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Biodiesel article in Popular Mechanics

California

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Maybe everyone interested has already seen this information. Hopefully there's something new.

Popular Mechanic October 2009 - Biodiesel

Something I haven't seen emphasized is that biodiesel over 10% isn't recommended for late model diesels. Seems to me that this would drive up the time to break even on the investment unless you have a fleet of older equipment.

And a personal comment - the stuff stinks. Have you ever parked next to the dumpster enclosure at McDonalds in summer? Same smell. I wouldn't want this in my garage. I have been running 90% biodiesel, commercially refined, in my elderly Yanmar tractor most of this year. Now the whole tractor smells like that dumpster. I think some of this is from slopping fuel around when refueling, so pressure washing should improve things. But I didn't expect this.

YMMV. :D
 

muleman

Gone But Not Forgotten
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It has the same french fry odor when you run it at 30% in oil burners. Not that bad after smelling high sulfur for years. Climb inside a 3 story boiler that has been burning bunker C and you would really like it. It does burn cleaner with less soot deposits than high sulfur but it does not give as much heat as fuel oil.
 

California

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I wish this biodiesel had an attractive smell like french fries or better yet doughnuts! Instead its like dragging out a bbq that was put away dirty last year. (Don't ask...)

But I agree, breathing biodiesel exhaust is far better than diesel exhaust. Last winter I made myself sick with a days-long backhoe project breathing diesel exhaust. Switching to biodiesel was a big improvement, as good as I had hoped.

It's the smelly parked tractor, and the noticeable smell in my fuel shed (an old dirt-floor former chicken coop) that is less than ideal.
 

Melensdad

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The biodiesel smell is really related to where the oil came from and what its made from. So biodiesel made from oil from McDonald's probably smells differently than if the oil came from Long John Silvers.

Its interesting that the car companies have actually DOWNGRADED the % of bio-products can be used in their diesel cars. An '08 VW could run 100% bio. An '09 VW is only rated for 5% Bio mixed with 95% fossil Diesel. This is due to their emissions system, which is super clean with only 5% bio.

At the same time the states are starting to mandate HIGHER % of bio-products in the diesel blends.

The 2009 and 2010 VW TDI engines are approved for B5. That is not going to be good enough in some states very soon :eek:
BIODIESEL MANDATES CONTINUE TO HELP INDUSTRY NATIONWIDE
January 26th, 2009
filed under: Biodiesel
Link >>> http://www.ilsoy.org/soy-news/article/?id=576

Biodiesel mandates are not new to policy workers in various states around the country. In fact, three states already have mandates in place, while four others have them on the horizon. Minnesota has had a mandate for biodiesel in place since 2005, with a B2 (2 percent biodiesel, 98 percent petroleum diesel) requirement on all diesel fuel. That mandate grows to B10 in 2012 and B20 by 2015. Other states with biodiesel mandates already in place include Washington and Oregon. Pennsylvania signed on to a mandate which will require a two percent biodiesel blend at their pumps in 2010. Massachusetts, Louisiana and New Mexico also have biodiesel requirements that have yet to take effect.

And from PENNSYLVANIA earlier this year:
Pennsylvania Reaches First Milestone in Incremental Biodiesel Mandates
Written on January 28, 2009
Link >>> http://www.biodieselinvesting.com/b...-milestone-in-incremental-biodiesel-mandates/

Biodiesel Magazine reports that Pennsylvania has met its first in-state biodiesel production threshold, meaning that within one year, every gallon of on-road diesel sold in the state must contain a minimum of 2 percent biodiesel according to state law. Lake Erie Biofuels LLC, which provided well over half the needed biodiesel, was critical in reaching this level. Five other in-state facilities contributed the remaining amount needed. State law provides that biodiesel mandates will be incrementally increased as in-state production increases. The next levels are 5 percent, 10 percent, and ultimately, 20 percent biodiesel.
And this is not limited to the US. Here is news from Canada:
Manitoba to Institute Canada’s First Biodiesel Mandate
LINK >>> http://domesticfuel.com/2009/09/10/manitoba-to-institute-canadas-first-biodiesel-mandate/
Posted by John Davis – September 10th, 2009

Manitoba will become the first province in Canada to require biodiesel in all diesel fuel when it mandates the blending of 2 percent biodiesel by November 1, 2009.

The news was welcomed by the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association:

“Today is a good day for homegrown biofuels in Manitoba and Canada,” said Gordon Quaiattini, President of the Canadian Renewable Fuels Association. “With today’s decision, Manitoba will become the first province in Canada to realize the many benefits of blending biodiesel in its fuel supply. Biodiesel is good for the environment, good for farmers, and good for the economy.”

The Manitoba 2% biodiesel mandate alone is equal to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 56,000 tonnes a year, or taking 11,000 cars off the road.

British Columbia will mandate a 5 percent biodiesel blend at the beginning next year, while Alberta will institute a 2 percent biodiesel mandate by July 1, 2010.

So as these mandates roll in, how will our cars, which may only be able to get B10 or B20 in the near future, handle the higher levels of BioDiesel and how will VW respond to potential problems it causes our engines?
 

California

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The biodiesel smell is really related to where the oil came from and what its made from.
The stuff I use comes from a commercial biodiesel refinery in Reno, so the feedstock presumably is sourced from the restaurants in the casinos. I assume the big all-you-can-eat places provide the greatest volume. Buuurp! :smile:
 

pixie

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As an owner of an older diesel pickup truck, I'm hoping that bio-diesel will be added to our fuel because even at 2% it provides all the lubricity that was removed with the sulpher and I could stop adding expensive additives.
I used to be able to find B5 or even B20 within a hundred miles but not for the last 3 years. My truck runs noticeably quieter on biodiesel.
 

