The Newest Biofuel Option: Straight Vegetable Oil

Posted by admin on June 15, 2011 at 11:58 am

Last month, Vermont passed legislation mandating that all heating oil sold in the state must contain at least a 7% biodiesel blend by 2016. Could heating oil users and dealers soon be offering vegetable oil along with No.2 oil? (image: sustainability.jhu.edu)

By Quinn Wonderling

GoVo Biofuels LLC has developed a new biofuel that some believe could solve the dilemma of affordably heating large older buildings with locally-sourced fuel and matching, modified boiler equipment, the Clean Tech Center reported this week.

GoVo works to provide vegetable oil-based fuels that can be used as substitutes for heating oil and diesel. Many consumers are hesitant to switch for fear of high conversion and installation costs – But in this case, testing on larger buildings such as apartment complexes proved the necessary boiler equipment upgrades and modifications were cost effective. That’s because the new fuel is essentially straight vegetable oil; it’s less expensive and significantly more eco-friendly.

Plus, the heating capacity/energy potential of the two fuels are almost exactly the same. Though some biofuel skeptics question whether distribution networks are advanced enough to make them a viable option, both dealers and consumers stand to benefit from the development of a cheap, widely produced biofuel.

Such biofuel developments are highly relevant to heating oil dealers looking to expand beyond biofuel blends and check out alternative fuels that require total boiler/equipment makeovers.

According to the report, “the highest use of #2 heating oil is in the Northeastern United States, and GoVo Biofuels is working on a scalable plan to address the challenge of reducing consumption of petroleum, particularly for the heating market.”