Posted on 01/08/2006 12:14:59 PM PST by UB355
Biodiesel breakdown Trucking companies report engine problems after switching to blended fuel By RICK BARRETT rbarrett@journalsentinel.com Posted: Jan. 7, 2006
Only days after a Wisconsin trucking firm switched to biodiesel fuel, its trucks started breaking down on the road.
Engines sputtered as fuel filters became plugged with unknown, slimy gunk. The problem worsened in cold weather.
"We had trucks that couldn't make it up a hill," said Tom Chrismer, vice president of Valley Cartage trucking in Hudson.
Valley Cartage buys fuel from a Minnesota supplier that mixed a soybean blend into diesel fuel last fall. Minnesota truckers were required to use a 2% biodiesel blend under a state law that currently is on hold while state officials scramble to learn what's wrong with the fuel.
Valley Cartage and dozens of other trucking firms say biodiesel has cost them thousands of dollars in engine breakdowns and time lost on the road. Valley Cartage alone changed about 50 fuel filters in a month, to no avail as some of the 50 trucks in its fleet ran in fits and starts.
"Finally we said, 'That's enough,' " Chrismer said. "No more biodiesel for us. When we stopped using the blended fuel, our problems went away."
Biodiesel can be made from vegetable oils or animal fats. More than 85% comes from soybeans, which are an important cash crop for farmers in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois.
The fuel is getting attention outside Minnesota. A recycling company, for example, is building Wisconsin's first biodiesel refinery next to a grease recovery plant in De Forest. Illinois has ordered government fleets to use biodiesel fuel beginning this year, and similar regulations are being considered in seven other states.
Now, everyone is watching what happens with biodiesel in Minnesota.
"Let them be the guinea pig," said Bill Schmidt with EH Wolf & Sons, a fuel distributor in Slinger.
"We really want this to become more popular," but there are issues to be worked out, he said.
A coalition of industries that use diesel fuel, led by truckers, tried to block the Minnesota legislation over fears of higher fuel costs, supply shortages and performance issues. Some of the problems with using biodiesel in cold weather were well documented, said C. Ford Runge, a University of Minnesota economist who did a study on the fuel in 2001 for a Minnesota trucking group.
"There have been issues out there, clearly, for years," Runge said last week.
No one knows for sure whether it was the soybean blend or something else that caused problems for some trucks during a recent cold spell in Minnesota. The glitch surprised state officials and soybean growers who still believe biodiesel is a clean, reliable fuel.
Minnesota has waived its biodiesel requirement until Friday. Meanwhile, researchers are testing fuel samples and digging into clogged fuel filters, trying to find the core of the problem.
It might have come from batches of improperly blended fuel. In some cases, fuel vendors said, a waxy substance formed at temperatures of zero to minus 10.
Dirty storage tanks might have been to blame. Some of the fuel samples tested positive for microbes, which commonly grow in water that's not supposed to be in a tank.
The trucking companies also could have been at fault if they used the wrong blend of biodiesel for cold temperatures, especially since the winter blends were in short supply.
"I think a lot of people were caught unprepared for the sudden cold spell" last fall, said Kelly Strebig, an engineer with the Minnesota Center for Diesel Research.
Nationally, biodiesel has been tested for 50 million miles with positive results even in the coldest weather, according to Strebig.
"We had never seen a problem like this before," he said.
Sixty-two percent of the Minnesota Truck Association's fleet managers who responded to a December survey reported clogged fuel filters, engines failing to start, losing power on hills, and roadside breakdowns. Most of the fleet managers said they had repeated problems with the same vehicles.
"We don't want this fuel going back into our tanks until some questions are answered," said John Hausladen, Minnesota Truck Association president.
"I want to make it clear that our industry is not against biodiesel," he said. "But we did oppose the state mandate that required the use of a boutique fuel, partly because of the problems we are experiencing now. We think the solution is to have a single, nationwide diesel standard so it's all the same stuff no matter where you buy it."
Wisconsin wants to jump-start more investments in biodiesel, ethanol and other renewable energy under a $1 million grant program announced by Gov. Jim Doyle last month. So far, the state hasn't experienced problems with biodiesel, according to truckers and state officials.
"I think what's going on in Minnesota is a multi-faceted problem," said Schmidt of EH Wolf & Sons. "These are growing pains for the industry."
New biodiesel fuel producers probably don't have all of the bugs worked out yet, said Mike Bandt, energy division manager for Landmark Services Cooperative, which sells biodiesel through Cenex service stations in the Madison area.
In three years, Landmark's biodiesel sales have increased more than 10 times, to 11 million gallons a year. The farmer-owned cooperative said it hasn't had complaints of clogged fuel filters or stalled engines, perhaps because it has been buying biodiesel from experienced suppliers.
"Our customers range from over-the-road truckers to Jane Doe driving a diesel Mercedes," Bandt said.
Minnesota is trying to figure out "what the heck is going on" with the fuel now, said Ralph Goshen, spokesman for the state Agriculture Department.
"All of a sudden, it has become the whipping boy for everything that's wrong" with fuels, Goshen said. "But in all of the testing we did of biodiesel, before the mandate was passed, there were no indications of cold-weather problems."
Colorado school buses have experienced problems with biodiesel in extreme cold, although mostly its use there has gone smoothly.
"I think we are still navigating our way through some of this," said Marc Horner, fleet manager for the Jefferson County, Colo., school district.
But the problems shouldn't have caught Minnesota by surprise, according to Runge, who maintains that biodiesel was forced on truckers and others by a Legislature eager to please soybean growers and powerful farm-interest groups.
"Biodiesel is a good thing, but I think it was stupid for the state to pass a mandate requiring its use," Runge said. "Now, the public and consumers of diesel fuel have to bear risks that would have been borne by investors in a normal and unfettered market."
