Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is biodiesel?
Ans: Biodiesel is the name of a clean burning alternative fuel, produced from domestic, renewable resources. It is defined as Fatty Acid Methyl Esters (FAME) of long chain fatty acids derived from vegetable oils or animal fats which conform to EN 14214 specifications for use in diesel engines. It contains no petroleum, but it can be blended at any level with petroleum diesel to create a Biodiesel blend. Biodiesel blends are denoted as, "BXX" with "XX" representing the percentage of biodiesel contained in the blend (ie: B5 is 5% biodiesel, 95% petroleum diesel). It can be used in compression-ignition (diesel) engines with little or no modifications. Biodiesel is simple to use, biodegradable, nontoxic, and essentially free of sulfur and aromatics.
Q: How is biodiesel in Dynamic Progress made?
Ans: We do not import any feedstock – we only use local waste cooking oil, so we don’t increase our carbon footprint in sourcing our input material. Nor do we use feedstock or any item that could be in the human food chain. Furthermore, the end products Biodiesel will only sell in local market. It is our company creeds Recycle “LOCAL” Reuse “LOCAL”. As a result, it will eliminate any unnecessary GHGs emission. In addition, we make our Biodiesel by a state-of-the-art low energy demand’s process called transesterification and strictly in according to the standard EN14214.
Q: Is biodiesel the same thing as raw vegetable oil?
Ans: No! Fuel-grade biodiesel must be produced to strict industry specifications (EN 14214) in order to insure proper performance. Biodiesel that meets EN 14214 is legally registered in HKSAR to be a motor vehicle fuel and petroleum diesel substitution. Raw vegetable oil cannot meet biodiesel fuel specifications with low energy content and will damage your properties.
Q: What are the emissions benefits of biodiesel when comparing to petroleum diesel?
Ans: Biodiesel contains virtually no sulfur or aromatics, and use of biodiesel in a conventional diesel engine results in substantial reduction of unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and particulate matter. Moreover, biodiesel has a positive energy balance. For every unit of energy needed to produce a liter of biodiesel, at least 4.5 units of energy are gained.
According to the biodiesel lifecycle study in 1998, jointly sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, concluded biodiesel reduces net carbon dioxide emissions by 78 percent compared to petroleum diesel. This is due to biodiesel’s closed carbon cycle. The CO2 released into the atmosphere when biodiesel is burned is recycled by growing plants, which are later processed into fuel.
Apart from CO2, it also has a substantial reduction of unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter compared to emissions from diesel fuel.
Q: Do I need to modify my diesel engine?
Ans: No. Biodiesel is most commonly used as a blend with petroleum diesel. At concentrations of up to 5 vol % (B5) in conventional diesel fuel, the mixture will meet the EN590:2004 diesel fuel specification and can be used in any application as if it were pure petroleum diesel. At concentrations of 6% to 20%, biodiesel blends can be used in many applications that use diesel fuel with minor or no modifications to the equipment, although certain manufacturers do not extend warranty coverage if equipment is damaged by these blends. Biodiesel can even be used as a fuel in its pure form (B100) if proper precautions are taken and it meets the EN14214 standard.
Q: Does biodiesel has a similar energy content compare with petroleum diesel?
Ans: With conventional diesel fuels, the inherent energy content of the fuel (typically measured in British thermal units [Btu] per gallon) is the largest factor affecting the fuel economy, torque, and horsepower delivered by the fuel. In reference to National Biodiesel Board US, the energy content of conventional diesel can vary up to 15% from supplier to supplier and from summer to winter. This variability is due to changes in its composition determined by the petroleum feedstock, as well as refining and blending practices. With biodiesel, or B100, it varies little because the energy content of the fats and oils used to make biodiesel are similar. Therefore, B100 made from most of the common feedstocks will have the same fuel economy, power, and torque. Compared with most diesel fuel in the United States, B100 has a slightly lower energy content 8% but the energy content of biodiesel blends and diesel fuel is proportional to the amount of biodiesel in the blend and the heating value of the biodiesel and diesel fuel used to make the blend. For example, B5 users experience less than 1% loss in fuel economy on average and rarely report changes in torque or power.
