Chocolate Biodiesel: an Unexpected New Horizon in Fuel Sourcing

Biodiesel is a controversial area of energy sourcing. Many believe it is a poor choice for breaking human dependence on carbon-based fuels, since it is essentially, yet another way of burning carbon to produce energy. But others say it is a healthy, incremental step, which can burn cleaner than petroleum fuels and will help diversify the scope of recycling and related inputs to the energy economy. Now chocolate is making its way into the biodiesel game.
Chocolate fuel: the phrase is charismatic, it draws the ear, alerts the mind, it wakens the attention of people who have rarely thought about what the development of alternative fuels really means. So, how does chocolate biodiesel work? It is actually the waste byproducts made by industrial production of chocolate for human consumption. Those waste byproducts —often simply small chunks, flakes or “misshapes” of chocolate— are concentrated into biodiesel, which can be burned to produce locomotion in motor vehicles.

While some intuitively class biodiesel as inherently different from petro-diesel, in technical terms, properly refined biodiesel should work in a standard diesel engine. In November 2007, two men set out to demonstrate the power of chocolate biodiesel, using it to power their journey, overland, from England to Timbuktu. The truck would carry all the biodiesel necessary, as well as two smaller vehicles to economize the last leg of the journey across the Sahara.

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