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	Introduction     Database      Technologies    Projects     Calendar     Discussions     Contact & Links     Imprint & Disclaimer     Sitemap	go back to technology list       previous technology  next technology     Biodiesel  evaluated   There are various substitutes for diesel fuel ranging from biodiesel (e.g. oil esters from rape seed) to "synthetic" fuels. The following evaluation refers to rape oil methyl-ester (RME). Biodiesel can be used on all diesel engines with slight or no modification. Blending with conventional diesel is possible. Technology field: Optimisation of traction technologies General information General criteria Environmental criteria Economic criteria Application outside railway sector   Status of development outside railway sector: in use     Biodiesel is already used in the automotive and truck sector. An example is Kreiswerke Heinsberg KWH, Germany, which migrated the whole fleet of busses to biodiesel by 1998. The production of rape-oil-methylester (RME-biodiesel) doesn’t hit upon substantial obstacles.   Time horizon for broad application outside railway sector: in 5 - 10 years     Broad application is doubtful due to economic and environmental drawbacks. Furthermore, agricultural capacity for rape production is a limiting factor. A rapid diffusion into the diesel fleet will be impeded by limited agricultural areas in Europe. Most rape is planted on fallow land. In the EU there is a limit for the production of oil-seed (Blair-House-Agreement) motivated by trade policies. Current capacities allow for a biodiesel production of 1,4 million tons. The potential may be considerably greater in Eastern Europe, especially Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, due to big stretches of fallow land. In Germany, the substitution of conventional diesel by biodiesel is much less than 1% (2000/2001). Even if all the areas permitted for rape cultivation were used, the degree of substitution would not exceed 0.5 %.   Expected technological development outside railway sector: basically exploited     There is some potential in the production of RME: upgrade rape species optimise oil mills (resulting in an increased oil yield and improved oil quality) improve esterification technology (optimised use of energy, improved technology for separating and cleaning Methylester and Glycerin and quality control of production and distribution. These improvements may also reduce production costs.   Market potential outside railway sector: small     A wide-spread introduction in the automotive sector is doubtful due to limitations set out in Time horizon for broad application. Overall rating References / Links:  Bünder 2001;  DB AG, Zentralbereich 1996;  Hörl et al. 2001;  IFEU 2000;  Institute of Transport... 2001;  Nolte et al. 1998;  Umweltbundesamt 2000;  UNDP 1997;  Pfretzschner (1997) Attachments: Related projects:  Energy chains of alternative fuels Contact persons:  date created: 2002-10-09     © UIC - International Union of Railways 2003			Your contribution    add technology  Views of this page    show overview    show evaluation    show details  Print options    print data sheet    print screen  Help    Evaluation briefing    Technology list     French - German