i heared a guy that put the grease from the dumpsters behind those restraunts into his mercedes and PSD and it burned better than regular diesel fuel. i might try it id like to put those oil folks out of bussiness.

 

thats why i call diesels oil burners, they will burn damn clost to anything, i bet if you put kerosene in the tank it would burn.

 

Soybeans are legumes, bud (legume is a fancy term for bean or pea). And they do fix nitrogen, that's why they're rotated with corn.

 

Yes, Soybean plants replenish nitrogen back into the soil. Many farmers will plant soybeans after a wheat harvest.


Mark

 

I'd love to see more biodiesel out here. It would give Montana farmers something else to grow like soybeans other than wheat. Monsanto would love all the Roundup Ready!

 

you can also make bio out of old used fryer oil like just vegtable oil thats what vermont tech was using for there fuel free fryer oil.

 

That's the great thing about biodiesel. It can be made from just about any triglyceride, including lard and tallow. But I believe most of the stuff produced for sale today is made from virgin oil. In the states, its soybean oil. In europe, its rapeseed (canola) oil. In my opinion, biodiesel should only be made from waste veggie oil, not virgin oil. Virgin oil would mean more large scale crop production, and that ain't so good.

Yes, soybeans area a legume and fix nitrogen from the atmosphere, which helps with the corn thats usually grown in rotation with soy. But soy still sometimes needs additional N, and corn definately does (its a N pig). Gov't programs help out farms, and give rewards based on the # of bushels produced. To get more production, farms plant just about every square foot possible. The type of row cropping used for these crops leads to huge soil losses, which pollutes waterbodies with sediments, nutrients, and soil bound pesticides. Ground water too. Increased production and soil loss leads to decreases in soil fertility, which means you got to add more nutrients to the soil to maintain productivity. Mono cultures eliminate diversity and are a bad idea in general. And the whole thing with roundup resistant crops, which allow you to dump the herbicide on everything, w/o worrying about damaging the crop is a whole nother topic.

That being said, I still love the idea of biodiesel. Its renewable and can be made from what is otherwise waste. It can reduce foreign dependence on oil and is a new growth industry that can help the economy.

Now back to the truck...Does anyone know if the seals and hoses in late model trucks are compatible with biodiesel? Apparantly high% blends or neat biodiesel eat rubber and seals in older vehicles. Viton hoses and the like are ok. Whats in our trucks?

-Shawn

 

Yes actually i do remember, with "B-100" or real bio-deisel you can have NO rubber fuel lines the fuel will eat the rubber, i remember that from talking with the folks at vermont tech. but i thought they said it didnt care about the seals for some reason.

 

i use a 3% mixture that is available at our local fs dealers. it does raise the fuel mileage from 11.4 to 12.4 and the engine has more snap or power as you guy's like to say. it runs smoother and also starts better. tom

 

This being my first post on this great site, I don't want to start out wrong but I got the following info from the Dieselman's site:

Ford's Position on Biodiesel:
Ford is advising that any of their vehicles powered by a diesel engine, regardless of manufacturer, may exhibit engine or fuel system problems when using fuels with greater than 5% Biodiesel. Any problems when using fuels containing more than 5% Biodiesel should be referred to the fuel manufacturer. Ford only recomends using fuels containing no more than 5% Biodiesel (B5) in their diesel powered vehicles. In addition, as per World Wide Fuel Charter (WWFC) catagory 1-3, fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) must meet EN14214 and ASTM D 6751 specifications.

Looks like Ford is hedging thier bets on this.
Traildust

 

That CYA was written by Ford's lawyers that don't have a clue! International-Navistar's (the PSD manufacturer) position is "...we neither disapprove or approve of the use of biodiesel or any other fuel..." They take no official position on the use of biodiesel. Only that if *any* fuel or fuel additive screws up your engine, then the owner is responsible. That sounds like a reasonable approach to me.
I'll try to find the URL for the exact letter and post it here later.

FWIW, I've been using B-20 or B-50 (20% to 50%) biodiesel in my PSD for well over a year and think it's fantastic stuff. My truck's engine runs *much* quieter on a biodiesel blend, cuts the rattle and cackle way down. Starts easier in the cold, too, the higher cetane of bio is a real plus.

One of the members of our local PSD club recently did a dyno run with his highly modded PSD running on B-20 biodiesel...524.99 HP and 1100 ft/lbs rear wheel torque on the rollers. Yikes!
He buys his bio at the same place that I do.

 

Parrothead,
What station sells it in your area?? How much is it?? I've heard there is a place in Boulder but I hate going there for anything...

 

Link to International's statement regarding biodiesel.

http://www.biodiesel.org/pdf_files/I...l%20Letter.pdf

Basically their position (as already stated) is they don't warranty anything not manufacture by International. "The use of products such as biodiesel is at the discretion of the end user." Sounds like use at your own risk.

Link to engine manufactures statement:
http://www.enginemanufacturers.org/a...upload/297.pdf

This is somewhat more negative, but some stuff is contradictory to what I have read. For instance, this report says there is a 5-7% loss of power with biodiesel. In other places, I read that biodiesel has a higher cetane rating then petro diesel. 47 vs. 40 (for non premium diesel). Also, that folks are adding selling low% blends as premium diesel, because of the cetane boost you get. Also mentions that biodiesel is a great medium for microbial growth. Well so is petro-diesel fuel. Also mentions clogged fuel filters. Maybe at first. Why? Because biodiesel is such a good solvent, it cleans up any junk you have in your tank, which could plug your fuel filter until everything is nice and clean (kinda like synthetic oil, I am told). Talks about cold weather use, that biodiesel will cloud and gel in the cold.....hey, just like #2. They do mention a good thing though. Biodiesel has a slightly higher viscosity than #2, so you actually get more efficent fuel injection with bio-d because it reduces barrel/plunger leakage in the injectors.

All informative reading anyway. Anyone care to try an explain how biodiesel can have a lower energy content, and yet have a higher cetane rating than petro diesel??

-Shawn

 

d Cetane rating is a measure of how easily the fuel will ignite. Higher cetane rating means easier to ignite at a lower temperature.

Energy content is how many Btu's are produced by a given amount of fuel. Biodiesel produces less Btu's than #2D for the same amount of fuel.

Also #1D has a higher cetane rating than #2D, but #2D produces more Btu's than #1D. This is one of the reasons winter fuel produces less power and fuel mileage than summer fuel.

Hope this helps.

 

Sure, that's an easy one. Because of its higher cetane, biodiesel (and blends) ignite under compression quicker. Essentially, that advances your injection timing = more power. The advanced timing and smoother running engine more than offsets the slighly lower BTU per gallon of biodiesel.

Some of the guys have modified their injector control modules to put out slightly higher voltage, which opens the injectors quicker and increases power. The same effect as biodiesel has.

Now my experience is that all of the above is true up to maybe a 40% biodiesel blend. Beyond that, people running 100% biodiesel have reported slighly worse mileage which is to be expected. Up to B-40 blend, I have never seen a measureable mileage difference, and I've run a bio blend for maybe 30,000 miles now. My own truck runs absolutely the best on a 20% to 40% blend.

Jmorton, you can buy biodiesel in Commerce City just off of I-76 at SHOCO Oil Company, 5175 E. 74th. I don't know what they're asking for it, though. Never been there.
Here's a map to the place:
http://www.gobluesun.com/images/shoco_map.gif

I don't mind paying a a buck or three more per filll up on biodiesel, that's what I'd be paying otherwise for fuel additive to boost cetane, lube and clean injectors. And that extra dough stays in American pockets, it doesn't go to Sheik Yerbootie.