train, although it has yet to be offered to the public to buy.

Chip fat

PA

A smelly but a practical alternative to diesel, used chip fat - actually vegetable oil - is no longer free. Pub and takeaway owners (and the tax man) have all cottoned on to a useful source of extra income, although it still works out at something under half the price of conventional DERV.

If it is for your own use only you can legally avoid paying the tax. Also most cars and vans need little in the way of modification once the oil has been filtered, although some users prefer to mix it with normal fuel rather than using it neat.

Coal dust

PA

Rudolf Diesel was already interested in using vegetable oil more than a century ago, and also experimented with coal dust as a possible fuel for his patented compression-ignition engine. His backers were particularly keen to find a use for the mountains of dust found in Germany's industrial Ruhr Valley.

Getting the mix right proved problematic, and after some unplanned explosions Diesel settled on peanut oil rather than the mineral oil to which his named has since been applied. Interest in coal dust has never entirely disappeared, however, and having been used in power stations it could yet make a return.

Coal gas

PA

Necessity being the mother of invention, acute fuel shortages in the second world war encouraged all sorts of experimentation. In London, Edinburgh and other British cities a number of private cars and cabs (and particularly buses) were converted to run on toxic town or coal gas.

In terms of efficiency it was no match for petrol, although a tonne of coal is said to yield an impressive 3,000 cubic feet of gas and a further 1,500 lbs of smokeless semi-coke. Unfortunately, huge quantities had to be carried, using trailers towed behind buses or vast balloon bags on top of cars.

Gravity

PA

Doubtless caught up in the race to devise a perpetual motion machine, in 1911 Isaac Smyth somehow managed to successfully patent the design for a car powered by gravity. Sadly there is no convincing evidence that he ever managed to sell one.

A series of weights were hand-winched up to roof level and on being released converted their gravitational potential into forward motion via a series of pulleys and cables. Unfortunately the driven wheels had to be jacked up in order to raise the weights, and the real source of power was the driver's own muscles.

Hamsters

PA

Toyota's fabulous 'Idea Olympics' is an annual event enabling factory staff to let rip with their most outrageous designs in the certain knowledge that none will ever make it into production. Previous efforts have included a pedalpowered, 22-legged centipede and a giant motorised hand which moves along by bending its fingers.

Another was the Hamster Car, which, as the name suggests, was propelled by amplifying the electric power generated by several on-board rodents running round in their traditional wheels. For short bursts of acceleration the driver merely needs to shout, "look out! Freddie Starr is behind you."

High explosive

PA

First raced in 1919, the Miller 'TNT Special' is a famous American racer, and not to be confused with an extraordinary 1931 attempt on the Land Speed Record. The Miller design used an explosive cocktail which included TNT, dynamite, nitroglycerin and petrol. Unfortunately the precise details are not known as the car itself is not thought to have survived.

Paint

PA

In 2005 a report in National Geographic confirmed that scientists had made a significant breakthrough in their work with spray-on solar cells. Like paint, the composite can be sprayed onto other materials - even clothes, it was suggested - thereby providing a portable source of effectively free electricity.

A year later staff at the Materials Research Center at Swansea University confirmed that they too could collect the sun's rays using another paint-like material. This could one day be sprayed onto buildings or of course car bodies, turning a vehicle into one vast self-propelled solar cell.

Nappies

PA

Apparently it is perfectly possible to turn dirty nappies into fuel, a disgusting-sounding process which can usefully be disguised using the technical term pyrolysis. This involves breaking down the waste products into gas and fuel oil, the transformation thankfully taking place in a sealed container in an oxygen-free environment.

As long ago as 2007 a power company in Quebec started exploring the possibilities of this technology, spurred on by a seemingly endless supply of disposable nappies pouring into local landfill sites at a rate of 600 million a year. The end result is similar to diesel, and apparently no worse smelling.

Sawdust

PA

With waste wood being generated at a phenomenal rate - a typical US sawmill processes nearly 1,400 miles of planks a year - efforts continue to produce a road vehicle powered by the stuff. The most popular route is by gasification, drawing off the vapours produced when the wood is burned under controlled conditions.

The end product, called 'producer gas', is less efficient than petroleum, by anything from 30-50%. But it is also dramatically cheaper - about 4p a gallon - even once the cost of the generating equipment is taken into account and assuming you do not have a local sawmill from which to scavenge the waste.

5 Fuel Alternatives to Petroleum

Spent coffee grounds contain between 11 and 20 percent oil by weight, similar to other popular sources of biodiesel such as soy and palm seeds. Photo: Flickr/Oberazzi

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill has officially reached two months, with 558,000 barrels of oily liquid recovered, according to BP. For oil that isn't recovered, should we anticipate a loss of fuel for our transportation and energy needs? Not necessarily, as there are several alternative fuel options from many different products.

1. Cooking oil/grease
The by-product of much of home and restaurant cooking can be converted into biodiesel, which is capable of powering any vehicle that takes diesel fuel. This includes trucks, buses and even some passenger cars. In cities like San Francisco, free pick-up is offered to restaurants to collect used cooking oil and produce biodiesel. In addition to limiting the need for petroleum-based diesel, restaurants that recycle grease will keep it out of their pipes, where it leads to clogs and damage to sewer infrastructure.

2. Human/animal waste

Using cloth diapers as a way of keeping poop out of landfills? This waste can actually be used as renewable energy. In fact, a soon-to-open recycling facility in England specializes in this process. Plus, the plastic from the diaper can be reprocessed into other products such as roofing tiles. Humans aren't the only creatures that can "produce" alternative energy. GE Energy is currently studying the ability of using methane from cow manure to produce energy, estimating that 2,500 cows can power 200 homes. This would also mean an additional source of revenue for dairy farmers that could sell this manure.

