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Engine Specific Info and Questions => IDI Engine => Topic started by: nogama3 on November 22, 2007, 05:16:02 am
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hi guys,
quick query for you. as you may or may not know, i have a mk3 golf turbo diesel (with added intercooler) and i have located a place only 3 miles from me which sells 100% biodiesel for only 70p a litre, compared to £1.08 a litre of normal diesel at the pumps by me.
is this good to use on my motor or should i use a mix of say 50% bio and 50% normal diesel.
any advice very much appreciated.
Sal
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Biodiesel (B100) is an excellent solvent and cleaner. When you start running it , it will flush all of the petro-crud in your tank and lines straight to your filter. There are different ways of starting to use B100. I just went for it- put in 2 tanks of B100 and proactively changed my filter at that point.
Benefits- very high lubricity, runs quiet and smooth, with less smoke. High cetane. Locally grown fuel. Net carbon neutral for the most part. Nontoxic and biodegradable, not volatile. Not stinky.
Downsides- Does not start well in the winter (do not run more than 20% when it is cold). Gels at a higher temp than petro. Initially clogs filters (as above). Softens or slowly dissolves lines and seals in older cars- I think that the rubber compounds were changed in the late 90's but I'm not sure. I "went for it" but one consequence is that my IP started leaking like crazy in less than a year. Fuel quality can vary a lot depending on who is making the stuff. Here in Boulder, I can get small batch made B100 which is pretty bad, (little granules of something in the bottom of the jug) or Blue Sun B100 (or B20) that is ultra clean. i get the good stuff.
http://www.gobluesun.com/
With an older car it is a conversion commitment, but worth it in the end.
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using the mix might be your best bet as you can try to avoid getting a leaky pump.
if you want to try to re-seal your pump you can buy one of those kits, or have peace of mind and let a professional do it for you.
the fuel savings alone from a rebuilt pump running the biodiesel should pay for the pump rebuild after a few years. the added benefits are cleaner emissions, and more lubricity.
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When did Europe start using 5% bio as standard? Maybe it was as early as the mk3?
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using the mix might be your best bet as you can try to avoid getting a leaky pump.
if you want to try to re-seal your pump you can buy one of those kits, or have peace of mind and let a professional do it for you.
the fuel savings alone from a rebuilt pump running the biodiesel should pay for the pump rebuild after a few years. the added benefits are cleaner emissions, and more lubricity.
If the biodiesel makes your pump leak, ULSD would have done exactly the same. Biodiesel (or ULSD) will not make a brand new pump leak, only one that has been exposed to Low-Sulphur Diesel for some time (tens / hundreds of thousands of km's). So basically, B100 (or biodiesel in any quantity) is not going to damage your pump unless it's either low-quality fuel or the pump is already hurting, but not presenting any obvious SYMPTOMS yet.
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Then why does Bosch only recommend anything under B10? I just got my pump at Giles and asked if they were done with Viton seals or what he recommended for bio and that is what he told me.
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I am Giles' apprentice here at Performance Diesel Injection, just so that you know. We often have different opinions on biodiesel / renewable fuel matters, but I'm not contradicting him either.
There are a whole bunch of reasons why Bosch doesn't recommend anything above B10 - Giles and I were just having this discussion, because when we see a "Biodiesel" pump, it's because it's gummed up, pitted, rusted and destroyed - usually by bad biodiesel or biodiesel that wasn't properly created or prepared, but not by the simple fact of running on biodiesel. He isn't really a fan of biodiesel, and really disliked it until just lately, now he's a little more neutral. I on the other hand, am a big fan.
The simplest answer as to why Bosch doesn't "recommend" greater than 10% is that nobody has done long-term, life-cycle laboratory tests on the effects of biodiesel on their pumps. Since they can't guarantee that it's going to function properly, they don't try to.
The longer answer is this: in 2005 (most recent stats I could easily find (http://www.gobluesun.com/biodiesel_vs_diesel.php)), we used 56,000,000,000 gallons of diesel fuel. The National Biodiesel Board is hopeful that we might be able to produce a grand total of as much as 300,000,000 gallons of biodiesel for this year (http://biofleet.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=109&Itemid=2). The upshot of that is that now, after half a decade of development of the biodiesel industry, it could account for as much as 0.5% of the diesel fuel consumption of the United States, IF it is all burned domestically and none is exported. That doesn't exactly sound like a sufficient market share to bother with the level of testing that would be necessary, right? And that is the biggest reason right there. There are also a variety of feedstocks (oils like canola, soy, waste vegetable oil etc.) available, of varying qualities. There are many smaller manufacturers, as opposed to a handful of more-or-less consolidated major players in the petrodiesel production business. That presents greater variability in fuel quality, as well as a larger possible number of potential points of error or negligence.
Biodiesel remains the product of an industry which is in its infancy, and it operates on a completely different scale than the petroleum industry, so it's not really worth the time and energy investment to test it, particular given the confounding factors of different feedstocks, changing test specs for the fuel, etc.
Aside from that, though, Bosch doesn't warranty ANY work caused by fuel problems, no matter what that problem is. The care and feeding of your engine is your responsibility, and if they can demonstrate that the fuel you gave it didn't conform to the ASTM spec for diesel fuel, then they can legitimately refuse warranty coverage. If you were to try and set up your own fractional distillation tower, get some crude oil and refine it into its components, then use that diesel fuel, you would still not be covered.
But biodiesel itself isn't a problem, the problem is the fact that there are such variations in quality and the fact that Bosch (or other manufacturers) can't say "Yeah, use it, it'll work fine!" because then somebody will make a bad batch and blame the manufacturer when their engine fails.
Does that all make sense? There is a difference between what the manufacturer acknowledges will work and what the manufacturer is comfortable guaranteeing. But the bottom line is that properly made biodiesel which conforms to the ASTM spec for biodiesel (ASTM D6751-07b (http://www.astm.org/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/STORE/filtrexx40.cgi?U+mystore+ztjn9412+-L+BIODIESEL+/usr6/htdocs/astm.org/DATABASE.CART/REDLINE_PAGES/D6751.htm)) will not harm your pump. Properly made biodiesel, meeting these specs has better lubricity and higher cetane than petrodiesel. It offers equivalent or reduced emissions in all areas except for NOx, which is still unclear - in stationary applications and tests, NOx from biodiesel is increased. In driving conditions, it may be equivalent or lower, but those tests have yet to be done. At the same time, Biodiesel made by someone who is negligent or fails to understand the processes involved, or otherwise doesn't / cannot adhere to production practices which yield such a substance, will damage your pump in short order, just the same as bad diesel fuel that doesn't meet the required spec (ASTM D975-07b (http://www.astm.org/cgi-bin/SoftCart.exe/STORE/filtrexx40.cgi?U+mystore+ztjn9412+-L+DIESEL+/usr6/htdocs/astm.org/DATABASE.CART/REDLINE_PAGES/D975.htm)) will damage your pump and/or engine in very short order.
