bio diesel

[2000sierra1500]

bio diesel, any comments

[Quyonmob]

Interesting topic, I hope the soy producers chime in.

[yngbld32]

smells like McDonalds fries

[Quyonmob]

If it is constituted of recycled fryer oil, yes it does. Lots of the new biodiesels use new (as in not recycled) agriculturally produced oil products.

[Frankenbiker]

Originally Posted by 2000sierra1500

bio diesel, any comments

I've ran it a couple of times... I'll buy it if it's available and not too far out of the way to go get...

Mind you, that's the commercially-produced, soy-based biodiesel.

Even if I could find someone who HAD 200 gallons of used cooking oil to run, I'd not do it. While a diesel engine will run acceptably well on un-processed cooking oil, doing that leads to problems down the line, which are neither cheap nor easy to deal with.

Specifically, the unprocessed oil generates a lot of carbon deposits (called "coking") on the cylinder head and piston crown, unacceptably raising compression and blowing out the head gasket(s). Not to mention that the smell is something that some folks find objectionable.

But commercially-produced biodiesel is all but indistinguishable from petroleum-based diesel fuel. At least that's my experience.

Major chain truckstops have been somewhat reluctant to "buy into" the biodiesel phenomenon, largely because it more or less requires a separate storage and delivery system (or the segregation of existing facilities) unless they convert their entire operation over to biodiesel. And in the quantities most Truckstops sell diesel, converting over and selling that much overwhelms the nearly-nonexistent "local" biodiesel production capability.

-blaine

[Pete-FWA]

Doesn't a true biodiesel system filter those contaminants before burning them?

I've read different articles that claim different things on that topic.

I have also read to never run the used oil biodiesel unless your engine is properly set up for this.

Anyone run it or know about the filtering systems?

[FlareSide]

I think biodiesel is great! My auto tech teacher uns it in his PowerStroke all the time, with no problems. The thing is though, is that he makes his own. He will ask restaurants for used fryer grease, and produce his fuel from it. Its great stuff, twice the flah point of regular diesel, almost twice the lubricity, and lower emissions. I;ve made some myself for him to try in his truck, and it ran great. He hasnt had problems with carbon build up yet. I'm not sure if he will or not.

[dozerboy]

There is nothing wrong with it except that it gels at a real low temp I would like to make my own to run.

[FlareSide]

Most diesel fuel usually gel at a low temp anyways, maybe just not as bad.

[red suburban]

i made my own when i had an 89 f250, no problems and made well over 300 gallons. the only way you get problems are if you dont filter the oil and wash it multiple times. on my processor i ran the oil after it had mixed with the methanol/lye for 1 hour. let it settle for 2 days, drain the glycerine, filter again for another hour. let settle again for 1 day, drain glycerine, wash, drain water/soaps, filter again, then put in truck.

ps... i ran my biodiesel through the winter as well, works perfectly fine with your regular diesel degelling stuff.

[Kenny C]

http://www.azurebiodiesel.com/

[HemiHunter]

A small trucking outfit my father does a lot of work with just switched over to it comletely,they have 3 big rigs and a cummins powered Dodge they run it in and have had no problems. they make it themselves and have had really good luck. He said it saves them a ton on fuel costs

[1toncrew]

anyone use azurebiodiesel's stuff? My wife is a chef and they have hundreds of gallons of canolla oil. They switch the oil every 2 days. It sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

[red suburban]

i'd do it, the more often the oil is changed the better (much less water and other contaminants).

[Bullwinkle]

If you read the owners manual (on a new truck), it specifically says NOT to run biodiesel.

I don't think it said why, but if it says so in the owners manual, that's good enough for me.

[red suburban]

only american brands say that for some odd reason. both japanese and european manufacturers say in their owners manual that biodiesel is either ok or recommended. i think the main reason that the big 3 say that is because its a fairly new technology here in the US. alot of times they will void your warrenty for other things such as a chip, but that is beneficial as well.

[89stroker]

www.biodiesel.org

they have a lot of good info.

[dozerboy]

Originally Posted by Bullwinkle

If you read the owners manual (on a new truck), it specifically says NOT to run biodiesel.

I don't think it said why, but if it says so in the owners manual, that's good enough for me.

You have nothing to worry about.

[Frankenbiker]

Originally Posted by Bullwinkle

If you read the owners manual (on a new truck), it specifically says NOT to run biodiesel.

I don't think it said why, but if it says so in the owners manual, that's good enough for me.

What they don't want you doing is running unprocessed veggie oil.

Commercially prepared biodiesel is not a problem.

-blaine

[GetMore]

There are three types of "alternative" fuels for diesel engines, SVO, WVO, and biodiesel.

SVO is straight vegetable oil. TYpically Canola oil.
WVO is waste vegetable oil. This is just used fry oil.
Biodiesel is made by processing SVO or WVO. (Actually they can make it from algae as well.)

Even biodiesel made from SVO will make the exhaust smell like fries.

WVO is usually free, but does need to be filtered, and it will build up deposits in the combustion chamber and injectors. It is very thick, so it will need to be heated to run in most vehicles. The filters and heating equipment, along with the possible maintenance required can add to the cost.

SVO is more expensive and due to it's viscosity, it too needs to be heated in most vehicles. It also can cause deposits to build up i n the combustion chamber and injectors. Due to the lack of contaminants it makes for a better fuel than WVO, but the cost and maintenance required offset most of the gains.

Biodiesel is actually what diesel engines were originally designed to run on. Rudolph Diesel, a German inventor, made an engine that would run on a renewable resource that was available in Germany. Since they have no oil fields they had to import all their petroleum products. An industrial nation is dependent on petroleum, so an engine that ran on peanut oil could reduce their dependency.

Anyway, biodiesel is vegetable oil that has be processed to remove the fats and just leave the esters behind. These make up the fuel part of the oil. The viscosity is almost equal to that of diesel, though it does gel at a lower temperature. IIRC it is 20 degrees. A diesel/biodiesel mixture will gel at lower temps, the higher the diesel concentration, the lower the gel point.

Biodiesel is environmentally safe, spills will break down on their own, so leaks will not contaminate the soil. It does not actually add CO2 to the air, since the plants pulled that Carbon out of the air when they grew. IIRC soy-based fuel will add some NOx, because soybeans hold onto some of the Nitrogen from the soil. The other beans used for oil don't do this, so some biodiesels reduce NOx emissions, while some increase it about 10%.

Biodiesel is a good fuel system cleaner. If there is stuff built up in the tank and lines it can break it free and clog the fuel filter. If your vehicle has 100,000 miles on it and you start running pure BD in it you might run into this problem. If you use lower concentrations and slowly build up to pure you should be okay. Some people run a cheap, disposable filter before their main filter because of this.

BD is also a better lubricant than regular diesel.

Government testing has shown that a 2% mixture of BD in regular diesel (known as B2) improves the lubricity, cetane rating, and emissions as well as dropping the smoke level. B2 is also safe to run in place of regular diesel without making any changes.