The diesel-engine industry remains somewhat skeptical of alternative fuels such as biodiesel, said Michael Osenga, president of Diesel & Gas Turbine Worldwide magazine, based in Waukesha.
"There are plenty of operational questions that really haven't been answered," he said. "It's not as simple as dumping something in the fuel tank and having it work like regular diesel."
Minnesota is the first state with a biodiesel mandate.
"I am sure that other states are watching this, so they don't have to learn our lessons the hard way," said Chismer, of Valley Cartage.
For many reasons, including highway safety, truckers need reliable fuels, said Tom Howells, president of the Wisconsin Motor Carriers Association, a Madison-based trade group.
"It all sounds great to have something like biodiesel," Howells said. "But we can't afford to miss deliveries in this time-sensitive business."
We diesel-powered auto owners understand the problem and cure. See http://www.tdiclub.com for threads re wvo and cold weather problems. I'm moving from the warm South to the frozen North and my TDI has been on cold-weather fuel suppliment for a month now.
Wrap a 12-volt heat tape around the fuel filter. Problem solved.
Send the repair bill to the local enviro-wacko. HOw about a reparations tax on Pries owners?
This theory was explained to me recently in some detail but this isn't my area and the cold extremes of the Upper Midwest is not a concern out in the Southwest.
As far as I can tell from the article these vehicles are apparently converting to Biodiesel and have not been Biodiesel from day one.
Well if they would filter out the left over fries and onion ring debris it would help.
Biodiesel, gas-electric hybrids, hydrogen-powered vehicles are not the technology rat holes that ethanol or natural gas has been.
Doesn't solve it for me, even if the entire fuel system were wrapped. There is no AC where I park, and the batteries wouldn't start the truck in the morning if they'd been supplying heat tape all night.
The Army had the same problems. They started running a lot of the trucks on JP8 instead of Diesel and the JP8 was cleaning out the fuel lines, and putting everything into the filters.
Once the lines are cleaned out it seems to run fine.
If the other 98% of the fuel wasn`t cut 50-50 with Kerosene than they will gell up.
It happens every year when it gets cold,especially if the cold comes earlier than normal and there is still uncut fuel in the tank.
The Germans invented a fix for that - they call it a "Schwingfeuerheizgeraet." Think gas-powered hair-dryer. Works like a charm, too. Even peels paint.
ping
Um, shouldn't that be done first??
How do I become a researcher? I heard it pays good and my ass can get fattened up.
This may sound far out, but try diluent lithium oil in your diesel tank. Supposedly you'll get about 10% to 15% more mpg. If you had read Infinite Energy Magazine you'd know how it works. Appearently the 1500 deg F temp in the chamber is enough to FUSE 2 lithium nuclei into beryllium 8 nuclei, which has a half life of a millionth of a second, breaking down into 2 helium 4 nuclei(alpha particles). The resulting 1,000,000 deg CF FUSION temperature regime within the 1500 deg temperature regime is enough to clean the chamber as slick as a whistle, and innocuous helium gas is emitted thru the tailpipe. And as you know, a piece of paper will stop an alpha particle. This LI+LI>BE>2A fusion/fission reaction has been proven by an alpha particle detector near an open boiler flame. Add the LI oil and out come the alpha particles. So, you've got bio-gunk in your bio-diesel? Add diluent LITHIUM grease....
I tried that but my truck shot into space and I never saw it again.
Minnesota biodiesel rule lifted again
By Lance Orr
After receiving complaints about clogged fuel filters, Minnesota suspended its biodiesel law for three weeks.
The state passed a law in late September mandating that diesel fuel be blended with 2 percent biodiesel. Due to the complaints, the Weights and Measures Division of the Minnesota Department of Commerce issued a 21-day variance Dec. 23 on the biodiesel requirement.
The 21-day period will give fuel producing and distributing industries time to identify and remove any product that may be out of specification from the distribution system. The variance expires on Jan. 13 at midnight.
This is not the first time Minnesota biodiesel legislation has hit a stumbling block. A 10-day variance was issued Oct. 28, less than a month after the 2 percent legislation was passed.
“There were quality problems at the terminal with the biodiesel supplies,” said Bruce Gordon, spokesman for the Minnesota Department of Commerce. “The biodiesel fuel did not meet specifications that were set out in law, so the department issued the variance to prevent any sort of supply problem.”
Minnesota’s 2 percent law was passed in 2002 but did not go into effect until the state could produce the necessary amounts of biodiesel.
Minnesota now has three plants that can produce a combined 63 million gallons of biodiesel per year, said Ralph Groschen of the Minnesota Department of Agriculture. The plants are in Brewster, Redwood Falls and Albert Lea.
While there may be multiple reasons for the recent cold weather fuel problems, preliminary tests show that some biodiesel sold in Minnesota does not conform to required specifications. Samples of fuel and filters have been collected statewide for further testing, officials said.
"The Department of Commerce and the [Minnesota Governor Tim] Pawlenty Administration remain committed to biodiesel," said Edward Garvey, the department’s deputy commerce commissioner.
Biodiesel is a clean-burning alternative diesel fuel that contains no petroleum. It is produced from domestic, renewable resources and is as much as 75 percent cleaner than fossil-derived fuels, eliminating an engine’s need to use sulfur as a lubricant. Made from soybeans, agricultural oils and fats, or recycled restaurant grease, it can be blended with petroleum diesel to be used with little or no modification.
Anyone with biodiesel problems should contact the University of Minnesota’s Biodiesel Helpline at (651) 330-0450.
ref bump
What will it do for cleaning out fuel filters? That's where the article says the majority of problems appear to be.
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