Posted on 01/21/2009 5:36:39 AM PST by thackney
Proper biodiesel blending can prevent flow performance problems in freezing conditions and should not inhibit the use of the fuel in cold climates, trade sources in Asia said Wednesday.
On Friday, schools in one Minnesota district had to close because the biodiesel in its school buses was not cooperating with the frigid weather.
Elements in the biodiesel fuel turned into gel-like substance due to subzero temperatures, and the problem left dozens of students stranded in frigid weather, a district's spokesperson was quoted as saying by local reports.
"It just reinforces the need to use the correct biodiesel blends in the appropriate season. That's why there are a number of feedstock sources in the market," said Mike Thorley of Malaysia-based SPC Biodiesel, a unit of the Australian Securities Exchange listed Sterling Biofuels Group.
"The extreme weather they have [in the US] this year is the coldest they've had in recent years," Thorley said.
Even fossil diesel could get clogged up in extreme cold, several sources pointed out. "That's why they have different grades of diesel for different uses," a biodiesel trader said.
Minnesota was the first US state to mandate the use of biodiesel, requiring all diesel sold at filling stations to contain at least 2% of the product made from soybeans.
Soybean-based biodiesel is said to have a cold filter plugging point, or CFPP, of around minus 6 degree Celsius. CFPP gives a prediction of the lowest temperature at which a fuel will still flow through a specific filter.
"The benefits of being able to blend the different values of biodiesel from rapeseed, soybean and palm oil provide the opportunity to meet all seasonal demands," Thorley said.
Palm-based biodiesel has about five different CFPPs depending on which grade of refined palm oil is used to produce biodiesel, he said.
Biodiesel made from palm kernel oil, for example, can have a CFPP ranging from minus 12 degrees Celsius to as high as plus 18 degrees Celsius if palm stearin is used, he added.
Generally though, biodiesel made from palm oil is thought to have a CFPP of about 12 degrees Celsius. This means it can solidify in cold temperatures and stop the flow of fuel to a vehicle's engine, making it unsuitable for use in winter weather conditions.
Even the most cursory research into biodiesel would have shown the potential for this problem. Most biodiesel conversion kits include a heating element for this very reason. There are additives to prevent gelling of the fuel as well. Dumb bureaucrats.
Without all the government subsidies what do you think a gallon bio-diesel might cost? How about the cost of retrofitting vehicles so they might run on bio-diesel in the winter? I can imagine the taxpayers in Bloomington. MN are paying considerably more for their school buses to run on bio-diesel. Somehow I think bio-diesel is like corn ethanol another boondoggle that is little more than a farm subsidy.
Ethanol: (a) costs a lot to produce, (b) is nothing more than welfare for farmers, (c) reduces miles-per-gallon, (d) has helped increase the price of food at the grocery store, (e) should never be used in a small engine unless you like to visit your small engine mechanic, and there are probably more negatives.
This article is not discussing ethanol.
Anyone know the winter purchase history of #1 diesel fuel? It appears that in years past there is very little use, except in the most extreme climates. Where I live, it has barely hit zero in the last 5 years. Ten below at the most, which is skirting the #! diesel time but not quite necessary.
In reading some of the diesel data on cold flow characteristics, it appears to be a fuel supplier thing based on the probability of the lowest expected temperature.
There’s no such thing as a “biodiesel conversion kit”. You’re thinking of a vegetable oil conversion kit. Biodiesel isn’t vegetable oil, but is made from it.
In terms of "government subsidies," it would be nice if biodiesel were only taxed as heavily as gasoline, instead of several cents/gallon more. That's a "government subsidy" most conservatives should be able to endorse. Can we get rid of the "government subsidy" that favors gasoline, and make diesel drivers pay the same amount per gallon for their more efficient, less polluting, fuel, please?
Biodiesel is a much better idea than ethanol, for a couple of reasons. One is that the energy balance is considerably better. (Ethanol barely breaks even; biodiesel is around 3-to-1.)
The other is that unmodified diesel engines run on rather high percentage biodiesel blends efficiently. (I mean under normal conditions, not -15 degree temperatures.) Unmodified gasoline engines don't burn ethanol efficiently, because they can't take advantage of ethanol's 120 octane. If they built cars with engines optimized for ethanol, that wouldn't be as much of an issue, but then they couldn't burn 87 octane gasoline.
The issue in Minnesota is that they weren't burning a blend appropriate to the temperatures they were operating in. It's a known issue with both petrodiesel and biodiesel. Gelling happens; add kerosene or other additives to prevent it.
I need to go top off the tank in my diesel car (with 20% biodiesel) now. :-)
Could you support that claim?
I see that biodiesel has several tax credits, not penalties.
Yeah, I know it, but while we’re on the subject of “biodiesel” why not mention it’s cousin?
Biodiesel from technologically-sound, as opposed to politically-connected, feedstocks is anything but another ethanol-style boondoggle.
There’s ongoing work to develop biodiesel from oil-producing algae, instead of from food, but algae farmers don’t have the political pull of soybean farmers.
Biodiesel, unlike ethanol, doesn’t need subsidies to be economically competitive. A friend of mine helped found a biodiesel co-op that was producing fuel from the waste olive oil of a bottling plant for about 60 cents a gallon.
I had a blend of 90%(#2)- 10%(#1)petrodiesel that was also treated. This mixture gelled at -2. This has been a problem with the new Ultra-low sulfer fuel. I have since gone to a 70-30 treated blend which was good to -15 last week.
Regarding fuel treatment, you have to make sure it is able to treat the ultra-low fuel. My older treatments had no effect on it
Bio-diesel has more than a temperature problem. Local farmers (Oregon) are stuck using the garbage which Portland leftist politicians have mandated for their vehicles. I helped out at a silage harvest last year where the tractors were breaking down due to bio-diesel scum accumulation in filters. Farm mechanics have advised additives and frequent filter changes. The real kicker is Portland is suing Ford because the mandated bio-diesel is ruining the city’s truck engines.
They think Ford was the source of the mandate or the biodiesel?
The mandate to add the bio-diesel came from the Portland politicians. The Ford engines which have been breaking down are newer ones. Ford has spent hundreds of thousand$ on warranty repair and came to a point where they had to stop. Ford claims it is the bio-diesel causing the problem in the engine.
It gets better. Portland had locked in a bio-diesel contract for somewhere around $4/gal.
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