Due to the inconsistence of energy content in diesel fuel, biodiesel will become a more reliable and stable substitution of petro-diesel.
Q: Does using Biodiesel void my warranty?
Ans: Original equipment manufacturers provide materials and workmanship warranties on their products. Such warranties do not cover damage caused by external conditions such as fuel. Thus, if an engine using EN14214 complied B5 biodiesel experiences a failure unrelated to the biodiesel use, it must be covered by the OEM’s warranty.
Q: How can biodiesel brings cleaning effect to our engine?
Ans: Biodiesel and its blends have excellent solvent properties. It can dissolve the deposits in fuel lines, tanks and systems left by petroleum diesel. Besides, with a cleaner delivery systems and lines, your diesel engine can operate with a higher efficiency.
Q: What are the other benefits of using biodiesel?
Ans:
A) Lubricity benefit
The lubricating properties of diesel fuel are important, especially for rotary and distributor type fuel injection pumps. In these pumps, moving parts are lubricated by the fuel itself as it moves through the pump—not by the engine oil. In these systems the mechanism typically consists of a plunger or needle operating in a sleeve or bore, where the fuel is used to lubricate the walls between the reciprocating piece and its container. The lubricity of the fuel is an indication of the amount of wear or scarring that occurs between two metal parts covered with the fuel as they come in contact with each other. Low lubricity fuel may cause high wear and scarring and high lubricity fuel may provide reduced wear and longer component life.
Traditionally, produce Ultra Low Sulphur Diesel will lower the lubricity of the diesel, however, adding lower amount of biodiesel into ULSD and increase its lubricity significantly. With higher lubricity, the wear and tears is lower and hence the maintenance cost is lower.
B) Energy security benefits
Because biodiesel can be manufactured locally by using waste cooking oil collected from restaurants and caterings, it provides substantial opportunity for immediately addressing our energy security issues by reducing the dependency of importation of petro-diesel. In addition, it can reduce GHGs and pollutants emission in import of fossil fuel to Hong Kong from the Middle East or export of biodiesel or waste cooking oil to other countries.
C) Economic benefits
The biodiesel industry has contributed significantly to the domestic economy. To take US reference, there has 51,893 jobs that are currently supported by the US biodiesel industry reflect the beginning of the industry’s potential to create jobs and economic growth in the US economy. Biodiesel has added $4.287 billion to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Biodiesel has the potential to support more than 78,000 jobs by 2012. Your support in renewable energy is not only contribution in the environment and it is also offer more jobs opportunities to local citizen.
Q: What are the safety, health, and environmental issues of biodiesel?
Ans: Biodiesel contains no hazardous materials and is generally regarded as safe. A number of studies have found that biodiesel biodegrades much more rapidly than conventional diesel. Users in environmentally sensitive areas such as wetlands, marine environments, and national parks have taken advantage of this property by replacing toxic petroleum diesel with biodiesel. Like any fuel, biodiesel will burn; Diesel fuel is generally considered flammable; its flash point is 52° to 96°C and the flash point of biodiesel is higher than 100C°, so it is considerably less dangerous. However, biodiesel blends will have flash points intermediate to the two liquids. The Hong Kong Governmental classified B100 or blended biodiesel is CAT5 Class 3. It is same as petroleum diesel in flash point over 66 deg C.
Q: What services can Dynamic Progress provides?
Ans: Dynamic Progress has a team of professional and transportation fleets to cover the whole Hong Kong SAR including the Hong Kong Island, Kowloon, New Territories and the LantauIsland. Our biodiesel can be delivered by tanker, in 200 liters or 18 liters barrel and also fuel barge for marine vessel.
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