Tired of reccord profits for oil companys, maybe B

[jackdixon_2000]

I am curious to know if anyone else here has any exeriences using Biodiesel? I have used about 800 gallons of it over the last 8 months and have noticed no difference in performance (the 20% blend). I have always been very interested in alternative energy and with fuel prices over $2.70 here in Calif the Biodiesel is very competitive.

If anyone else here is interested I will provide some links. There is a big Biodiesel conference in San Diego going on now thru Feb 8th which I would have liked to attend but could not make it.

Now, as far as negatives, yes sometimes in older trucks, due to the solvent effect it can plug the fuel filter the first time you use it so I made sure to have an extra filter and wrench, and yes the gel point is higher then regular diesel and I would avoid using it in the winter in severe conditions. As in Minn. this year with the mandated law that it be blended in their diesel. The occasional gelling of fuel was a public relations boondoggle.

If anyone is interested check out www.biodieselconference.org or www.biodiesel.org or www.biodieseltrucker.com

 

[ATeam]

RE: Tired of reccord profits for oil companys, may

While biodiesel hold some promise and seems to be picking up political momentum in several states, it was far more than a public relations boondogle in Minnesota. A whole bunch of trucks, old and new, that were using biodiesel ground to a halt in cold weather. It was more than a PR problem. It was a trucking problem that left drivers sitting in the cold in trucks that would not run.

Minnesota is my home state. Biodiesel is mandated by law there so you have no choice but to burn it if you fuel in MN; except when the mandate is suspended, which it was because of problems, the suspected cause of which was poor quality boidiesel. The problems have not yet been worked out to my satisfaction. Thus, I won't buy fuel in Minnesota. We top off before entering the state.

The bad news for biodiesel is the very real problems that were very widely publicized. The good news is people in Minnesota work together to solve problems in cases such as these. The Minnesota Trucking Association, boidiesel activists, oil company refineries where boidiesel is blended into regular fuel, and government officials are not at odds over the issue. They are working together.

The mandate was suspended by the government because of very real problems that were found. The truckers are doing good research to provide good data so the problems can be solved. The boidiesel people were mortified by the truck problems and boidiesel complaints that rose. More than anyone, they want to get to the bottom of it and fix it. The refineries are also providing data.

Early indications are that it is not biodiesle itself that is causing the problems, but poorly blended biodiesel that was delivered to the refineries; in other words, it is a biodiesel quality control issue.

My guess is the problems will be worked out and the Minnesota model will become a positive case study that biodiesel activists in other states will point to when pushing government mandates in their own states.

 

[jackdixon_2000]

RE: Tired of reccord profits for oil companys, may

A Team
You are exactly right, I also would not use biodiesel in the winter in frigid climates. With Minn. requiring it to be blended into their diesel and many trucks gelling and broke down alongside the road was what I meant by a public relations problem for biodiesel. Also, with many new plants comming online there are quality control issues to address. Thats one of the issues also being addressed this week at the Biodiesel conference.
All I was trying to say was that over the last 8 months I have run about 15% of my miles with a biodiesel blend and was wondering if anyone else here has tried it and had any problems?

What it boils down too is I am just trying to do a small part to help cut down foreign dependence and maybe take a small slice of business from the big oil companies.

 

[ATeam]

RE: Tired of reccord profits for oil companys, may

A Minnesota friend of mine runs a big rig OTR and fills up at home before leaving. He says he has noticed a decrease in fuel economy when he runs biodiesel but he did not quantify the amount. You have likely paid closer attention to that than he does. Have you noticed any fuel economy change?

 

[ATeam]

RE: Tired of reccord profits for oil companys, may

EO published a Land Line article, dated February 8, about biodiesel difficulties in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Link:

http://www.expeditersonline.com/artman/publish/article_003794.html

In Minnesota, when they talk about biodiesel, they are talking about something made from soybeans. In Nova Scotia, the term biodiesel includes something that includes fish oil.

The best thing biodiesel activists can do for themselves is to quickly agree on a standard so the general public can have confidence in the product.

As things are now, we do not know what we get if we buy something called biodiesel. Anyone with a bit of political clout and the ability to produce an organic (bio) fluid that can be burned in a truck can lay claim to the term "biodiesel" and push for laws or policies that mandate its use. In California it is a 20% blend (of what?). In Minnesota it is a 2% blend of soybean oil. In Nova Scotia it is a fish-oll blend.

Such laws and policies are passed in the name of reducing dependence on foreign oil, but are pushed by lobbyists and interest groups who are eager to get money from their products' sales flowing in their direction.

I saw this first hand when Diane and I were involved in Minnesota state government. The corn ethanol people rose with funding and highly skilled lobbyists and PR people. They advanced good arguements but consistently overlooked the fact that good-old-fashioned oil products had to be burned to plant, grow, harvest,transport and process the corn, and then to produce the ethanol. Some people argued that the oil used to produce ethanol canceled out the reduction-in-use-of-foreign-oil benefits of ethanol itself. But because Minnesota has a lot of corn-growing farmers and an agribusiness infrastructure, some government funding and mandates went corn ethanol's way.

On the surface, the debate was about the public benefits of corn ethynol and the benefits that would accrue to family farmers and local economies. Behind the scenes, it was all about who would control the market, set the standards, and benefit from government mandates that would cause ethynol funding and sales proceeds to flow their way. For the lobbyists, victory had nothing to do with the public good. It was all about obtaining favorable government policies for the clients that paid them.

We recently drove through Effingham, IL where Flying J advertised two fuel prices; $2.25 for diesel and $2.43 for biodiesel.

As I said above, biodiesel holds some promise. But I'm keeping a wary eye on it and am reluctant to put anything called biodiesel in a truck I drive until a reliable standard and price parity emerges.

 

[greg334]

RE: Tired of reccord profits for oil companys, may

The problem that the standards for production Bio-Diesel already exist (ASTM D6751) that can be used with the present Agra infrastructure but the states are far too dumb in many cases to use the existing standards or even get together to agree to use it. I blame the states and the Bio-Diesel commercial groups for this problem. Europe has been using it in one form or another for years and had set standards in the 80’s.

Also Minnesota’s boondoggle was a direct cause of a failure of the state to follow up with any QA/QC requirements and inspections that would ensure quality fuel in the first place.

By far I don’t think the public really cared about a bunch of truckers who’s truck broke down, it all comes down to money and stability, if there is a product to replace petroleum based diesel at a reasonable price without a lot of pricing ups and downs, I think the public would not hesitate to buy the product. Beside all of this, the largest percentage of diesel engine vehicles are trucks and heavy equipment, the cars and SUV’s make up a small percentage of the diesel fuel use. Most of all the people who drive VW/Audi/Volvo and other European diesel vehicles can count on their engines capable to use all different forms of Bio-Diesel.