The biodiesel is a liquid biofuel obtained by chemical processes from vegetable oils or animal fats and it is an alcohol that can be used in diesel engines, alone or blended with diesel oil.
ASTM International (originally known as the American Society for Testing and Materials) defines the biodiesel as a mixture of long-chain mono alkyl esters from fatty acids obtained from renewable resources, to be used in diesel engines.
The chemical reaction that converts a vegetable oil or animal fat to biodiesel is called “transesterification.”
This is a long name for a simple process of combining a chemical compound called an “ester” and an alcohol to make another ester and another alcohol.
Oils and fats are included in the ester family.
When they react with methanol or ethanol, they make methyl or ethyl esters and a new alcohol called glycerol or, more commonly, glycerin.
