Biodiesel

[Carter Brey]

A couple of years ago there were some interesting threads on biodiesel. I haven't seen the topic raise its head for a while.

A couple-three questions:

Everyone seems to use a mixture of 20% bio to 80% petroleum diesel. Why? Is it just to keep the cost down? Or is there a technical reason for this ratio?

I've read of folks using it with Perkins, Yanmar, Volvo and Universal mills. I'd be particularly interested to hear from Westerbeke owners.

And finally, have any of you Long Island Sound boaters had good experiences with a particular local retailer?

Many thanks,
CB

[fenixrises]

Hi Carter,

In 1992 when I was in American Samoa a man and his son arrived in a large Zodiac rib with a diesel stern drive and a backup Yanmar diesel outboard.

They were doing an extended trip to show the viability of bio fuels. When I met them they had used biofuel exclusively, no diesel. I believe the engines needed only minor modifications to use straight biofuel. It was essencially corn oil.

I think you could find a lot of info online regarding the use of biofuel and the engine conversion(s) needed.

But be warned: When you aare under power you will probably have the multitudes following you looking for a burger and fries.

Happy cooking to you,
Fred

[tartansailor]

Hello Carter,
It is incredible what diesel engines will burn, from liquefied coal dust to chicken fat.

The ratio has to do with cold weather solubility of paraffin. Kerosene performs the same function.

The critical thing about diesel (especially those with small injectors) is to be obsessive compulsive about keeping the fuel clean and dewatered.

Microbes grow in diesel and a byproduct is water.

Visit your local truck stop and peruse the additives, next to the Johnnie Cash Cd's and dinner plate belt buckles.

Dick

[John Danicic]

Carter:

I started using bio-diesel towards the end of last season.

I'm not a Westerbeke owner but my Perkins ran well on bio-diesel 20/80. Operationally there seemed to be no change after I added 11 gallons of pure bio-diesel to my 55 gallon tank. It only took a few motoring miles for the exhaust to change from Peterbuilt to McDonalds. I was surprised how fast it mixed. One of the better benefits is now, after running the engine, the smell down below is no longer reminiscent of a truck stop diner in Kansas. The stuff really looks, smells, and feels like salad oil.
My father-in-law, who was a South Dakota farmer, used the mix in his tractors and combines and logged 6 to 10 thousand, trouble free hours on his engines so I don't think it will effect longevity.

One thing I was warned about was to keep a careful eye on the primary fuel filter. The bio-diesel does tends to clean out the system.

Sail on.

John Danicic
CD 36 - Mariah - #124
Lake Superior

[Tom in Cambria]

The Fuel Dock at Channel Islands Harbor in Calif. was selling biodiesel for awhile last year or the year before. One thing they don't mention and the reason, I think, it isn't more widely used is that here at least it cost just twice what normal diesel costs. At five dollars a gallon it was prohibitively expensive and 20% was about all that anyone wanted to increase their fuel costs. The fuel dock discontinued selling it after less than a year.

You may know that Rudolf Diesel who invented the diesel engine was one of the Utopians of the early twentiety century. His idea was to develop an engine that farmers could fuel with the corn oil and other oils from the crops they grew and produce clean energy and be self-supporting. He was disappointed to see the oil companies start making "diesel" fuel from petroleum. A sad story and some interesting information about him and his tragic end via google.

[Carter Brey]

Thank you, gentlemen, for those interesting replies. I hadn't known that Rudolf was a Utopian. Heavy irony, there.

Westerbeke apparently approves the use of bio in its engines, so I'll be trying it out, myself.

Thank you for furthering my biodiesel education.

CB

[RichMason]

biodiesel will eat fuel line that is not specially developed for it so go ahead and buy some viton line in the correct size and replace those old lines you were going to do next year anyway. I have three cars that run on it (including two that were gas engined before I installed vw tds). Biodiesel rocks and the cost is really not an issue on a local cruising sailboat. We pay $3.50 a gallon at our local coop for ASTM certified fuel. The reasons it is blended are cost, temperature issues (it gels around 30 degrees) and power concerns as some engines have more power loss than others with it. Always have extra filters and extra fuel line.

[Carter Brey]

Thanks for that heads-up, Rich. I will replace those fuel lines.

CB

[bill2]

FWIW I've been reading about it for awhile and here's what I remember.

You should be aware that some folks may use the word biodiesel for either of the following:

1> plant oil ( the Bio ) blended with diesel ( D2 or petroleum ) in ratios of 5-100% hence B5-B100. Many have tried up to B20 successfully in vehicles designed for straight diesel. It does tend to clean prior residue from the fuel system and may in fact "clog" fuel filters till the gunk is out of the fuel system. Also B20 is frequently held to be a good compromise between gelling,cetane rating,economy, etc for equipment previously run on D2.

2> Waste Vegatable Oil ( WVO ) is just that. Reclaimed frying oil from your local restaurant. Must be extensively filtered and treated to be viable in D2 type equipment. In vehicles you'll typically see two tanks - the D2 tank to start the engine, warm up the WVO to operating temp, and stop the engine so the lines have D2 for the next time its started. The WVO tank is only used once the engine is started and the WVO has been preheated.

As stated there can be issues with the biodiesel ( or its components ) and fuel lines, gaskets, injectors ( viscosity or corrosive I believe ), etc.

All that being said many outlets for biodiesel have blended it with ultra low sulphur diesel to make a very environmentally friendly mix - the ultra low sulphur diesel cuts way back on soot, odor, emissions,etc also. ULSD has been on sale in Europe for many years and except for a possible lower lubricity ( see the prior posts for additives next to the plate sized belt buckles ) seems to be working so well even we might get it here next year or so.

All this and I too am using up to B20 in a TDI ( did you see Audi won Sebring running away from the pack with a 12 cyl TDI diesel ? ) and very happy with the reduced soot/emissions.

I'd say go for it. . . Just my two cents and a bit more

[RichMason]

Bill is spot on with his comments. I don't want people to get the wrong impression though from the "plant oil" phrase in the first sentence. As Bill points out below, vegetable oil, whether it is SVO (virgin, clean veggie oil straight from the jug) or WVO (waste vegetable oil) is different from biodiesel. Biodiesel is refined SVO or WVO...I can't talk the talk exactly but it involves all sorts of chemical reactions and washings and processing...it is not straight, unmodified "plant oil". There is a national (international?) standard for biodiesel that is certified - ASTM - as being safe and ready for a diesel engine. Of course, biodiesel does love to suck in water from the air at higher rates than regular diesel but biodiesel is meant to be indistiguishable to your car from regular diesel (except for cleaner emissions!). Lots of people and groups of people make biodiesel, only some of which is certified to the ASTM standard as it is an expensive process. Most home brew is fine and I would freely use what my coop produced themselves if they would sell it. But most coops won't because of warranty issues - they buy it certified from companies like world energy and sell it either straight (B100 or B99 to meet a kooky federal tax issue that only provides incentives for blended fuel) or blended in the various mixes already discussed.