Biodiesel History

Biodiesel is the original diesel. The first diesel engine was invented by a German man who wanted to provide farmers with a power plant they could run on fuel they grew themselves. For a start; they used peanut oil. But until the 1970s oil crisis, petroleum-based diesel was far cheaper and Biodiesel was only used by people either interested in being self-sufficient or unwilling to rely on the mainstream fuel and energy providers.

The 1970s oil shock resulted in Biodiesel once more being considered as an alternative mainstream fuel source. Some European countries embraced this idea faster than others and today the Europeans, particular Austria and Germany, are world leaders in Biodiesel and associated technologies.

Many European countries have B100 Biodiesel available at service stations, in competition with petroleum-based diesel. Blends from B100 down to B20 (one-fifth Biodiesel) are available throughout Europe and many countries subsidise Biodiesel production.

The United States is also a fast-growing Biodiesel market. There, the aim is to have Biodiesel making up 20% of domestic diesel use. This is as much feedstock (raw material) as the country’s farms can grow. As in Europe, the United States is predominantly using vegetable oil as its feedstock.

New Zealand has been slow to take up Biodiesel, mainly because of price. Petroleum diesel has always been so much cheaper than petrol and, until recently, it has not been economically viable to produce Biodiesel in commercial quantities.

However, this has begun to change. In mid-2007 the New Zealand Government decided that, from April 2008, biofuels would form an increasing percentage of transport fuels. The Government’s target is to have 3.4% of all fuel sold by (oil companies) by 2012 be biofuel. Around 2006-07 the country was using 3,502 million litres of diesel a year.

Biodiesel New Zealand plans to increase its production to 70m litres of Biodiesel a year, or around 2% of the country’s total diesel use and more than half of the Government’s 2012 target for biofuels use.