BioDieselNow - Renewable biodiesel fuel

Winter is has come quickly here in New England, and my thoughts are again turning to B100's cold flow issues. I am in the process of developing a B100 Winterizing Kit that can easily (and inexpensively) be installed in our customers vehicles. I know many users are like myself and dread each drop of petroleum they must blend each winter.

Here is the system I have envisioned so far, fitted for a VW TDI: (you can see, I have strongly avoided reinventing the wheel, and have tried to use off-the-shelf components)

• Plug-In 115V AC Coolant Heater/Circulator (from FrostHeater.com, link: http://www.frostheater.com/ )

• Coolant-Heated Fuel Filter (from Frybrid.com, link: http://frybrid.com/filters.htm )

• Hose-In-Hose Heated Fuel Line (or Hose-On-Hose)

• again, Frybrid seems to make the most well-designed HIH, found here: http://frybrid.com/hih.htm

One of my questions is regarding the fuel tank, and the ability to warm a tank full of gelled B100. I would like to keep the Kit priced below $400, preferably lower, so I think that tank modification is out of the question. One thought is to do nothing regarding the fuel tank, and hope that there won't be significant restrictions on fuel draw created by gelled fuel. Another thought is to create a small 'warm fuel resevoir'- basically a small- 500mL or so- heated tank that will be located forward of the stck tank. This will create a significant resevoir of warm fuel to power the car, as warm fuel is being returned to the tank and melting gelled fuel.

My other question is about keeping fuel temperatures at an acceptable level to prevent pump damage. How can the temp of the fuel warming circuit be regulated when it is being warmed by 180*F coolant?

Any thoughts would be appreciated. (comments like "why don't you just use wvo, or just blend with petrodiesel" are not necessary).

 

Thanks,

Nick 

http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/419605551/m/6081037291

I am a little behind with this project as the Tig(Mig?) welder went on the fritz (my b-in-law is building it) but the tank is almost ready. The secret for most will be to keep the tank just big enough to serve daily needs and bring along a spare cubie of biodiesel for fill ups.The smaller the tank the easier it will be to heat up quickly.

My plan has it so that both the feed and return lines are HoH and the tank sits in a convection box (like an oven).The coolant lines,black iron pipe in this case, do not touch the tank, but rather are attached to the inside walls of the box and radiate heat.My design has it so that there is a double loop going along one wall and then under the floor and then again a double lop on the opposite wall and returning to close the loop in the engine bay.

I do not use a heated filter as the fuel will already be plenty warm and the return in my Benz runs through the secondary (can) keeping everything nice and warm. I also do not use a suplemental heat exchanger as that much heat is not necessary with B100.You only need enough to keep it from geling, a few degreex above freezing is plenty (depending on feedstock,of course).The returning fuel contributes to heating the tank's fuel,or if in a big hurry one could mount an inline heat exchanger on the return side so tha the fuel is extra hot when entering the tank from teh return.

As a side benefit I have installed a thermometer probe on the primary filter.This gives me the temp of what is happening just before the fuel hits the IP.I use the Ice Alert, an indoor outdoor thermometer (http://www.directdepot.net/product_info.php?products_id=4459&osCsid=tj0mia50a3pr0bmmqd4nk4a1s2).

 HTH

 Why not a magnetic 110v heater on the outside the tank . With the engine heater and the tank heater you start with worm fuel and the fuel return lines should help keep it worm when you are driving . Keeping the tank full will help also .

Coming from a racing background, you guys should look at oil dry sump tanks, which ironically have oil heaters to pre heat these tanks. Some tanks are as big as 3 gallons, and use npt ports. I'm throwing around thoughts to connecting it to my dodge.http://www.speedwaymotors.com/p/580,118_Dry-Sump-Preheater.html?itemNo=dry%20sump