Melensdad

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New Holland tractors are rated to on BioDiesel blends. Pre-2009 Volkswagons were able to run straight BioDiesel, but the newer models can only run B5 BioDiesel.

If any BioDiesel is available in this area then I've not ever seen it. Maybe at some of the big truck stops? But not at any of the stations that serve both cars and over the road trucks; also not at any of the service stations that cater to cars and have a solitary diesel pump.
 

muleman

Gone But Not Forgotten
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They may be adding it and just not proclaiming it. I don't know if they are required to disclose it like the ethanol or not. I know pa. has several major pipe line terminals adding it and blending it. They do diesel and heating oil both. There is a new outfit in Williamsport that is pressing canola seeds to make fryer oil and then reprocessing the used oil into bio-blend diesel to sell back to the farmers who supply the seed.
Opportunities from canola seeds found in many ways

June 5, 2011

By DAVID THOMPSON - dthompson@sungazette.com , Williamsport Sun-Gazette
Save |
For Joshua Leidhecker, the canola seed is a "full circle" agricultural product that can support local farmers, the restaurant industry, and energy conservation - and his business.
Leidhecker is founder of Susquehanna Mills, a company that contracts with local farmers to grow canola, then crushes the plant's seeds at the company's Montoursville facility to make a high-grade salad and deep frying oil for local restaurateurs.
The company then takes the spent deep frying oil from the restaurants, makes it into biodiesel fuel and sells that fuel back to farmers for use in their agricultural equipment.
Leidhecker said his initial intention was not to make food-grade oil, but biodiesel for his own use.
He was in the construction business with his father Keith Leidhecker when he got the idea that making biodiesel could take a bite out of increasing cost of providing fuel for company vehicles.
"In 2005 we were doing quite a bit of construction work and using a lot of diesel fuel in company vehicles. We were spending about $150,000 on diesel fuel a year at that time," Leidhecker said. "We weren't even thinking about doing food oil. We were only interested in fuel.
"My sales assistant found something on the Internet about this biodiesel thing and I said, 'Order it,'" he said. "We invested money just to try the thing - invested in equipment at our shop on Radio Club Road and began making biodiesel out of waste cooking oil from area restaurants."
The year after starting the facility, fuel costs for the construction company - minus start-up costs for the fuel-making equipment - were reduced to $20,000, he said.
But when the bottom fell out of the construction industry, Leidhecker had to rethink his business model to come up with something that was recession proof and sustainable.
"We're making biodiesel and it's great, then the market falls apart and all of a sudden we're not making as much money in construction," Leidhecker said. "I felt strongly the vegetable oil thing could be something that could be sustained long-term regardless of the economy.
"There are multiple uses of vegetable oil. It can go to biodiesel, it can be used in frying oil, it can be used in industrial applications and it can be used in agriculture feed applications," he said. "It made sense to develop this business further."
Leidhecker moved his biodiesel facility to Winchester, Va., then bought the storage bins and crushing and refining equipment needed to manufacture food-grade canola oil.
He contracts with farmers, many of them local, to grow canola - a member of the mustard family that is harvested in early August. The canola is brought to Leidhecker's Montoursville facility where it is stored in outdoor storage bins with the capacity to hold up to 13,000 bushels.
The canola seeds are cleaned and dried to be readied for crushing. The seeds are moved by conveyor system from storage to a vibrating screen that separates impurities from the seed.
Once cleaned, the seed is conveyed to custom-built hoppers from which it drops into crushers that separate the oil from the seed. The oil runs into a stainless steel holding tank and the biproduct - called "press meal" - is saved and used as a high-protein feed ingredient for the dairy industry, Leidhecker said.
"The press runs 24-7. It runs constantly," Leidhecker said. "When we are running at full capacity, we can crush 1,000 bushels a week."
The oil is filtered and sent to a holding tank where it goes through a physical refining process before being sent to a storage tank to await packaging in 35-pound containers for restaurant use or smaller bottles for home use.
No chemicals are used in the oil production process, Leidhecker said.
The company's emphasis is on local growers and local consumers, Leidhecker said.
The company sells frying oil to about 35 local restaurants, Leidhecker said. The goal is to buy canola seed from farmers living within a 50-mile radius of the Montoursville facility and sell the oil made from the seed to restaurants within that area.
"I'd like to recycle that used oil from restaurants into clean-burning biodiesel and make that available to my growers within that 50-mile radius as agricultural fuel," Leidhecker said.
Although retail customers can buy small bottles of the oil at the Montoursville facility, they also can buy it at the Williamsport Outdoor Growers Market, which is held from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday in the parking lot along Little League Boulevard between Hepburn and Pine streets. That is where you will find Leidhecker making fresh cut French fries and other items using deep fryers stocked with his canola oil.
Leidhecker said his presence at the market less a money making venture than a way of getting the word out about his product. If people like his oil, maybe they'll pass that along to their favorite restaurants, he said.
Leidhecker's company provides local restaurants with full-service deep fryer cleaning services.
He also will provide consulting services to anyone wishing to duplicate his oil-making process, he said. In doing so, everyone benefits, he said.
"I can build it for other companies," he said. "This model is repeatable anywhere. It's what we have to do to support and build our agricultural system back up."
 
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