So is biodiesel destructive? No. Is all biodiesel the same? No. Should everybody make use of it? Not necessarily, because quality is still loosely enforced and hard to verify. But will it destroy your pump? No, and that's not what the manufacturers are saying - all they're saying is that (I'm paraphrasing, not quoting) "Biodiesel blended in no more than 10% will not adversely affect any characteristic of normal diesel #1 / #2, nor will it adversely affect your pump's operation in that proportion, and they are so certain of that that they won't reject your warranty out of hand for using a B10 blend."
Hope this answers your question without making it sound like Giles and I are saying two different things. We both stick to the manufacturer recommendation in terms of what we can support, but this hopefully sheds more light on why the manufacturers take this kind of a position relative to biodiesel.
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I have been using B100 for over 2 years now and quite like it. It runs cleaner and quieter but will decrease your mileage somewhat , maybe 10% or so. I use Canola base stock so my fuel is good to about -6 without blending. If it gets cold I blend 40-50%. Have only had to do this once last year. I put a jar of fuel in my carport and if I see crystals/cloudiness forming then I mix in some reg diesel. I have had to replace my injector return lines with viton but so far no problems with the IP seals. Cheers Dan
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That part is definitely true. Biodiesel's energy density (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_content_of_biofuel) is about 10% lower than that of diesel #2 (very comparable to diesel #1) so your mileage does usually drop a bit going from summer diesel to B100. Depending on the fuel and the engine, the improved lubricity of biodiesel tends to partially make up for that - I experienced a 3-5% mileage drop with B100 for that reason.
My fuel pump was rebuilt a couple of years ago, before I started using B100. No leak problems since then.
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using the mix might be your best bet as you can try to avoid getting a leaky pump.
if you want to try to re-seal your pump you can buy one of those kits, or have peace of mind and let a professional do it for you.
the fuel savings alone from a rebuilt pump running the biodiesel should pay for the pump rebuild after a few years. the added benefits are cleaner emissions, and more lubricity.
If the biodiesel makes your pump leak, ULSD would have done exactly the same. Biodiesel (or ULSD) will not make a brand new pump leak, only one that has been exposed to Low-Sulphur Diesel for some time (tens / hundreds of thousands of km's). So basically, B100 (or biodiesel in any quantity) is not going to damage your pump unless it's either low-quality fuel or the pump is already hurting, but not presenting any obvious SYMPTOMS yet.
well a leaky pump will most likely have been from running the older diesel which had aromatics left in which helped swell up the seals. switch over to ULSD or Bio which does not have those aromatics, and the seals shrink, and the pump leaks.
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I have been using B100 for over 2 years now and quite like it. It runs cleaner and quieter but will decrease your mileage somewhat , maybe 10% or so. I use Canola base stock so my fuel is good to about -6 without blending. If it gets cold I blend 40-50%. Have only had to do this once last year. I put a jar of fuel in my carport and if I see crystals/cloudiness forming then I mix in some reg diesel. I have had to replace my injector return lines with viton but so far no problems with the IP seals. Cheers Dan
where do you get viton return lines? i'm running regular diesel and mine always seem to be leaking. (they're even new FFS!!)
so hopefully viton will cure that problem for me. thanks
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BeJamminR- Thanks for the great post. My question for you is, do you expect the pump seal life to be the same using B100 summer alternating with B0 winter, as with dino year round all of the time? I get top quality biodiesel here (the maker warrantees the product). I will have you folks rebuild my pump at some point, and I have heard so many different stories it is hard to know what to think. Bio is the future, and I'd like to move toward it intelligently.
P.S.- how do different lines react- polypropelene, N-butadene, silicone, urethane, etc?
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BeJamminR- Thanks for the great post. My question for you is, do you expect the pump seal life to be the same using B100 summer alternating with B0 winter, as with dino year round all of the time? I get top quality biodiesel here (the maker warrantees the product). I will have you folks rebuild my pump at some point, and I have heard so many different stories it is hard to know what to think. Bio is the future, and I'd like to move toward it intelligently.
P.S.- how do different lines react- polypropelene, N-butadene, silicone, urethane, etc?
if the seals in the pump were never exposed to the older non ULSD diesel, then they should be ok. plus the new seals should be 100% biodiesel safe.
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Considering bio is soo much better at lubricating than dino, I would hazzard to guess that the selas would last longer provided the bio is of a good source.
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I'm glad to hear that you plan to have Giles rebuild your pump for you, and I think that you'll be glad you did it whenever you get around to it. I'll only be tearing it down and cleaning it up - when it comes to the rebuilding, that's still entirely his department for now at least. :wink:
BeJamminR- Thanks for the great post. My question for you is, do you expect the pump seal life to be the same using B100 summer alternating with B0 winter, as with dino year round all of the time? I get top quality biodiesel here (the maker warrantees the product). I will have you folks rebuild my pump at some point, and I have heard so many different stories it is hard to know what to think. Bio is the future, and I'd like to move toward it intelligently.
P.S.- how do different lines react- polypropelene, N-butadene, silicone, urethane, etc?
That one depends significantly on the quality of the biodiesel that you're getting. Biodiesel *is* a solvent, but properly-made biodiesel is a relatively weak solvent. As jtanguay pointed out, if the seals were not exposed for long periods to Low Sulphur Diesel or other substances to swell them up, then biodiesel of ULSD won't have the mentioned effects - the swelling isn't due to any property of biodiesel in isolation, it's due to that property combined with the properties of the Low Sulphur diesel and long exposures previous to long-term B100 usage.
As far as the different lines - my understanding is that only "natural" rubber lines suffer any degradation whatsoever as a pure result of biodiesel's solvent properties, and even that is reduced if the manufacturer takes care to minimize the presence of excess catalyst (sodium methoxide), free lye, and/or free methanol, or if they do an acid / base quench to more-or-less stabilize the pH. To clarify, I mean EITHER an acid OR a basic quench to neutralize the fuel's pH level, depending on which method(s) (acidic or basic, or combination) were used to make it in the first place.
