Hello Sven >With a lot of frustration I just read an article about using >biodiesel in marine engines. They (the engine manufacturers)
Was that engine manufacturers in general, or did it name them? >claim that the diesel will get "old" an clogg the pipes and the >tank, like it would get sour - like milk! I don't want to take sides in this. It's always useful to check for a money trail, especially when it has anything to do with Big Business and the environment, but you can't just assume there always is one. Sure Detroit or whatever is kind of hard to distinguish from Big Oil or whatever, it's the same money that's in all their pockets, but that doesn't necessarily lead to the conclusion that marine diesel makers are discriminating against biodiesel to defend the petroleum interests. If they're talking about soy biodiesel they could be right. Soy is a semi-drying oil with an IV of 130 (EN 14214 specifies <120), it oxidises easily, forms corrosive peroxides, and polymerises. Even the US NBB specifies a best-before date of six months IIRC, for B20, let alone B100. For another example, Mike Briggs of the University of New Hampshire Biodiesel group (the guy who wants to raise algae on 10,000 sq miles of Arizona desert so you can go on guzzling forever) said this about biodiesel: "The biggest issue comes down to three things - quality, quality, and quality. And usually, the quality issue comes down to the storage issue." -- Mike Briggs, BioDieselNow Forums, 10/21/2004, re "Concern over Bio polymerization". An American discussion, with all concerned in denial about soy and polymerisation, eg Kumar Plocher of biodiesel distributor Yokaya Biofuels agreed with Briggs, said polymerisation is a "non-issue" and it had been dismissed at the NBB conference as of little concern. Not a lot of these people can make fuel that passes the wash test, they mostly use Appleseed reactors that won't do the job along with super-gentle washing methods to avoid emulsions - and they say quality is all about storage. Meanwhile both bubble washing and mist washing help to oxygenate the fuel well beyond the EU 14214 Oxidation stability limit. That's not just with soy oil, sunflower oil is also a semi-drying oil, and bubble-washing and other poor techniques can help to oxidise medium-IV oils like rapeseed (canola) oil too. For whether polymerisation is a non-issue or not, see "Oxidation and polymerisation": http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_bubblewash.html#oxid Anti-oxidant additives for biodiesel sell well in Europe, but AFAIK not in the US, which has a much greater need of them. >And on top of that the common lie about biodiesel (and ethanol) >being very bad for rubber items and the oil. > >What is this? Why are the manufacturers so afraid of biodiesel that >the keep on going telling true lies? Not as strange as some of the things people get told about biodiesel by the mechanics who fix their cars, for instance, judging from some of the enquiries we get. A lot of it is just the usual sort of prejudice against anything new. And why take a chance if you don't have to? And indeed you don't have to, though demand will change that eventually. In the US, GM for one also raised objections to biodiesel, and stated clearly it was because of the oxidation problem, which is especially a problem with soy. Last I saw GM were considering approval of B5. I don't think they were acting out of any concern for the profit margins of ExxonMobil. The Fuel Injection Equipment Manufacturers (FIEM - Delphi, Stanadyne, Denso, Bosch) do support biodiesel, but they're concerned about the quality, and they say why, specifying fuel problems and the damage each one can cause. See: http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_FIEM.html FIEM report Why not read the whole section on fuel quality? http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_vehicle.html#qual1 Biodiesel quality In a word, there's a lot of bad fuel about. Biodiesel? Which particular biodiesel is that exactly? How was it made? If I was an engine manufacturer I'd want to know that before I endorsed anything. With commercial brews I'd insist on the EU standard, and I'd want more than a rubber stamp from the usual laboratory. With homebrew you're probably better off as far as quality's concerned, but you're on your own. Best Keith >Regards, >Sven _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