3. Tires
According to the U.S. EPA, 45 percent of disposed tires are shredded and used as tire-derived fuel. This fuel is used to power cement kilns, paper mills and numerous other manufacturing plants. It's worth mentioning that, since each tire manufactured contains about 10 gallons of petroleumbased oil, producing fuel from tires is not actually replacing petroleum. But considering this is the No. 1 use of disposed tires in the U.S., there is definitely a market for the fuel.

4. Packing peanuts
Consumers may know these peanuts by the Dow brand name Styrofoam. These foam peanuts are a challenge to recycle. Luckily, packing peanuts can be dissolved and turned into biodiesel. Similar to tires, this fuel is taking existing petroleum in order to make an alternative fuel. It is also still in the testing phase, and there are debates about whether this fuel can maintain power output.

5. Coffee grounds
Coffee grounds have a valuable disposal use outside of the compost pile. They can be turned into biodiesel. The trick here is that used coffee grounds contain a fair amount of oil, equivalent to the amount of oil in soybeans or rapeseeds. One bonus of this fuel is its flavorful aroma. Related articles Beetle Bacteria Can Break Down Styrofoam New Tires Made of Oil from Orange Peels

Petrol and the alternatives

Choice.com.au - Fuels made from plant and animal matter biofuels can reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions by vehicles carbon that was absorbed when growing. Biofuels arent new Henry Fords first car ran on alcohol and Rudolf Diesels engine first fired biodiesel, can be used in most existing motor vehicles and are relatively easy to handle and use

CAN ALTERNATIVE FUELS AFFECT MY WARRANTY?

Dont let the fear that switching fuels might invalidate your warranty put you off. Warranties cover workmanship rather than damage caus fuel supplier and fuels have to meet Australian standards to be sold at a service station. Ensure that the fuel type will suit your vehicle visitwww.fcai.com.au to check or ask your manufacturer directly.

WHAT ARE THE SOURCES OF BIOFUELS?

Each of the alternative liquid fuels most commonly available in Australia has good and bad points, see below. The broader environmenta very much on how theyre produced. Australia uses mostly residues from food, sugar and fibre crops to produce bioenergy, but there are dedicated to biofuel. It would be useful to have independent certification of the environmental performance of the fuels.

In New Zealand, the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority is developing a sustainability mark for biofuels so consumers can iden sustainably.No single fuel type can provide enough to cover our current demand, so we probably need a combination of solutions, as we

Palm oil Some critics attack biodiesel because it can be sourced from palm oil. Increased production of palm oil is causing deforestation in places sustainability analysts Worldwatch Institute says less than 1% of palm oil goes towards biodiesel, and the real demand for palm oil is from

me Alternative Fuels Hybrid Cars and Biodiesel Alternative Fuels

There are several alternatives to using plain old petrol or diesel in our cars. Some of these alternate fuels require some modifications to your car, whilst others are only available by buying a new car, such as the Toyota Prius.

On the next few pages we'll look at a few of the more viable alternatives that are available on the market right now. There are quite a few pie-in-they-sky ideas that people are coming up with, like engines running on compressed air or modern steam turbines ... we'll give those a miss for now as,

although they may be great ideas, we cant see them taking off anytime soon, but if they do we'll update the site! Hybrid Cars

Hybrid cars are probably one of the most well-known alternative fuels for cars at the moment, with the Toyota Prius probably being the archetypal car that most people are familiar with.

Hybrid cars usually make use of a normal (albeit fairly small capacity) petrol engine coupled with an electric motor and a suitable electrical system (i.e. a computer to control the system, batteries and so on). The on-board computer decides when to use the engine, the electric motor, or a combination of the two to get the best efficiency. For example, a hybrid may use the efficient electric motor to get the car moving initially, and then switch over to the engine when more performance is required.

Through this cunning use of electric motors in combination with the traditional engine, hybrid cars can get great fuel economy whilst driving around town in busy stop-start traffic. However, some have questioned their ability for out of town driving where the official fuel consumption figure of 67.3 is in the same region as many of today's small diesel super-minis, which are significantly cheaper to purchase. Interestingly, the manufacturers have yet to release a hybrid diesel super-mini!

Biodiesel

Biodiesel is essentially the same as diesel, except it is produced from plant sources such as rapeseed oil instead of crude oil. It is important to note that Biodiesel is perfectly legal in the UK, and it is not related to the stories we often hear about people pouring the waste oil from their local Chippie straight into their fuel tanks!

Biodiesel can be used in most modern diesels without any modifications, and can be mixed with regular diesel in any ratio to produce various "blends". However, biodiesel has been known to damage natural rubber which may be used in fuel lines and other engine components on older (usually before 1995) cars.

You may be wondering, if its so similar to regular diesel, why am I talking about it in the context of alternative fuels? Well one reason is that biodiesel is carbon-neutral, but the main reason is biodiesel can actually be made by yourself from waste oils! There are a lot of companies that are selling kits and instructions that will allow you produce your own from your shed or garage. Its important to note though that you'll still be liable to pay some fuel tax if you produce it yourself, but this is only at about 27pence a litre - significantly less than regular diesel.

If you aren't up to making your own biodiesel, there are websites such as http://www.biodieselfillingstations.co.uk/ that offer a regularly updated list of places where you can buy premade biodiesel.