But I can really only offer you conjecture on the reactions of biodiesel with the specific lines that you mention; it is my largely unscientific opinion, supported by anecdotal evidence, that the polypropelene, silicone, and urethane lines should be more or less impervious. I believe N-butadiene in this context is referring to nitrile rubber, correct? If that is the case, then I don't imagine that biodiesel will have a problem with it - there's a lot of confusion over the "natural" rubber vs. "nitrile" rubber issue in biodiesel circles, so many people mistakenly say that nitrile rubber will be eaten by biodiesel.
As I may have already mentioned in this thread, I've logged in excess of 10,000km on biodiesel, and none of my lines (all stock) have been degraded in any way. When I cleaned my injectors the other day, I didn't even need to replace any of my returns - their integrity was still such that I could just put them back on as they were. Again, unscientific and anecdotal, but I'm comfortable making recommendations on such a basis, as long as they don't run contrary to manufacturers' positions. :)
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I got the viton from a friend who bought it from a stateside vendor. You only need about 18" to do a VW but if you get some friends to go in you can get a better deal, or offer it here on the forum. I know McMaster Carr sells it but will not ship to private individuals in Canada. They will however ship to buisness addresses in Canada. Cheers Dan
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i think my supplier uses 'coldflow 350' some sort of winterisation additive i have heard of people putting in a litre of unleaded every tankful.
BTW - how do you buy your biodiesel ? i buy mine as heating oil as it attracts a lower rate of duty etc (was about 13p/l cheaper last time i went) :wink:
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BejamminR thanks for the clarification and for helping me understand a bit better. BTW, the Giles pump I had done has been great. You guys really do a good job.
The station here in my town has ASTM-D6751 specification Biodiesel and since I just got it rebuilt and the only fuel it has had is ULSD I should be okay. thanks again.
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i think my supplier uses 'coldflow 350' some sort of winterisation additive i have heard of people putting in a litre of unleaded every tankful.
BTW - how do you buy your biodiesel ? i buy mine as heating oil as it attracts a lower rate of duty etc (was about 13p/l cheaper last time i went) :wink:
Mixing gasoline with diesel is a poor idea. Not that it's going to destroy anything immediately, but the thing is that octane and cetane work in diametrically opposite ways. That is to say that any fuel with a high octane index will actually RETARD the cetane rating of another fuel. The gasoline may be enough of a solvent to thin the fuel, but cetane is particularly important in cold-weather starting, when you want the fuel to light up as easily as possible under compression... so mixing in gasoline to thin the fuel isn't such a great winterization plan. There are additives that will do the job, with varying degrees of success.
I buy my biodiesel as on-road (i.e. fully taxed) fuel from a truck terminal (Truck Town Terminals in Milton, ON) because they are the cheapest available (~5-10% higher for B100 than B20 or B0), have good quality fuel, and cycle it faster than anybody else. I have used small amounts of good quality homebrew, but for the most part I just buy it since I haven't got access to enough waste oil to make my own in large volumes. The biodiesel intended for home heating oil is fine to use in terms of chemical composition, but not in terms of legal liability. Unless you're running an off-road or otherwise tax exempt vehicle, you're breaking the rules by running untaxed fuel on the roads. Whether that bothers you or not is another thing entirely, of course. :lol:
Thanks much for the kind words, TD_Bunny. I'm glad that you enjoyed your Giles / Performance Diesel pump. If you ever get any vids of your ride in operation, leaving strips of rubber while largely smokeless and stuff, I'd love to see'em. 8)
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well i bit the bullet and just got my first tank of Biodiesel. I actually found a place in town that has B5, B20, and B99 from soybean oil all of which are within Biodiesel allowed specs. Went for the B99 so hopefully since my pump has only had ULSD since its rebuild I wont have any problems. Of course, I will report back if i do :D Not sure if it is suppose to but I seem to be letting out less smoke now. Makes sense since there is less particulate matter polutants with bio but its nicer for now at least.
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Not sure if it is suppose to but I seem to be letting out less smoke now. Makes sense since there is less particulate matter polutants with bio but its nicer for now at least.
Oh yes, it is supposed to, but the reason isn't that there is just less particulate matter in biodiesel (not sure if that was what you were implying). It's because biodiesel is a carbohydrate instead of a hydrocarbon. It is a much more oxygenated fuel, meaning that for any given charge of air, there is actually MORE usable oxygen than with a comparable petrodiesel scenario. Therefore it burns more completely, like a heavily oxygenated diesel fuel... less "ash" or particulate matter, and also considerably less smoke. Generally, when you DO get smoke, it will by white and much lighter than the same system on 100% petrodiesel.
This same attribute is exactly the disadvantage of biodiesel for long-term storage and fleet applications, though; unlike petrodiesel, since it is full of oxygen and it is essentially a food rather than a mineral, it rots or turns rancid (6-12months, longer depending on storage). Petrodiesel degrades too, but not in the same manner and not nearly as fast.
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The only environmental downside to this, is since it is combusted more efficiently, the oxides of nitrogen released are more. (starting to talk like Yoda, I am) ;) Since NoX is a strong greenhouse multiplier, it is worth considering ways of cleaning that up. The Bluetec system is a beauty, but obviously not for retrofit. I have heard that EDTA (a food additive) is also used to reduce pollutants in flue gas. I bet if some of that were mixed into the tank of a water- mist injection system ( or into the exhaust post-turbo), it might help the NoX.
The fledgeling biodiesel retailers can use freshness as a way of marketing their fuel- or have a massive algae experiment going in their storage tank.
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Doesn't retarding timing reduce NOx?
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Just pee into your water injection resevoir.
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The only environmental downside to this, is since it is combusted more efficiently, the oxides of nitrogen released are more.
Only partly true, maybe.
http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_nox.html
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2005/05/nrel_rethinking.html
http://www.nrel.gov/vehiclesandfuels/npbf/pdfs/38296.pdf (PDF Link)
Basically, the gist is that early studies with biodiesel demonstrated increased NOx, but those were only in "stationary" dyno applications, not reflecting actual driving conditions. The gradually emerging consensus about a year ago (when I was paying more attention) was that in actual driving, NOx was either equal to or potentially less than petrodiesel, and when used in a blend (B20, B80, etc.) the biodiesel unequivocally did reduce the NOx emissions as compared with a similar volume of petrodiesel.
