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Biodiesel from Chocolate

In order to create biodiesel that has as the greenest possible credentials Ecotec have developed a number of techniques which include making diesel from chocolate!

Firstly they use recycled cooking oil as the basis for the biodiesel, which has been grown and already used for food, so it is not impacting on the price and supply of food crops. Using recycled oil also means the oil is produced as part of a sustainable carbon cycle of crop farming on established farm land, not plantations that may have caused deforestation.

Read How Green is Biodiesel? for more info.

The used cooking oil and all the raw materials for producing the fuel are collected in trucks that run on biodiesel themselves so the transportation has a minimal carbon footprint.

Ethanol or Methanol are crucial ingredients in making biodiesel, and are used in large quantities (20-30% of the total volume). Traditionally the ethanol is commercially sourced and has been made from petrochemicals, however Ecotec are have developed a process for converting waste chocolate from a nearby factory into bio-ethanol on an industrial scale. Previously this waste product was thrown away in landfill sites but now the bio-ethanol can be used to make fuel for petrol cars and in the production of Biodiesel.

There is still some energy required for the oil and the ethanol to react, this is traditionally provided by electricity coming from the National Grid. Unfortunately generating electricity with a small diesel generator is less efficient than tapping into the National Grid in carbon terms.

The final ingredient in the process is Caustic Soda. This acts as a catalyst and although it's not consumed in the reaction it can't be recovered. Caustic Soda is commercially produced and there is no alternative to this, but it is used in relatively small quantities.

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The Expedition set off from the UK on the 26th of November and arrived in Timbuktu on the 26th of December 2007.

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