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This post was last edited by qinweijun on 2012-3-5 11:44. Humans actually developed biodiesel quite early on. Europe began researching and understanding biodiesel in the last century. The earliest diesel engines used biodiesel; the first diesel engine was developed in 1895 by the German engineer Rudolf Diesel, which is why he is regarded as the father of the diesel engine. In 1900, he took samples of his invention to the Paris World Exposition, where it was powered by peanut oil. The confirmation in 1911 that diesel engines could burn vegetable oil greatly promoted the development of agriculture in the using countries. Although initial diesel engines used vegetable oils, the low price of petroleum delayed the use of vegetable oils. After the oil crisis in the 1970s, countries around the world began to show increasing interest in and conduct more research on fuels that could serve as alternatives to diesel. In recent years, with the increasing greenhouse effect and global warming, effectively reducing environmental pollution has also become another important driving force behind the development of biodiesel. In Europe, B5 has been in use for 5 years; particularly in Germany and France, some vehicles already run on pure biodiesel (B100). In 2002, the EU produced 1.06 million tons of biodiesel, with the main producers being Germany, Austria, Italy, the United Kingdom, and Denmark. In 2005, the EU **used less than 2% renewable fuels; by 2010 this figure rose to 5%, and it has continued to increase since then. Germany accounts for over half of the EU’s fuel production, and there are already hundreds of stores selling pure biodiesel. Currently, buses, postal vehicles, and other vehicles in the United States use biodiesel, with an annual consumption of 126,000 tons. In the United States, 4 million cars are currently using a fuel mixture of gasoline and corn ethanol, with the annual growth rate of biofuel production reaching 30%. This trend will continue, opening up a highly important market for biodiesel producers.