General Biodiesel - All Comments

recommended biodiesel blend for volvo engines

recommended biodiesel blend for volvo engines — Tue, 27 May 2008 20:05:07 GMT

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detroit 2 53 diesel

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re: What is biodiesel?

mbuddha — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 19:28:52 GMT

I realize that this website supports biodiesel created from animal waste products and vegetable oil. This is great, but we have to be careful to support ONLY this type of biodiesel production. When it becomes available at the pump, where does most of this biofuel come from?

There is one MAJOR negative to much (not all) biodiesel that requires land for production that can and will be mass produced. Deforestation. High demand for biofuel/ethanol is the leading cause of deforestation and destruction of rain forests. Deforestation is the leading cause of increasing CO2.

Biofuel/biodiesel that causes deforestation is defeating the purpose 100%. Biofuel/biodiesel that has little to no environmental impact, such as high oil algae from ponds or animal/vegetable byproducts from restaurants/farms is much better for the environment.

Biodiesel from waste products is currently a do it yourself option at this point, and unfortunately when and if it becomes mainstream and available at pumps you won’t know if that fuel is a result of deforestation or not. Chances are it will be, which will be way worse for the environment than driving a standard gas car.

We need to turn this do it yourself approach into a business that is separate from farmed biodiesel that causes deforestation.

re: What is biodiesel?

Rickfopec — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 03:06:24 GMT

I am finding it difficult to find waste vegetable oil in New Jersey. Many restaurants have a service in place, and they are forbidden to let the public take from their dumpsters.

http://forums.biodieselnow.com/blogs/general_biodiesel/archive/2008/02/07/biodiesel-proven-to-have-a-significant-positive-net-energy-ratio.aspx

Wed, 26 Mar 2008 08:54:33 GMT

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Biodiesel proven to have a significantly positive net energy ratio

Biodiesel proven to have a significantly positive net energy ratio — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 23:04:41 GMT

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re: What is biodiesel?

deppo — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 16:40:57 GMT

I enjoyed this article on Biodiesel, good to re-cap the basics once in a while. Good to not forget that a lot of people out there are new to this, they don't know what Biodiesel is! Unbelievable but true.

I also run a blog on Making Biodiesel.

You can reach it here:making-biodiesel-news.blogspot.com, come and take a look.

re: Chrysler/NBB partnership & B20 national fuel standard

avocaco — Sat, 29 Sep 2007 23:27:53 GMT

I certianly hope that the new B20 standard applies to all renewable diesels. For the life of me I can't understand why the technical and academic community aren't promoting what makes America great...new technology! With NOX bans in non-attainment areas and over half the supply out of spec on a given day, why aren't we applauding and encouraging new technologies?????????????? Very curious!

re: Reynolds, Indiana: Biotown USA experiment

Thitherintinton — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 17:02:40 GMT

This is a wonderful start for small rural towns that are surrounded by farmland. Anyone know how this idea would translate into a large city like New York or Los Angeles?

I think some of the problems that need to be addressed (and may not be realized by folks who have always lived in small towns) are:

Our big cities are huge energy users, and don't have the amount of farmland per person needed to grow the crops for their needed Biofuels. But, large cities generate a huge amount of sewage. Is it possible to process it on that large of a scale to produce enough energy to offset the lack of Biofuel production? Would there be enough sewage for this?

Conservation is a key too, but can only be taken so far without government help. I used to live in Los Angeles, where we are constantly accused of "being in love with our cars". I can assure you no one loves to drive in Los Angeles traffic every day. People drive their cars because the meager public transportation that is available is slow, dangerous (many people have been robbed, injured, and killed while riding public transportation in big cities), and just not practical for most residents. Car pooling really doesn't work for most people either as there are many thousands of workers going to thousands of companies spread out over hundreds of square miles. Chances of finding someone in your neighborhood, that works the same hours you do, relatively near the same place you work, is rather rare. If you do find a workable carpool, then what happens when there is a traffic accident? Even a minor one? The driver gets sued by the riders. (Yes, I know this happens! This is the big city mentality these days. Right or wrong, it is reality!) The combined settlements will almost always amount to far more then the average persons personal auto insurance will cover, and better insurance in a city like L.A. costs more then it costs to just pay for the gasoline to drive alone! After the lawsuit, you may have to sell your home and live in the streets to pay off the lawsuit. Am I being negative? Yes. Am I being unrealistic? No. This has happened in Los Angeles more then once! Who wants expose themselves to this kind of risk? In many large cities, you either drive your own car or quit your job. Nothing else is practical. And. no, not many average people are going to be convinced to ride their bicycles to work when most of the affordable housing is located 50 to 100 miles away from most of the living wage jobs, and the route to work goes through some pretty mean neighborhoods, and you have to do this every day, even in bad weather. This is only for really dedicated athletes! I rode a bicycle to work for a while when I only lived 12 miles from work and was much younger then I am now. Even then, it got old real fast after the novelty wore off.

