http://12.4.228.47/news/story/121202003_new01Biodiesel1130.asp

According to the Maui News biodiesel is the cheapest motor fuel available there. At $2.29 a gallon it is $.10 cheaper/gallon than regular unleaded (the price difference is not pointed out in the story but unleaded is currently selling for $2.39). The biodiesel there is a blend of used cooking oil and diesel. Interesting story.

Randy

Well, if we actually made it here on mainland like a "fuel" instead of a hobby, it would cost less than regular diesel.

Thing is, in the tropics, they can grow oil palms that have a yield of 500gal/acre of veggie oil, here in the states, rapeseed is the closest at this point at 100gals/acre (soy is only 60gals/acre, but there are a LOT of growers, so that's the principle base oil for most "commercial" BD here).

If we actually wanted to make BD a viable fuel, algae is reportedly the king of oil/acre, but I don't have a number to throw out for that.

Anyway, that's actually good news, it's FAR less polluting, doesn't stink, vehicles run better on it, yada, yada.

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1984 300D Turbo - 4-speed manual conversion, mid-level resto

1983 300D - parts car

1979 300TD Auto - Parts car.

1985 300D Auto - Wrecked/Parts.


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"If you don't know where you are going, any road will get you there". Lewis Carrol

Too bad noone here is cultivating the aglae that produces mega oil per acre. It is supposed to be able to grow in effluent waste streams of places like hog farms, and both clean the waste and produce a great quality oil for biodiesel.
On the biodiesel board, someone had a link to a study that basically did a cost analysis of converting a massive area into an algae/biodiesel facility to power the world. I think Arizona and NM were both sacrificed for the cause... but the pricetag was reasonable considering the alternatives.

How's that for vagueries? Too early for my brain to work!
k

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I have a couple of questions as there are 2 biodiesel station about 20 miles from me.

How does it compare in price to diesel?

Does anyone have emission values for a diesel running it and how do those values compare to the best of the 2004 gas or diesel engines?

Thank's
Don

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1980 300TD-T (82 Turbo and Trans) 159,000 Miles "Jackie-O"
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1987 Jeep Wagoneer Limited - keeps the MB's off the ice and out of the snow
1994 BMW 530it

Here's a link to the emissions page on Josh Tickell's site:
http://www.veggievan.org/biodiesel/articles/emissions.php


And I came across this test by someone at the CBC: http://www.cbc.ca/consumers/market/files/cars/biodiesel/emissions.html#

But, remember that a lot depends on the individual engine. How much NOx you create (in whatever type of engine) depends a lot on temperature as well. And, you have to take into account that the quantity of CO2 emitted is no more than what was taken up by the plant when growing. So, no NET gain in CO2 in the atmosphere. Burning fossil fuels, we do have a net gain in the atmosphere as we are releasing carbon that was trapped a long time ago when life and the earth were different.

And this is a PDF of an article published by the Society of Automotive Engineers. Pretty long and dry, but actually an interesting read: http://bengal.missouri.edu/~pavt0689/Review_Utilization_of_Rapeseed_Oil.pdf

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1984 300SD: Hilda the veggie vundercar

rstarkie said :

"The biodiesel there is a blend of used cooking oil and diesel."

Actually biodiesel is not a mix. It is a transesterification of fatty acids from fats or fresh or used vegoil. The fatty acids are essentially "cracked" into molecules nearly identical to petrodiesel molecules using methanol and lye..and sometimes sulphuric acid.

Although many diesel engines can be run succesfully in warm climates on a mix of prefiltered used vegoil and diesel...this is not biodiesel.

It is a common misunderstanding...that as a home "brewer" of biodiesel I thought might be best clarified.

And although less petroleum is used to make biodiesel than petrodiesel it is not , strickly speaking a "green fuel". The methanol used to make biodiesel (around 25% by volume) is made from natural gas.

Still this is a nearly 75% reduction in CO2 emissions compared to petrodiesel.

To run your Benz any greener requires a conversion to strait vegoil....and you still end up using 5-10% diesel for the required warm up and shut down period. Which is why I also make biodiesel. It lowers my petroleum dependance for transportation down to less than 3%.:p

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