Biodiesel Pt. 2: Why We Don’t Put French Fry Oil in Your Tank, Plus a Peek at Our Soybean Patch

By Dr. Loren Beard
Fuels Specialist, Chrysler LLC

For Part 1, where Loren describes the advantages of Biodiesel how you can use it in your Dodge diesel vehicle today, click here.

To listen to this post, click on the play arrow on either of the two audio links below and enjoy.

Loren talks about why biodiesel is more than strained cooking oil…

…and where this renewable fuel will first be available.


Plus, take a peek at this post from Ross Good, Senior Manager of Energy Policy for Chrysler on why we planted a patch of soybeans out at our proving grounds in Chelsea, Mich. We’ve got a sample below. For his full post and some pictures, click over to the Chrysler LLC blog here.

A scraggly patch of pods may not add up to a hill of beans to most folks, but it’s the beans inside the pods that could add up to reducing our dependency on foreign oil. That’s why at Chrysler, we’re experimenting with growing crops that can be used for fuel. The idea to grow soybeans on our property came from employee feedback. The director of the proving grounds thought it was a good idea to save money. Instead of spending money to cut grass, we can sell the crop and then buy it back as fuel for use in our products. It’s a win for all involved.

The soybean field shown here is a portion of the experimental 20-acre crop planted at our proving grounds in Chelsea, Mich. We’re looking for the best location to grow beans in a meaningful manner.

After we’ve harvested the soybeans, they are dried and crushed to extract their oil. That oil will then be sent to the NextDiesel refinery in nearby Adrian, Mich. where it’s a key ingredient in creating 100 percent biodiesel fuel, or B100. There aren’t any vehicles that can run on B100, so the pure biodiesel is then sent to a blending facility where it’s combined with regular diesel to produce a fuel that’s either 5 or 20 percent biodiesel.