ALGAE BIODIESEL CHARACTERISTIC

Characteristics of algae biodiesel that differ from petro diesel:
1. Algae biodiesel has virtually no sulfur content.
2. Biodiesel has superior lubricating properties, reducing fuel system wear, and increases the life of fuel injection equipment.
3. Algae biodiesel has more aggressive solvent properties than petro diesel and will dissolve leftover varnish residue. Fuel filters should be changed shortly after introducing biodiesel into systems formerly running on petrodiesel to avoid clogging
4. Biodiesel has about 5-8 percent less energy density than petrodiesel, but with its higher combustion efficiency and better lubricity to partially compensate, its overall fuel efficiency decrease is only about 2 percent.
5. The cloud point, or temperature at which pure (B100) biodiesel starts to gel, is about 32 0F. A blend of B20 (20% biodiesel, 80% petrodiesel) generally does not gel in cold weather. Various additives will lower the gel point of B100.
6. Biodiesel's flash point (lowest temperature at which it can vaporize to form an ignitable mixture in air) is 2660F, significantly higher than petrodiesel's 1470F, or gasoline's 520F.
7. Biodiesel reduces particulate matter by about 47 percent as compared to petroleum diesel. Biodiesel has less dangerous particulate matter because it reduces the solid carbon fraction on the particulate matter while increasing the amount of oxygen.

 Advantages of biodiesel produced from algae:
1. Higher yield and hence – hopefully – lower cost
2. The most significant benefit is however in the yield of algal oil, and hence biodiesel. According to some estimates, the yield (per Acre say) of oil from algae is over 200 times the yield from the best-performing plant/vegetable oils. While soybean typically produces less than 50 gallon of oil per acre and rapeseed generates less than 130 gallon per acre, algae can yield up to 10,000 gallons per acre.
3. Algae can grow practically in every place where there is enough sunshine
4. The biodiesel production from algae also has the beneficial by-product of reducing carbon and NOx Emissions from power plants, if the algae are grown using exhausts from the power plants.
 5. Algae produce a lot of polyunsaturates, which may present a stability problem since higher levels of polyunsaturated fatty acids tend to decrease the stability of biodiesel. But polyunsaturates also have much lower melting points than monounsaturates or saturates, thus algal biodiesel should have much better cold weather properties than many other bio-feedstock. Since one of the disadvantages of biodiesel is their relatively poor performance in cold temperatures, it appears that algal biodiesel might score well on this point.


http://www.oilgae.com/algae/oil/biod/char/char.html Algal Biodiesel Characteristics & Properties