History of Biodiesel

The history of biodiesel fuel is not something that is popular to a lot of people. What matters to them is that they can use the fuel to run their cars and trucks.

Many people actually think that biodiesel fuel is just a recent invention. Little do they know that biodiesel fuel has been around since the late 1800s and that it has already been used for hundreds of years.

Before, fatty acids were the main components in making soaps. It was first used in the 1880s and this was the beginning of the recycling age, precisely because most materials used in making biodiesel fuel are used materials. In olden times, the first types of materials used were peanut oils and soybean oils. This became a foundation for the biodiesel fuel because methanol and ethanol are two byproducts of these oils, both of which are necessary to create biodiesel fuel.

Rudolph Diesel and Henry Ford

A man named Rudolph Diesel designed an engine in the late 1800s. A common substance was used in his compression engine and this is peanut oil. What Rudolph wanted was to show the entire world that aside from fossil fuels, there are other less costly fuels. At that time, petroleum was the most famous alternative source of energy.

Several people have followed Rudolph’s footsteps. Henry Ford began the mass production of biodiesel fuel to support this initiative. The person who invented Model T wanted to design all his cars to be able to accept this type of fuel. In the 1940s, biodiesel fuel has become very popular and was largely marketed. This has also become the number one source of fuel in many industries.

The biodiesel fuel was specially made more popular when hemp oil was discovered and used to produce biodiesel fuel. This natural substance can be filtered and used to create biodiesel fuel products. Peanut and soybean oil do not produce much biodiesel fuel as opposed to hemp oil. A lot of oil companies started investing in petroleum wells. The hemp oil industry also failed because the government issued a decree that marijuana and its possession is illegal. The government also indicated that marijuana can only be possessed with license, and yet it was not issuing any. No documents were issued to own marijuana legally to produce biodiesel fuel. Panic soon ensued and people thought that they will be arrested if they used hemp oil. This has led to the decline in the development of biodiesel fuel, but this is not that much popular in the history of biodiesel fuel.