Early on, what you say was considered correct, or at least nothing to the contrary had been readily proven. However, even at that point, biodiesel's compatibility with NOx-reducing technologies that petrodiesel (especially crappy North American petrodiesel) was incompatible with still makes it a winner from an environmental perspective.
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BeJamminR- Thanks for updating my knowledge- good links. I'm happy to see that it is not a significant problem, if at all. I also appreciate your enthusiasm for biodiesel.
A question- has anyone come up with a good winterizer yet- assuming a high quality no-glycerine fuel to begin with?
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If I was going to run bio I would probably run kerosene as the cutting agent and a good lubricant like Stanadyne.
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An article about biodiesel I wrote for Machine Design...
http://machinedesign.com/ContentItem/57843/BeanMachines.aspx
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When the temps get into the -10 region which is not often here on the wet coast, I tend to drop a bit of reg diesel into my tank like maybe 30% . I keep a jar of B100 in my carport and glance at it to see if it is getting a few wisps of cloudy strings ie approaching cloud point. My feedstock is Canola so this has been quite successful for the last couple of years. Kerosene is more effective than diesel at lowering the cloud point but is harder to get and more expensive. Last year I probably spent about $40 on reg diesel so that should give you an idea of how often it is necessary to do this. It is pretty much not required to use Stanadyne or any othe lubricity additive when using BD as it is essentially 100% lubrication. Cheers Dan
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how much kerosene is proven safe to run with bio as the only other additive for lubrication? Stanadyne also helps keep things from gelling along with lubrication, cleaning and even more cetane.
err they say it better here hahaha. I'd like to know what Giles would put in his car for additive.
http://www.dieselpage.com/add1.htm
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Benjamin, what are you running the stock lines in? Mk 2, 3, 4....?
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In colder climates the winter diesel fuel or D1 is in effect kerosene, here where it is not as cold the winter fuel is 50% kerosene 50% reg diesel. If I were running up north I would be using Stanadyne or some such in every tankful as kerosene has very little lubricity, though ULSD is poor at lubrication as well. Generally anti-gell agents are not very effective in BD , some folks have found that you have to use 3 or 4 times as much to get any significant benefit. Cheers Dan
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Are there any good mainstream bio-antigel additive me3ant specifically for that purpose? I'd like to run bio in the 324td when it is on the road but it'll be "snapping arsehole cold" in Trenton (moving next summer) for 6 months of the year.
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If I were faced with continuous cold temps I probably would just run 50% BD and 50% reg diesel and call it good for as long as the temps stayed down. I am not aware of any specific products which are proven effective with BD. Another aspect of the issue is that BD itself can be made from many different feedstocks. Canola, Soy, Palm, etc and even some percentage of animal fat. all these have different temperature characteristics. When it comes down to it having a reliable vehicle is critical especially in winter, frozen fuel lines will not impress the wifey. I always leave room in my tank in winter in case I have to add some reg diesel. Cheers Dan
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So true Dan :) Never anger the wife.
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Glad to help out, Vanagoner.
In colder climates the winter diesel fuel or D1 is in effect kerosene
Nope. It's possible that you have some information that I don't, but as far as I am aware, here's the score: A lighter diesel fuel is used, and larger proportions of kerosene are blended; some areas do use the name D1 / Diesel #1 to refer to kerosene / jet fuel variants, but as far as I know, on-road diesel fuel is never more than a 50% blend of kerosene. That's important, because straight kerosene can (Not that it will, but can) wreck things in very short order. Its lubricity is dramatically lower than diesel fuel, and it is flatly not recommended for use in normal applications. Special low-lubricity components do exist for use in military applications and stuff where jet fuel / kerosene is what will be used, but even with those components, the pump wears out way faster due to super low lubricity.
Gotta agree with you on the B50. Unless you have some form of tank heating, or a secondary tank with heating, or something along those lines, I would not recommend anything over B50 in continuously sub-zero temps. I've personally experienced gelling at low temps with B50 blends, and basically had to go easy until the return fuel heated the tank, pump, etc. If it had been a little colder, I'd have been euchred.
Slave2school:
(Just realized that Bigblockchev has already said a bunch of this - I'll leave it here, but take it as agreement and elabouration. :-) )
No ratio of kerosene / Biodiesel has been "proven" safe, because so far as I'm aware that testing hasn't been done. I don't personally know how well kero blends with B100, what it does to the lubricity of the biodiesel, etc. Since kerosene is more expensive, pretty bad for your pump, and more hydrophilic than diesel fuel (at least as hydrophilic as B100), I don't see any real advantages to using it, other than letting you run B100. I'd be more inclined to drop down to B30 with the rest petrodiesel rather than B50 or B60 with the rest kerosene, based on price, longevity, and (anecdotal) evidence to support its reliability. That's me; I won't tell you that it won't work or that it can't, I just don't have the data to be comfortable making the decision or making a recommendation at this point. From a practical standpoint, I think that in the absence of a heating system, scaling back on the biodiesel proportion is the cheapest, easiest, and lowest-maintenance option for a couple of months of the year at most.
Bearing in mind that I live in the GTA part of the time and in very rural central Ontario the rest of the time, so -20C and below is not foreign territory - our climate is classified as "sub-arctic". In even slightly lower latitudes, none of this applies.
There presently aren't any real winterizing additives made specifically for biodiesel. Again, the market is sufficiently small that nobody really cares. The most effective "winterizing" method I've heard of is freezing cans / jugs of biodiesel to a given temperature (in your freezer, for instance) in order to solidify it. Usually, a portion of it remains liquid; you pour this off, recording the freeze / cloud / cold filter plugging point on the container. This is largely unscientific, but it gives you an idea of the temp. The solidified stuff can be thawed and re-used as "summer B100" and the thinner portion can then be stored and used as "winter B100" down to the temps that you observed when freezing. It's a reasonably good system, and considerably better than blending, given the choice.
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Benjamin, what are you running the stock lines in? Mk 2, 3, 4....?
Not sure what this question is asking. My Jetta is a Mk3 (1994 AAZ). I may have missed something prior to this, but I'm not sure what you're asking about the stock lines...
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Sorry, it was in reference to this:
"As I may have already mentioned in this thread, I've logged in excess of 10,000km on biodiesel, and none of my lines (all stock) have been degraded in any way."
But as I understand it, a mk3?
Andy
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Oh, gotcha. Yep, it's a Mk3 Jetta.
