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[quote]QUOTE: Originally posted by sierrarr Using biodiesel allows refiners to take the petro diesel and recrack it into gasoline. Biodiesel uses corn husks, etc as its base product. Instead of throwing them away they are reused. As I remember it is a simple chemical process to turn these wastes into biofiesel. One product used is lye. I do not remember what else is added. This is one way to become more fuel self sufficienct and tell the Arabs to shove there high price crude oil. [/quote] The only biodiesel "recipe" that I am aware of is to take any vegetable based oil and convert it to an ester via transesterification. Transesterification involves taking the oil, blending it with an alcohol such as methanol or ethanol, and then adding a catalyst such as sodium hydroxide to separate the ester from the glycerol. The ester is your biodiesel, and the glycerol is removed and can be used as a byproduct. Some earlier attempts at biodiesel involved trying to emulsify vegetable oil with an alcohol or ketone (which allows 100% recovery), but such attempts did not address the glycerol component and it's affects on compression combustion engines. The point is, you have to start with some type of organic based oil to qualify as biodiesel. Cellulose material and starches can be converted to alcohols, so I wonder if your corn husks are actually being used in an ethanol plant, or as a combustable heat source for the process.
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