Biodiesel fuel can be used in any diesel engine (also known as a compression-ignition engine) and, if mixed with petroleum, can be used in other kinds of engines as well. These hybrid biofuel-petroleum products are called biodiesel blends. B50 is a good example of a biodiesel blend; here, the 'B' stands for biodiesel and the '50' indicates that the mixture is comprised of fifty-percent biofuel. Now, some people confuse biofuel with vegetable-oil fuels. However, these are two very different products, the main point of difference being that biodiesel fuel is a much more dynamic and adaptable product. That is, vegetable oil fuels have to be chemically altered before they can be used or you have to modify your car's engine somehow whereas biodiesel fuel is ready to be used as soon as you buy it.

Biodiesel fuel, as its name suggests, is organic and thus biodegradable. It doesn't produce any odors, nor does it contain sulfur. Instead, it burns cleanly and releases few if any carbon emissions. Therefore, were it to be used on a mass scale it would ease global warming, the destruction of the ozone layer, and other environmental problems. (Indeed, biofuel easily clears all the regulations set forth by the famous Clean Air Act, the comprehensive bill that Congress passed in 1990 to reduce air pollution.) And all the materials that go into its production are renewable. In addition, this fuel is friendly to living beings as well as to the environment. It's non-toxic, for one thing, which means that unlike so many other synthetic chemicals that we use in our everyday lives, this biodieselfuel will not cause cancer in human beings over time, nor will it inflame a person's allergies or contribute to respiratory diseases or other illnesses. Aside from wind power, it's rare to find a fuel that's not at least somewhat toxic.