Drenth and Daniel B. Olsen, a professor of mechanical engineering at CSU, have spent the past two years testing different versions of the homemade fuel, called TGBs (triglyceride blends), and comparing the performance to biodiesel, renewable petroleum diesel, and traditional diesel fuels.
They swapped out oils made from sunflower, corn, canola, soybean, pennycress, camelina and carinata seeds to make different TGBs. (Jerry J. Johnson, a CSU professor of soil and crop sciences, is leading a parallel study to evaluate how well some of these oilseeds grow in Colorado.)
In addition to performance, Drenth and Olsen also evaluated the TGBs’s emissions, fuel consumption and thermal efficiency. TGBs were comparable to biodiesel, renewable diesel, and diesel in each of those areas; in some cases, they outperformed one of the conventional fuels.
For example, the engine got better “mileage” with TGB than biodiesel.
Read more: http://www.labmanager.com/news/2014/10/researchers-put-home-brewed-diesel-biofuel-to-the-test?fw1pk=2#.VC8wCPldXTo