Only the government can help. They need to put a stop to the stupid lawsuits, stop supporting policies that cause more energy use, and improve things that save energy, like workable, efficient public transportation! What would be happening now if, for example, the money spent in Iraq was being used to develop ways to efficiently produce oil from algae? But, I am afraid the American politicians that want to do this are either far outnumbered, or are hypocrites that are in it just for themselves! Instead of supporting alternative energy, the American government is more concerned about putting people in jail and fining or taxing them right out of business for producing their own Biofuel!

There needs to be outrage toward the stupid decisions of governments. In Vancouver B.C. the government built the "Sky Train", a beautifully efficient elevated passenger railway. It has many stations in the suburbs and many stations in the city so people could ride it to work easily. Unfortunately, the government has now restricted parking around most all of the stations so that it is impossible to park you car within walking distance of the station. Unless you are lucky enough to live real close to a station you now drive your car into the city instead of driving it just a few miles to a station and using the Sky Train. This is the kind of government stupidity that needs to be changed if we are to have any hope of becoming energy efficient through conservation and production of Biofuels!

re: Reynolds, Indiana: Biotown USA experiment

ericjon — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 01:22:01 GMT

I think every town needs to become a biotown. To speed this process, we need major R & D in Jatropha Curcas and Algae now. Jatropha is a biodiesel feedstock that has no use in our nation's food supply. We can genetically modify the hell out of it without fear of affecting the corn, wheat, etc. that we eat. Automation in the harvesting of Jatropha and biodiesel production will make it a much more attractive fuel (more $ for the bang for farmers!).

2006/2007 Diesel vans and SUVs available in America

SUVs and Minivans — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 13:22:43 GMT

A list of new diesel vans and SUVs in the US

re: Biodiesel 'blending' loophole needs to be corrected

Rich — Tue, 19 Jun 2007 21:16:17 GMT

Closing the “Splash and Dash” Loophole

Lawmakers on the U.S. Senate’s Finance Committee will take up a bill that’s supposed to close a loophole that has allowed importers to get millions of dollars in biodiesel subsidies designed to help U.S producers but for biodiesel that doesn’t end up helping American drivers.

This article from TheHill.com has more:

Known as “splash and dash,” the loophole allows 100 percent biodiesel made from soybeans and other commodities and imported from a third country, such as Brazil or Malaysia, to be carried to a U.S. port, where a “splash” of petroleum diesel is added. This allows the importer to qualify for tax credits intended to promote the production and use of U.S. biodiesel.

The ship then quickly leaves the U.S. port to “dash” to another port, usually in Europe, where the subsidized biofuel is unloaded and sold. Tax incentives have created a hugely profitable market for biofuels in Europe, so the companies pocketing the U.S. tax breaks are again rewarded in Europe.

Estimates are that the practice is costing U.S. taxpayers $30 million a year… and that’s supposed to get even worse as it becomes more widespread.

The Europeans aren’t too happy about the loophole, either, and they have even lobbied to change the law as well.

The loophole closure is in the Energy Advancement and Investment Act of 2007, which made its debut in the Finance Committee last week.

re: Vehicle Warrantees and Biodiesel

Eugene — Thu, 28 Dec 2006 07:30:32 GMT

I'm convinced that the vehicle manufacturers fear of sanctioning the use of blends greater than B5 of fuel that conforms to the ASTM and EN standards is just severe risk averse behaviour. In South Africa we've pretty much had a copy and paste of the EN standard. Most of the research into fuel performance and engine failure would've been done either by auto manufacturers or large fuel producers. I'd guess that neither of these are particularly interested in establishing what the real risk profile is for biodiesel. In addition the test conditions are generally very controlled using sophisticated engines and test equipment.

I'm quite keen to do a survey on the web to collate the experiences of the users. That way it might be possible to put together a risk profile which includes the blend used, which quality parameters were measured, what type of vehicle was used, what climatic conditions exist, how long it was stored for, etc.

I'm pretty sure that if you're a homebrewer and don't need a long shelf life many of the quality parameters become less relevant. It should then be possible to prescribe an abbreviated list of propeties for the homebrewer to measure and still have a reasonable assurance of quality.

One obvious snag would be the need to reach disgruntled users as well as temper the opinions of zealots in order to get a realistic picture. What do you guys think? Is there anyone who has done this kind of study. Reality is that I'd like to include it as part of my MSc. I look forward to comments.

re: Vehicle Warrantees and Biodiesel

ybiofuels — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 16:04:24 GMT

This topic seems incomplete without a link to the Magnusson Moss Warranty Act, which many agree applies to biodiesel usage, but as far as I know, hasn't been tested in court yet.

The gist of it: OEM's cannot "blanket deny" warranty coverage simply for use of a product. They have to be able to prove specific damage as a result of using that product, and because ASTM spec biodiesel, used properly, cannot harm an engine, that would seem to be the loophole to these warranty statements.

2006/2007 Diesel pickup trucks in America

Trucks — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 23:01:30 GMT

A list of diesel trucks available in the US.