| BACKGROUND HISTORY OF BIODIESEL |
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The underlying concept of using Biodiesel for fuel dates back to 1897 when Dr. Rudolf Diesel developed the first diesel engine. His motivation was to offer the benefits of powered machinery to smaller companies and thus he sought to build an engine, whose efficiency would exceed those of the large and expensive steam engines as well as the internal combustion engines, which were invented by Nicklaus Otto in 1876. Dr. Diesel’s prime model ran on its own power for the first time in Augsburg (Germany) on August 10, 1893, which has therefore been declared the "International Biodiesel Day". After further fuel experiments he demonstrated a stable version of his "compression-ignition" engine at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900 and received the Grand Prix (highest prize), because it was fully powered by peanut oil. Dr. Diesel was a true visionary, stating in a 1912 speech that “The use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today, but such oils may become, in the course of time, as important as petroleum and the coal tar products of the present time”.
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Since his untimely death in 1913 however, diesel engine manufacturers modified their engines to run on petroleum diesel instead of utilizing vegetable oils, a trend, which has been triggered by the development of gasoline-powered automobiles. Oil companies refined vast amounts of crude oil to supply them, which resulted in a surplus of petroleum distillate. As this was an excellent fuel for diesel engines and could be attained much cheaper than from the biomass alternatives, the early 20th century saw the vanishing of vegetable oils as a fuel alternative. Basic interest however remained and bio-fuels were still being researched in several countries during the 1920's and 1930's and later during World War II.
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At the same time resource depletion has already become a major concern and the oil price has soared accordingly. Culminating in oil crises in 1973 and 1979 the economic and environmental challenges of burning fossil-fuels have eventually turned back the interest toward renewable energy sources. In 1977, Brazilian scientist Expedito Parente produced biodiesel using transesterification with ethanol. Research into the use of transesterified sunflower oil was initiated in South Africa in 1979 and by 1983 the production process for engine-tested biodiesel was acknowledged and published internationally. It was then the Austrian company Gaskoks, which obtained the technology and erected the first biodiesel pilot plant in November 1987 and the first industrial-scale plant in April 1989. Throughout the 1990s many other and foremost European countries followed.
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In Thailand, biodiesel technology has been developed on a continuous basis since 2001, above all through a number of Royal Initiative Projects, such as His Majesty the King’s Suan Chitralada Royal Project to help rural farmers. It was however already in 1985, when His Majesty the King entrusted the Prince of Songkla University to establish a small refinery to produce palm oil at Ao Leuk Community Cooperative. In 2000, His Majesty’s Personal Affairs Division conducted a first experiment in which palm oil was used for diesel vehicles at Klaikangwon Palace in Prachuap Khiri Khan’s Hua Hin district. In 2001 the use of biodiesel has been launched as a national program and subsequently the Thai Government initiated several measures to promote biodiesel with purposes of reducing the country's dependence on imported oil, enhancing the country's energy security, and promoting the use of alternative energy made from domestic crops.
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