The History Of Biodiesel, An Alternative Energy Source
Amid all the panic regarding the diminishing supplies of fossil fuel as well as its expense. What would you say, if I told you that the history of biodiesel tells us that the knowledge of this renewable energy source has been available for hundreds of years? They are just as effective as petroleum and they are manufactured from renewable sources such as peanut, canola, hemp and soybean oil.
The designer of the diesel motor, Rudolph Diesel saw the potential that renewable biofuels had as early as the late 1800′s. In fact he was adamant about using them in his engines and understood how vital it was that we not become completely reliant on petroleum, fossil based fuels. He was very particular about proving renewable biodiesel was better. His biodiesel was used in his engines till the 1920′s!
Henry Ford was another propundit of biofuels manufactured from fatty acids. He knew these oils were able to produce ethanol and methanol and that vehicle engine could drive safely on these fuels. He also profoundly believed that renewable sources of energy were the future of fuel. He wanted every vehicle his company built to be powered by these.
When he commenced with this, he was in the top of his market and embarked on partnerships with natural oil companies. However in the 1940′s petroleum based companies started advertising and as petroleum fuel was cheaper at the time, this fossil based fuel soon became the number one best seller.
Biodiesel was originally produced with oils which did not allow a very high yield of fuel, making this fuel expensive. Then they discovered hemp oil. Hemp had been grown for a long time in the US for its many useful purposes. When tested hemp oil was found to be stable and also able to produce greater yield of fuel. Henry Ford went back to the drawing board on manufacturing fuel for his vehicles from hemp oil.
In the same breath, many oil wells had been found in the US and people were getting extremely rich from selling this oil to manufacture petroleum. They were not prepared to give Henry Ford a market share with his products and started a campaign against the hemp oil product, calling it Marijuana.
This campaign was supported by the newspapers of William Randolph Hurst and he had a great amount of sway with the US government. This campaign got the Marijuana Tax Act brought into legislation and people who used hemp oil products were afraid to use it as a certificate was require for any products of this nature. The Government would not issue certificates to anyone and as far as the history of biodiesel goes, this is where the manufacture of this renewable energy source came to an end.