Biodiesel is also called fatty acid methyl ester (FAME), widely applied in automobile, tractor, ship, oil-fired boiler, etc. It refers to a kind of renewable fuel distilled from soybean, rapeseed, cotton, palm, wild oil plant, microalgae, and other oil crops, aquatic plant, animal fat, or waste oil by a transesterification process as a replacement for petrochemical diesel. As a kind of biomass energy, biodiesel is similar to petrochemical diesel in some physical properties, but not chemical components. Comparing with traditional petrochemical sources, biodiesel features low sulfur and aromatic hydrocarbons content, high flash point, large cetane number, and good lubrication performance. It can be either as a replacement for petrochemical diesel, or some raw chemical materials, like plasticizers, pesticide additives, auxiliaries, surface-active agent, etc.

1. Environmental Friendly
The sulfur content of biodiesel is lower than that of petrochemical diesel, allowing for a dramatic decrease in emission of SO2 and other sulfide.

2. Good Lubrication
Biodiesel can be used to reduce the friction between the oil supply system of engine and the cylinder liner, and extend life of the engine.

3. High Safety
The flash point of biodiesel is higher than petrochemical diesel. So, biodiesel is not on the dangerous goods list, making it convenient to be transported and storage.

4. Good Combustion Performance
Biodiesel has a higher cetane number, showing excellent anti-explosion performance. Users can adopt engines with higher compression ratio to improve its thermal efficiency.

5. Reproducibility
Biodiesel is a renewable fuel

6. Low Investment
For producing biodiesel, it is unnecessary to change the original engine, refueling device, storage equipment, and maintenance equipment used for diesel. So the total investment is small.

7. Compatibility
Biodiesel can be used cooperatively with petrochemical diesel in a certain appropriate proportion to reduce oil consumption, and reduce exhaust pollution.

8. Degradability
Biodiesel is of great biodegradability, and can be easily decomposed by microorganism naturally.

1. Oil Additives
Biodiesel is of excellent lubrication and solubility. So it can be used directly as lubricant (petroleum additive, diesel additive), industrial solvents (for dissolving grease, wax, resin), cetane number improver, chemical additives, etc.

2. Chemical Raw Materials
In plastic industry, to improve the plastic quality, generally during molding people will add plasticizer, among which phthalates plasticizer (DOP) is the most popular one. But DOP plasticizer is expensive and contains Phthalates residue, which is a kind of carcinogens. Consequently it is gradually substituted by epoxy soybean oil, whose price fluctuates greatly. All of these have made the Epoxy or chlorinated fatty acid methyl esters made from biodiesel an ideal for plasticizer.

3. Vehicle Fuel
In order to reduce oil consumption, improve power, and reduce exhaust pollution, we can mix petrochemical diesel with biodiesel in a certain proportion for vehicle fuel.