[5] Chelonian [ki?l?uni?n]adj./n.龟类的/龟，海龟 [6] Osteocyte [??sti?sait]n.骨细胞
DIY biofuels 自制生物燃料
The fat of the land 能量之源
Green-minded motorists are making car fuel at home, from used cooking oil
有环保意识的司机都在自己家里用废弃的食用油制作燃料。
Dec 3rd 2011 | from the print edition
DIESEL engines are famously unfussy about what they burn in their cylinders. Indeed, Rudolf Diesel’s original design ran on powdered coal. But even he might have been taken aback by the recipe concocted by Peter Ferlow. Mr Ferlow, who lives in a suburb of Vancouver, British Columbia, is one of the leaders of a growing band of enthusiasts who brew their own car fuel. His diesel engine runs on oil collected from the kitchen of a local pub.
柴油机对燃料真是豪不挑剔，无论是什么都可以在它的汽缸里烧的滋滋作响。实际上，鲁道夫?狄赛尔最开始发明的柴油机是以粉煤作为燃料的，不过就算是他，也会对Peter Ferlow的新燃料配方大跌眼镜。Ferlow住在加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省温哥华市市郊，这里有一群日益壮大的狂热分子，他们自己制作汽车燃料，Ferlow是他们的一个领袖。他的汽车燃料，是由一个当地酒馆厨房里的残油加工制成。
The recipe starts by filtering the breadcrumbs out with a mesh screen. After that you warm the oil up and add sodium hydroxide and methanol. The sodium hydroxide (known as “lye”, in the trade) breaks the oil molecules into fatty acids and glycerol. The methanol reacts with the fatty acids to form esters. Drain away the glycerol. Wash the remainder with water to remove impurities and surplus lye. Drain that water. Then aerate what is left with an aquarium bubbler to drive off the last traces of moisture. The result is 175 litres of finest home-brewed biodiesel—enough to drive Mr Ferlow’s pickup truck for 1,200km (750 miles). And the cost, he reckons, is a mere C$45 (about $44, south of the border) plus two hours of his labour. The oil itself is free. Restaurants are glad to give it away, to avoid the cost of disposal.
制作这个配方，首先要用一个筛子把残油中的食物残渣过滤掉，然后
将油加热，加入氢氧化钠和甲醇。氢氧化钠（俗称“碱液”）将油分子分解成脂肪酸和甘油，甲醇和脂肪酸进行反应形成酯。排出甘油，在剩余物中加入水来去除杂质和剩下的碱液。排出水，插入养鱼缸式的通气管，使空气流入，排出湿气 。于是175升最纯净的自制生物柴油就诞生了——能让Ferlow的小卡车跑上1,200公里（750英里）呢。至于成本，Ferlow估计只要45加元（44美元，这里的南部与美国接壤）加上2小时的劳动。加工用的油是免费的，餐馆很乐意提供，还节省了他们的处理费用。
That may change. According to Miles Phillips, the head of the Cowichan Energy Alternatives Society, based in Duncan, British Columbia, local demand for veggie-oil fuel is already outstripping supply. Moreover, biodiesel made from restaurant oil can be sold for a tidy profit. On the other side of North America, the Baltimore Biodiesel Co-op, in Maryland, says green-minded drivers are prepared to pay a premium of about 30% over the cost of petroleum-based diesel to fill their cars with biodiesel. The co-operative reports that its sales are up by 20% this year. Eventually, presumably, restaurant owners will want a slice of the action, too. At the moment, though, they seem glad to collaborate for nothing. The co-op can rely on an industrial producer—a so-called “grease puller”—driving a lorry around the area’s restaurants to collect its raw material free. And it plans, starting next year, to buy biodiesel from home producers as well.
从此，情况大不同。总部在加拿大不列颠哥伦比亚省邓肯市的Cowichan能源替代委员会的主席，Miles Phillips表示，当地的生物柴油已经是供不应求，而且，其经济利润是巨大的。在北美洲的另一边——马里兰市的巴尔的摩生物柴油合作社也表示，有环保意识的司机愿意为这种生物柴油支付高于普通柴油30%的价格。合作社还说，这种生物柴油今年的销售量提高了20%。最终，或许餐馆也会要求分一杯羹，尽管目前他们很乐意免费提供原料。合作社可以让一位工业生产者——所谓的“油收集者”——开着货车在餐馆周围转悠收集免费的原料。
Some of these producers rely, like Mr Ferlow, on Heath Robinson lash-ups of their own devising to make their motoring equivalent of hooch. Others use off-the-shelf reactors. Oilybits, a British company, will, for £395 ($620), sell you a device that produces batches of 120 litres of biodiesel—and the firm’s owner, Adrian Henson, is modest enough to admit that many other firms do likewise. The process is not particularly hazardous. Biodiesel esters are not so volatile that they form an explosive vapour (which is why they can be used only in diesel engines, not petrol ones), and though the methanol and sodium hydroxide need careful handling (they are unpleasant by themselves, and truly noxious if allowed to react together), so far the health-and-safety
authorities in countries where home-brewed biodiesel is taking off have not stepped in to interfere. Even the taxman generally turns a blind eye. In Britain, which once tried to fine people for failing to pay duty on home-brewed fuel, the tax-free manufacture of up to 2,500 litres a year is now permitted.
比如Ferlow，有些生产者像鲁滨逊那样，把手边的东西东拼西凑成自己设计的车，如同私人酿酒一样，另一些则利用已有的反应器。一家名叫Oilybits英国的公司，以395欧元（620美元）出售一种能够制造120升生物柴油的设备——公司的所有者Adrian Henson很谦虚的承认其他公司也有此类产品。生物柴油的生产过程没有想象中那么危险，尽管生物酯会产生一种爆炸性的气体（所以它只能用于柴油机，而不是汽油机），但它本身还是比较稳定的。并且，虽然甲醇合氢氧化钠需要小心的操作（它们本身都是有害物质，在一起反应会更加有害），目前这些国家的健康安全局还没有着手干预私人生产，税务局也是睁只眼闭只眼。在英国，以前曾对私人生产燃料进行罚款，现在免税生产量也达到了每年2500升。
Brewing up nicely 燃烧吧
If the authorities did ban home esterification, though, enthusiasts who