Study Finds Biodiesel Less Mutagenic than Petroleum Diesel

A new comparative emission study led by researchers at the US Environmental Protection Agency has presented new evidence that exhausts from biodiesel are less mutagenic than those from petroleum diesel and mutagenic activity is mostly associated with pollutants called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH).

The researchers analyzed the particles released by a diesel engine that ran on petroleum diesel and soy-based biodiesel where the biodiesel accounted for 20, 50 or 100 percent of the fuel. The mutagenic property of the recovered particles was evaluated in various strains of the bacterium Salmonella. Data from a strain which responds to PAH-type mutagenicity were processed to measure mutagenicity of the petroleum disesel and biodisel particles. Computed mutagenic emission factors for the biodiesel were 3 to 8 times less than that of petroleum diesel.

The present results contradict some published findings by other investigators. Thus, the new study calls for a deeper look into the health impacts of the two diesel types. This study was presented at the 246th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society (ACS) along with other papers dealing with toxicology of alternate fuels.