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A lot of great information here! Anyone ever tried making their own biodiesel, and wish to elaborate?
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Indeed I have. As far as elabourating... Basically everything I could say has already been said better by the guys at Journey To Forever. (Link: www.journeytoforever.org (http://www.journeytoforever.org))
Check through their biofuels sections - they are where I originally got the bulk of my information, and this remains one of the more thorough treatments of the subject as far as I know. If you have specific questions, let me know and I may be able to answer them. I haven't made very much biodiesel - I mostly run straight vegetable oil (waste oil, boiled, dewatered, filtered to 1 micron) and use commercially purchased biodiesel because it takes me less time and prep than processing into biodiesel myself. Also, my suppliers for methanol stopped selling to anyone without commercial clearance for alcohols, so the reagents are harder and harder for me to get. They're still out there, but harder for me to get now.
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Ben , sorry to disagree but Journey to forever is perhaps the worst source of information on the internet for a newbie regarding biodiesel . The forums at biodiesel infopop are of a similar informative quality to the Vw gtd forums here. Helpful without a lot of wrong information. By the way it may be possible to purchase methanol in the form of windshield washer concentrate easier than the pure form. I have been using this for the past 3-4 years successfully , it is about 96% methyl hydrate by my measurement. Cheers Dan
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Thanks guys. journeytoforever.org is there too much information/too complex, or is it just a slew with some accurate and some inaccurate?
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I have found it to be inaccurate, for instance they maintain that the processing formula should start at a base of 3.5 gms per litre of oil plus the additional amount obtained by titrating the oil. Most if not all other sources start with 5 gms per litre plus titration. I have used the greater amount in my processing formula for the last 5.5 yrs with excellent results and no failed batches I cannot imagine what my results would have been using with a lesser amount, probably a percentage of unconverted oil. Other sections of the website seem similarly uninformed. Cheers
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This is a really good BD site:
http://www.make-biodiesel.org/Introduction/
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I am engineering minded, I like building and tinkering. For most of my life I usually get into projects and not realize how expensive they can get, so I want to start simple (for the first in my life, lol) I want to build something on a budget, or better yet the simplest processor to get my feet wet. I do know this is what I would like to do, but don't want to babysit the processor the entire time.
Thanks
-Eric
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Eric I designed my processor around the simplest principals. It had to drain extremely well it had to be compact and easy to access and service. All of the piping in my processor is either vertical or on a 45 deg angle for drainage. The heater is an inline design 1 1/4 inch pipe with a 6kw water heater element so it heats my 160 L batches in less than an hour. I used the ubiquitous harbour freight clearwater pump as it is ideally suited and cheap as hell. I have never had to replace it. all the piping is metal and the valves are all ball valves. There are some pix on the biodiesel infopop forums under my username same as here. I dislike the "appleseed " processors for a variety of reasons not the least of which is that they have poor drainage. I also do all my processes in the one vessel. Processing, Washing and Drying something which preserves real estate in my garage. the whole unit is less than 40" square. You can't do that with an Appleseed no matter how hard you try. Cheers Dan
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I have found it to be inaccurate, for instance they maintain that the processing formula should start at a base of 3.5 gms per litre of oil plus the additional amount obtained by titrating the oil. Most if not all other sources start with 5 gms per litre plus titration. I have used the greater amount in my processing formula for the last 5.5 yrs with excellent results and no failed batches I cannot imagine what my results would have been using with a lesser amount, probably a percentage of unconverted oil. Other sections of the website seem similarly uninformed. Cheers
You just said that they suggest a different amount to other sites. Cant see how that makes them inaccurate or uninformed? Perhaps you may try using 3.5gms before concluding it is incorrect?
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I have found it to be inaccurate, for instance they maintain that the processing formula should start at a base of 3.5 gms per litre of oil plus the additional amount obtained by titrating the oil. Most if not all other sources start with 5 gms per litre plus titration. I have used the greater amount in my processing formula for the last 5.5 yrs with excellent results and no failed batches I cannot imagine what my results would have been using with a lesser amount, probably a percentage of unconverted oil. Other sections of the website seem similarly uninformed. Cheers
You're absolutely entitled to your opinion, and you can definitely use a different process - you can't argue with results. But I will say that you are unequivocally wrong in claiming that they are inaccurate. Journey to Forever uses a bunch of different methods, and most of their processes are using a 2 or 3 stage reaction, where you are doing the transesterification process multiple times. They are also operating from a European / Southeast Asian context, where they are primarily using different oil feedstocks, and where cooking processes are different. Some of the recipes are for virgin oil (less lye required to start with) while some are for processed waste oil (usually more oil to start with).
I'll say plainly that you have definitely made more biodiesel than I have - so without any question you've got more practical experience. The infopop forums are a great resource, and they have a lot of really valuable info; Journey To Forever is targeted at a different audience, and it is intended to be a little more academic and process-oriented, while the infopop forums are more practical and results-oriented. You can get equal results with processes listed in either site - for the purposes of learning the process and the science underlying the reaction, I like Journey to Forever. In my opinion, if you're not interested in learning all of the science and in doing a variety of batches in multiple stages and basically keeping lab notes... Start with infopop. The folks on there are generally more of a "Here's what you do, here's how you do it, here's what you need for it" sort of black box model. Journey To Forever is more interested in discussing the science and suggesting a bunch of equipment that you don't strictly NEED to do it all (digital pH meter and such) but that can allow you to do it better, IF you are interested in the process to that degree.
Bottom line: If you're only interested in results and don't care about the process as long as it works, I'd back you up on picking infopop as your resource. But for my part, it [EDIT: That is, JourneyToForever] gets my vote in that specific manner - not because it's better; Because it has a pretty different philosophy and reason for being there.
Hopefully that isn't seen as combative or anything - I have a different opinion than you do generally, but I don't rate Journey to Forever as better than Infopop, I just see it as a really different type of resource for people operating from a different mindset.
EDIT: Actually, I re-read your post and noticed that you said: "Journey to Forever is possibly the worst source of information on the internet for a newbie". I was responding to it as though you had said that they were simply the worst source out there. My bad - you're probably right. My long-winded post was basically saying that;
1. If you aren't already into chemistry and / or engineering
2. If you want to learn what to do and how to do it now and maybe later start getting into all of the background stuff about why
Infopop is better.
