Main factors affecting the application and development of biodiesel

The vitality of a technology or its product depends mainly on its technological advancement, economic efficiency, the urgency of market demand and the intervention of government policies, and in most cases, these conditions are indispensable. The same is true for biodiesel.

Technical aspects: As mentioned earlier, the production technology of biodiesel has been developed for more than half a century, and has formed a more mature traditional process. Most of the biodiesel production lines currently under operation are based on these processes. However, it still faces enormous challenges in simplifying the process, reducing energy consumption and reducing pollution.

Economic benefits: because the cost of biodiesel production of raw oil accounted for a large proportion, (such as vegetable oil as raw material, the cost of oil can account for about 80% of the production cost), so the market price of vegetable oil used directly determines the cost of biodiesel production. It is difficult to produce biodiesel with vegetable oil as raw material with competitive power in economic benefits based on the current market price of vegetable oil. This may be another important factor in the tax-free and even subsidized (in addition to environmental considerations) of biodiesel production and sales in Europe and the United States. Of course, looking for other cheaper sources of raw materials can be an option, such as using waste oil from the food and catering industry, waste from animal and vegetable oil plants, and other recycled oils. Although this can greatly reduce the cost of raw materials for biodiesel production, at the same time, due to the complexity of the source and composition of these raw materials, but will lead to a significant increase in operating costs. More importantly, the dispersion and instability of these sources of raw materials make them suitable only for small-scale production.

Market Demand: The growing demand for energy supplies worldwide and the rapid reduction of fossil energy reserves at the same time seem to be an irreversible trend. Similarly in China, with the sustained and high-speed economic growth, petroleum energy consumption is huge, and there is a growing trend to rely on imports, so biodiesel will have a broad market space. However, as a new alternative product, reliable quality and competitive price are still the prerequisites for entering the market.

Government policy: in the biodiesel production and quality monitoring, supervision and standardization of extreme products, the need for government intervention and coordination of the relevant functional departments. Only in this way can we ensure that the products that meet the quality standards of biodiesel can enter the channels of oil supply and marketing. Furthermore, if the government can support the production and sale of biodiesel from the policy (such as tax), it will play a great role in promoting the development of this new green industry.