Car blogs

By Scott Doggett, Contributing Editor


Unsatisfied with the existence of an International Biodiesel Day, held every August 10, the American biodiesel industry chose today - March 18 - as the day it would like everyone to celebrate the National Biodiesel Day.


For this is the day that Rudolf Diesel (1858-1913) would celebrate his birthday if he were still alive. Rapper Queen Latifah, novelist John Updike, speed skater Bonnie Blair, singer Charlie Pride and President Grover Cleveland share the birthdate and have nothing to do with biodiesel.


As you'll recall, Diesel was born in Paris, the second of three children to Theodor and Elise Diesel. He studied engineering and eventually assisted one of his former professors, Carl von Linde, with the design and construction of a modern refrigeration and ice plant.


Diesel later sought to develop a fuel-efficient steam engine using ammonia vapor. The  machine exploded during tests with almost fatal consequences. Diesel would thereafter suffer from ill health and eyesight problems.


But his injuries didn't keep the inventor from inventing. Soon after Gottlieb Daimler and Karl Benz invented the automobile in 1887, Diesel published a treatise that formed the basis for his work on, and invention of, the engine that would forever bear his name.


In his engine, fuel was injected at the end of compression and ignited by the high temperature resulting from compression. In 1893, he published a book titled "Theory and Design of a Rational Thermal Engine to Replace the Steam Engine and the Combustion Engines Known Today" and later managed to build a working engine according to the work.


That engine and all of its successors we know as diesel engines. Diesel obtained patents for them in Germany, the U.S. and other countries, and received the recognition he deserved. But there would be no sailing peacefully into the sunset for Rudolf Diesel.
Continue reading...

Tags: Alternative Fuels, Biofuels, Diesel, Emissions, Energy Companies, Fuel Economy, Alternate Fuel, Alternative Fuel, Biofuel, International Biodiesel Day, National Biodiesel Board, National Biodiesel Day, Rudolf Diesel

---

The U.S. Biodiesel Industry Wants You to Know: Today Is National Biodiesel Day was originally published by Green Car Advisor. Read the full story by clicking here.