I like Journey To Forever because I *wasn't* a total newbie to the science involved when I started, and I started by doing a dozen small batches at once using 3 different feedstocks (2 small batches of each) and taking pictures and notes of the process so that I could decide what worked well for what types of oils (virgin and WVO). If that doesn't sound like you, BigBlockChev is right - Infopop will treat you better and have you getting results sooner.
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Bej thanks for the reply. I tend to be a very object oriented person, looking for results. When I was starting out I did a fair bit of research and tried to distill it down to the simplest approach which would give consistent results. I have found the devil to be in the details, small changes can screw up a batch and then you have to figure out how to recover from a tank full of Mayonaise. There were quite a few differing designs and approaches to be looked at all the way from simple barrels to pricey BioPro stainless self contained processors so I tried to look at what would work for the average fairly handy guy. I have helped several people to design and build successful processors on a scale suitable for minimal space and time involvement. It has been an interesting hobby and I wish success to anyone trying it out. Cheers Dan
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I saw your processor on biodiesel.infopop ( http://biodiesel.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/919605551/m/1731025531?r=1731025531#1731025531 )
I am wondering if you have made changes to it since you initially built it? Mainly with washing the BD. I don't really want to pump a lot of water through, would rather use other methods, and not excited about resins. Any suggestions?
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Since that time I have increased the heater size to 6000W the key to using a larger heater is to use a smaller pipe size of 1 1/4" this keeps the velocity of the oil up which keeps the heating element cooler so it lasts , I have not had to replace the element in the past 3 years , lots of guys complain about short heater life without understanding the problem. I have remounted the whole cone on a 40" square piece of 1" plywood , so the entire footprint is only 40" square. I have also added a timer to the heater control circuit and am planning to add a flowswitch for triple redundant safety. This results in a shorter heating time. roughly 40-50 mins. This allows me to start the pump , then the heater. Decant my methanol to the correct amount of about 32L per 160L batch, measure out my caustic with my handy Safeway deli scale, dissolve the caustic by rocking the container back and forth and by the time this is done the oil is heated to 125 deg F so I can add the mixture to the processor by a small pipe on the suction inlet, It takes about 15mins to add the caustic mixture. I then let the pump run to mix the batch for an hour stop the pump and wait several hours to overnight to drain the glycerol. I then add 50L or so of water to the processor along with about 1.5 L of common vinegar to decrease the foaming of the water. I use an aquarium bubbler to gently agitate the fuel ( it is never a good idea to run the processor pump with fuel and water in the processor unless you are trying to make a mayonaise like emulsion). I let the bubbler run for a day or two , then drain the soapy water off and repeat the bubbling for another day or so , drain and repeat a third time. I find three rinses are all I need to get clean fuel. After the third rinse I drain off the water. I then start the pump and heater and heat the fuel up to 150 deg F to flash off the water I let the pump run with the heater off for several hours till the fuel temp drops to about 120 deg F then shut off the pump and let the fuel sit overnight to get all the bubbles of air out. I inspect the fuel by putting a spotlight on the bottom of the cone and looking down through it to see if there is any cloudiness . I can see through the top to bottom about 30" distance through the fuel so it is quite clear. After inspection I pump the fuel into my storage tank through a 3 micro filter. Total time to produce maybe 4 hours over 5 days. Can't comment on other washing methods this one seems to work fine for me. Cheers
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I particularly found this guy's setup interesting and he doesn't really actively wash the BD.
http://www.graham-laming.com/bd/ecosystem/state_diagram_new.htm
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Yes his design is guite good, not sure what the tank material is, if it is metal then the heater is fine where it is if the tanks if it is fiberglass then I would prefer an inline heater mounted directly above the pump. In his case the settling is crucial to producing good fuel, you wouldn't want the stuff shown on his fingers to get in your tank or injection pump. Cheers Dan
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Yeah, that would be bad.
I was considering using a 55 gallon drum or similar and making a cone at the bottom. Although this would have the capacity produce about enough fuel to last me 2 months.
If I could put restrictions on size, I would have to say 2ft deep and less than 7' tall is my only restriction. It could be 4-6ft wide no problem.
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You can make a sort of a cone in the bottom of a barrel by bashing it with a real heavy pipe or fence post. but you need a couple inches of depression to be worth doing more would be better. Or you can tilt the barrel but then it will not drain well enough to use the single vessel approach unless you are a real good welder and can make a seamless weld to the bottom corner with no low spots. Cheers Dan
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Checkout the Appleseed processor. Looks rough, but the actual processing that it does results in a better finished product than the commercial ones available. (and it's much cheaper) All you need is an old water tank that's fairly scale free.
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When did Europe start using 5% bio as standard? Maybe it was as early as the mk3?
Hi Mark, if you're still here after all these years since your post :-)
The EU had a very good opportunity. Back then, if they pulled a tanker up to a US terminal full of diesel fuel from a refinery anyplace in the world and pumped some gallons of US produced B100 into the mix, they got a US government subsidy of $1.00 per gallon of the final product. Since our law makers in general are mostly concerned about "the Red team VS. the Blue team" - like its a football game, they did not bother to understand what B05 vs. B95 is and did not put any limits on how low the percentage of US made biodiesel was in the mix they were giving the subsidy for. After all, there is no standard yet on what a mix of biodiesel is. Just like "synthetic blend" motor oil could be 99% synthetic or 0.01% synthetic. Not standard....
So, this scheme was called "Splash and dash" and made millions of euros for those coming here with tankers, and millions of dollars for bio-diesel makers. :-)
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,366601,00.html (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,366601,00.html)
On the other hand, I replaced the seals in my IP with Vitron seals.
http://www.biodiesel.org/pdf_files/fuelfactsheets/Materials_Compatibility.pdf (http://www.biodiesel.org/pdf_files/fuelfactsheets/Materials_Compatibility.pdf)
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In Portland, Oregon......it is mandated that all diesel is biodiesel. (B10 or B20, not sure which.) Anyway, I commute the 60 miles one-way to Portland daily, and made the awful mistake of getting fuel there a few times as a 'test.' What a waste of money. My highway mileage immediately dropped from 52.3 to 44.5 mpg. (Over 3 tanks.) In other words, on a 14 or 15 gallon tank, I lost something like 225 miles. Not very 'green', considering I had to burn another 5 gallons to cover that distance! When I switched back to Shell 100% diesel, not only did the car run better and have mor epower, the mileage returned. Calling biodiesel enviromentally friendly, is like saying electric cars are 'green'.....when most electricity in the country is created by burning COAL. 100 pure diesel for me, more economical, cost less, and results in less polution over the same distance as biodiesel. Plus, I won't be adding to everyones problem of higher food prices, because of the food crops being diverted to biodiesel production. Al Gore needs to quit with this enviromental garbage.....but then again, how much money has he made off 'Global warning??? (Damn, it has been one warm winter everywhere, hasn't it???)
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In Portland, Oregon......it is mandated that all diesel is biodiesel. (B10 or B20, not sure which.) Anyway, I commute the 60 miles one-way to Portland daily, and made the awful mistake of getting fuel there a few times as a 'test.' What a waste of money. My highway mileage immediately dropped from 52.3 to 44.5 mpg. (Over 3 tanks.) In other words, on a 14 or 15 gallon tank, I lost something like 225 miles. Not very 'green', considering I had to burn another 5 gallons to cover that distance! When I switched back to Shell 100% diesel, not only did the car run better and have mor epower, the mileage returned. Calling biodiesel enviromentally friendly, is like saying electric cars are 'green'.....when most electricity in the country is created by burning COAL. 100 pure diesel for me, more economical, cost less, and results in less polution over the same distance as biodiesel. Plus, I won't be adding to everyones problem of higher food prices, because of the food crops being diverted to biodiesel production. Al Gore needs to quit with this enviromental garbage.....but then again, how much money has he made off 'Global warning??? (Damn, it has been one warm winter everywhere, hasn't it???)
The reason you experience a mileage decrease is the same as why ethanol returns decreased mileage. There are less BTU's per gallon of biodiesel versus petroleum diesel.
Biodiesel pollutes less.
Biodiesel is renewable energy.
Biodiesel doesn't need to be made with fresh crop. Almost all of us find it cheaper to visit restaurants that have to pay to have their "waste oil" removed. We provide this service for free and put the oil through various filtering methods and produce biodiesel with it.
It is a better lubricant than petrol diesel, means increased life span of rotating components.
It is also a mild solvent and cleans out all the "dirt" in the fuel system that petrol diesel has left. This has been concluded from people switching to biodiesel and had to change fuel filters a few times fairly close intervals and then after not having to change for a long time.
The two reason why I choose biodiesel versus petrol diesel is ONE, I am not giving money to other countries, and TWO it is cheap to make yourself. There are also rebates from the EPA to people who venture to produce and can do it successfully bio fuels such as biodiesel.
Say what you will, but keep the flame out of an informative thread, next time create a new thread and call it "Why not to choose biodiesel."
Cited documents:
http://www.nrel.gov/docs/legosti/fy98/24089.pdf
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/biodiesel.shtml
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In Portland, Oregon......it is mandated that all diesel is biodiesel. (B10 or B20, not sure which.) Anyway, I commute the 60 miles one-way to Portland daily, and made the awful mistake of getting fuel there a few times as a 'test.' What a waste of money. My highway mileage immediately dropped from 52.3 to 44.5 mpg. (Over 3 tanks.) In other words, on a 14 or 15 gallon tank, I lost something like 225 miles. Not very 'green', considering I had to burn another 5 gallons to cover that distance! When I switched back to Shell 100% diesel, not only did the car run better and have mor epower, the mileage returned. Calling biodiesel enviromentally friendly, is like saying electric cars are 'green'.....when most electricity in the country is created by burning COAL. 100 pure diesel for me, more economical, cost less, and results in less polution over the same distance as biodiesel. Plus, I won't be adding to everyones problem of higher food prices, because of the food crops being diverted to biodiesel production. Al Gore needs to quit with this enviromental garbage.....but then again, how much money has he made off 'Global warning??? (Damn, it has been one warm winter everywhere, hasn't it???)
I'm finding it hard to believe that by running B10 or B20 in a 15 gal. tank cost you another 5 gals. of fuel to get the same mileage.
In 15 gals. of B10 there's only 1.5 gals of B100 and B20 would be 3 gals of b100.
I've been running homsbrewed B100 for the last 5 years in 3 rigs and my mileage didn't drop as much as yours with only B10 or B20.
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I too find it hard to believe , perhaps a calculation error was responsible. Unless the fuel they sold you was complete crap worse than anything I have ever seen or heard of. Cheers Dan
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The reason you experience a mileage decrease is the same as why ethanol returns decreased mileage. There are less BTU's per gallon of biodiesel versus petroleum diesel.
Biodiesel pollutes less.
Biodiesel is renewable energy.
Biodiesel doesn't need to be made with fresh crop. Almost all of us find it cheaper to visit restaurants that have to pay to have their "waste oil" removed. We provide this service for free and put the oil through various filtering methods and produce biodiesel with it.
It is a better lubricant than petrol diesel, means increased life span of rotating components.
It is also a mild solvent and cleans out all the "dirt" in the fuel system that petrol diesel has left. This has been concluded from people switching to biodiesel and had to change fuel filters a few times fairly close intervals and then after not having to change for a long time.
The two reason why I choose biodiesel versus petrol diesel is ONE, I am not giving money to other countries, and TWO it is cheap to make yourself. There are also rebates from the EPA to people who venture to produce and can do it successfully bio fuels such as biodiesel.
Say what you will, but keep the flame out of an informative thread, next time create a new thread and call it "Why not to choose biodiesel."
Cited documents:
http://www.nrel.gov/docs/legosti/fy98/24089.pdf
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/biodiesel.shtml
[/quote]
Uh...the thread is supposed to be about biodiesel. I addressed biodiesel as regulated currently. I believe you are referencing WVO....waste vegetable oil. Two different subjects altogether. With WVO, the mileage is irrelevent if you're collecting it for free and processing it yourself.
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In Portland, Oregon......it is mandated that all diesel is biodiesel. (B10 or B20, not sure which.) Anyway, I commute the 60 miles one-way to Portland daily, and made the awful mistake of getting fuel there a few times as a 'test.' What a waste of money. My highway mileage immediately dropped from 52.3 to 44.5 mpg. (Over 3 tanks.) In other words, on a 14 or 15 gallon tank, I lost something like 225 miles. Not very 'green', considering I had to burn another 5 gallons to cover that distance! When I switched back to Shell 100% diesel, not only did the car run better and have mor epower, the mileage returned. Calling biodiesel enviromentally friendly, is like saying electric cars are 'green'.....when most electricity in the country is created by burning COAL. 100 pure diesel for me, more economical, cost less, and results in less polution over the same distance as biodiesel. Plus, I won't be adding to everyones problem of higher food prices, because of the food crops being diverted to biodiesel production. Al Gore needs to quit with this enviromental garbage.....but then again, how much money has he made off 'Global warning??? (Damn, it has been one warm winter everywhere, hasn't it???)
Read the whole thing.....that was over 3 tanks of biodiesel.
I'm finding it hard to believe that by running B10 or B20 in a 15 gal. tank cost you another 5 gals. of fuel to get the same mileage.
In 15 gals. of B10 there's only 1.5 gals of B100 and B20 would be 3 gals of b100.
I've been running homsbrewed B100 for the last 5 years in 3 rigs and my mileage didn't drop as much as yours with only B10 or B20.
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The reason you experience a mileage decrease is the same as why ethanol returns decreased mileage. There are less BTU's per gallon of biodiesel versus petroleum diesel.
Biodiesel pollutes less.
Biodiesel is renewable energy.
Biodiesel doesn't need to be made with fresh crop. Almost all of us find it cheaper to visit restaurants that have to pay to have their "waste oil" removed. We provide this service for free and put the oil through various filtering methods and produce biodiesel with it.
It is a better lubricant than petrol diesel, means increased life span of rotating components.
It is also a mild solvent and cleans out all the "dirt" in the fuel system that petrol diesel has left. This has been concluded from people switching to biodiesel and had to change fuel filters a few times fairly close intervals and then after not having to change for a long time.
The two reason why I choose biodiesel versus petrol diesel is ONE, I am not giving money to other countries, and TWO it is cheap to make yourself. There are also rebates from the EPA to people who venture to produce and can do it successfully bio fuels such as biodiesel.
Say what you will, but keep the flame out of an informative thread, next time create a new thread and call it "Why not to choose biodiesel."
Cited documents:
http://www.nrel.gov/docs/legosti/fy98/24089.pdf
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/biodiesel.shtml
Uh...the thread is supposed to be about biodiesel. I addressed biodiesel as regulated currently. I believe you are referencing WVO....waste vegetable oil. Two different subjects altogether. With WVO, the mileage is irrelevent if you're collecting it for free and processing it yourself.
You need to re-read my post, I only mention WVO as a source of oil to make biodiesel with.
Maybe you got lost someplace in that.
I was comparing the benefits of BIODIESEL versus PETRODIESEL and blends of the two B10-B20.
petroleum diesel has something like ~129,000 BTU's/gal, B100 ~118,000BTU/gal, blends are in between.
I was trying to explain why you might have experienced a decrease in fuel mileage, being less BTU's there is less energy to do the same work, simple physics, and in the case of an engine, thermodynamics.
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Petrol's about 140,000 BTU per/gal
B100 is about 130,000 BTU per/gal
it's all academic, but you're correct, less BTU's means less heat, means less work performed per gallon.
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I wonder if I can bump boost on b100 as it isn't as hot and I should be able to gain some performance with more compression.
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I wonder if I can bump boost on b100 as it isn't as hot and I should be able to gain some performance with more compression.
I would definitely try it, to increase efficiency and therefore economy and/or power.....but do so with an egt gauge to correctly monitor it.
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see if it is just running cooler because of the less BTU's (energy per volume) than petrodiesel. I would also look into cetane rating see if that has any effect on how the fuel performs against increased pressures in the cylinder.
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see if it is just running cooler because of the less BTU's (energy per volume) than petrodiesel. I would also look into cetane rating see if that has any effect on how the fuel performs against increased pressures in the cylinder.
Pressure is directly proportionate to temperature. As temp increases, so does the pressure. If the substance you're burning has less BTU's per given volume, then it doesn't matter what it's "special sauce" is, it can only heat the given cylinder so much per cycle; and as the work performed by an engine is a function of the heat created upon combustion, then less heat means less work, which means, less bang for the buck. (figuratively speaking)
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see if it is just running cooler because of the less BTU's (energy per volume) than petrodiesel. I would also look into cetane rating see if that has any effect on how the fuel performs against increased pressures in the cylinder.
Pressure is directly proportionate to temperature. As temp increases, so does the pressure. If the substance you're burning has less BTU's per given volume, then it doesn't matter what it's "special sauce" is, it can only heat the given cylinder so much per cycle; and as the work performed by an engine is a function of the heat created upon combustion, then less heat means less work, which means, less bang for the buck. (figuratively speaking)
The combustion cycle is more of an adiabatic process. Temperature and pressure decrease as volume increases.
I don't know enough about the two fuels and their differences to say anything.
I would say take a look at the performance characteristics of the two fuels. Burn rate and cetane number may play a role in the performance.
For instance the faster a fuel burns, the less energy is wasted to heat transfer, transfer out of the system to the environment (cooling system, and exhaust). The slower it burns the less work it does mechanically, and more time for heat to leave the system into the environment.
cetane number is responsible for ignition delay. The higher the number, the more delay it has, the higher compression you can run in the engine. IE more BOOST. Octane number plays the same role, ethanol over 100octane rating, gasoline, 87-93. Top fuel dragsters run alcohol (ethanol) because they can run higher compression ratios and more 'boost.' This is why cetane number and octane rating are desirable for performance. If you can get premium fuel for the cost of regular why would you not do it? You car performs better, can run more advance timing.
Thermodynamics is a LOT more complicated than just BTU's.
If your engine is running cooler and better on B100 than it did on pump Diesel (B10) then I would say you MAY have produced or acquired a higher grade fuel than what you used to get. Which means you could probably increase boost, or advance timing or a little of both to make use of the higher grade fuel.
Note: Cetane number doesn't matter much over 55. Petrodiesel has a minimum cetane rating of 40 (what the pumps say). I have read Biodiesel has a higher Cetane rating anyhow.
Whatever it may be. I think cetane rating is responsible for cooler running engine.
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As a practical matter B100 smokes less than Petrodiesel so you can turn up your pump somewhat without getting too ridiculous. The smoke is lighter in color as well, not like the coal black you get from petro. I believe this is due to the oxygen content of bio which is not present in reg diesel. Cheers Dan
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As a practical matter B100 smokes less than Petrodiesel so you can turn up your pump somewhat without getting too ridiculous. The smoke is lighter in color as well, not like the coal black you get from petro. I believe this is due to the oxygen content of bio which is not present in reg diesel. Cheers Dan
Thanks Dan!
Yes, the oxygen content in bio would make a big difference.
Oxygenated fuels contain less carbon and more hydrogen and oxygen. This improves combustion, and less soot produced.