around VA Beach
around VA Beach
Postmaster
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,587
Likes: 0
From: Virginia Beach
Not in my research, at least any small commercial places. I think there is a fleet refueling station around here, though. Untapped market around here for Bio. . . espesially if it can be priced down with regular deisel. Hehe, I'm only half kiding when I ask people at work for a couple million $$$ to open about 6-8 stations around here 
Always looking for a serious partner to sit down and work this out. . .just throwing this out there 
May I ask why your currious?
Always looking for a serious partner to sit down and work this out. . .just throwing this out there May I ask why your currious?
Elder User
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 911
Likes: 2
From: Northern Virginia, USA
What about deplaned jet fuel from Oceana or Langley? Jet-A burns real clean, with a nice power density.
I've heard mixed reviews about biodiesel. It's more of a solvent than regular diesel, and therefore tends to eat the rubber and seals in your fuel system. Straight vegetable oil is preferable to biodiesel; it's a lubricant, not a solvent, and I think has a better power density. Sites like www.greasecar.com will have nice articles on veggie oil (finally, a use for soybeans!).
I'd check the FTE Powerstroke boards and ask them about biodiesel before I'd put it anywhere near a Powerstroke. Diesel fuel injection systems have gotten more complex and less tolerant over the years. An old Mercedes will run fine on filtered, heated chicken fat. I don't know about a PSD. It used to be that the American diesel injection pumps depended on the lubricity of the fuel to lubricate the pumps, just like leaded gasoline lubricated the valve stems in old gas motors (German engines, and some newer engines use engine oil for the pump lube). You could destroy an intolerant diesel by running the wong fuel in it.
That being said, BioDiesel claims to have a higher power density than #2 diesel. You'll see an extra few mpg and more power. I don't know what Biodiesel sells for. #2 dino diesel is 20-cents cheaper than 87 octane right now.
I've heard mixed reviews about biodiesel. It's more of a solvent than regular diesel, and therefore tends to eat the rubber and seals in your fuel system. Straight vegetable oil is preferable to biodiesel; it's a lubricant, not a solvent, and I think has a better power density. Sites like www.greasecar.com will have nice articles on veggie oil (finally, a use for soybeans!).
I'd check the FTE Powerstroke boards and ask them about biodiesel before I'd put it anywhere near a Powerstroke. Diesel fuel injection systems have gotten more complex and less tolerant over the years. An old Mercedes will run fine on filtered, heated chicken fat. I don't know about a PSD. It used to be that the American diesel injection pumps depended on the lubricity of the fuel to lubricate the pumps, just like leaded gasoline lubricated the valve stems in old gas motors (German engines, and some newer engines use engine oil for the pump lube). You could destroy an intolerant diesel by running the wong fuel in it.
That being said, BioDiesel claims to have a higher power density than #2 diesel. You'll see an extra few mpg and more power. I don't know what Biodiesel sells for. #2 dino diesel is 20-cents cheaper than 87 octane right now.
Postmaster
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,587
Likes: 0
From: Virginia Beach
BioDiesel should be cheaper, but you end up paying more becuase you have to cover the cost of having the batch mixed. Ford doesn't honor warranty claims on engines running 100%, but I think they have said 50% should pose no problems (don't quote me though). I would think if Bio becomes popular, then manufacturers would build engines suitable for Straight Vegetable Oil. The biggest advantage to Bio is its GROWN/mixed right here in the US 
Elder User
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 911
Likes: 2
From: Northern Virginia, USA
Another US grown fuel: www.hempcar.org
Will BioDiesel become popular and readily available?
There's no large-scale commercial infrastructure for biodiesel (yet). Consumers are still willing to bend over at $2.71-2.79 a gallon for DinoDiesel, and even more for gasoline, so theres no impetus to mass-produce biodiesel. There'd have to be a real crush on fuel, or a trucking industry revolt to start producing biodiesel as a supplement to the DinoDiesel demand. The consumer diesel market is comparatively miniscule. Diesel fuel is cheaper to manufacture, and is an intermediate product of the gasoline production process. When diesel fuel gets impossible to produce, so will gasoline. Anyone using oil (#2 diesel) to heat thier homes would go to natural gas/electric. Meanwhile, PROCalifornia and some others have declared diesel "evil". High diesel prices/lack of diesel would just be junk-science proof of "just how bad diesel is. Good riddance". And gas hybrid sales would soar. (Everyone should carry around one ton of corrosive battery acid. You better hope to die on impact, 'cause you'll suffer long and hard with half your skin chemically burned off.) I do think that after a year or two of many diesel models on the market, that they'd catch on, especially if good fuel was available to allow use of the latest diesel technology. Especially if they bring over the 60+mpg compact cars (4-door Civic-sized) from Europe.
Then you have two renewable options: biodiesel and ethanol. Biodiesel appears to be superior to DinoDiesel. Ethanol is a wash compared to gasoline; Ethanol has a lower power density than gasoline (-20%), but very high octane (110). So you add a BIG turbo to increase the combustion efficiency, and you get a net power density similar to gasoline. The future is small engines with big turbos. Ethanol also burns very clean, as does biodiesel/vegetable oil.
I hope biodiesel/SVO wins out in the long run. Diesel-cycle engines are inherently more efficient than Otto-cycle engines, and lack an ignition system to control and fail. I got 28.5mpg driving my 4000lbs diesel station wagon on the interstate, and driving it HARD.
My .02
Will BioDiesel become popular and readily available?
There's no large-scale commercial infrastructure for biodiesel (yet). Consumers are still willing to bend over at $2.71-2.79 a gallon for DinoDiesel, and even more for gasoline, so theres no impetus to mass-produce biodiesel. There'd have to be a real crush on fuel, or a trucking industry revolt to start producing biodiesel as a supplement to the DinoDiesel demand. The consumer diesel market is comparatively miniscule. Diesel fuel is cheaper to manufacture, and is an intermediate product of the gasoline production process. When diesel fuel gets impossible to produce, so will gasoline. Anyone using oil (#2 diesel) to heat thier homes would go to natural gas/electric. Meanwhile, PROCalifornia and some others have declared diesel "evil". High diesel prices/lack of diesel would just be junk-science proof of "just how bad diesel is. Good riddance". And gas hybrid sales would soar. (Everyone should carry around one ton of corrosive battery acid. You better hope to die on impact, 'cause you'll suffer long and hard with half your skin chemically burned off.) I do think that after a year or two of many diesel models on the market, that they'd catch on, especially if good fuel was available to allow use of the latest diesel technology. Especially if they bring over the 60+mpg compact cars (4-door Civic-sized) from Europe.
Then you have two renewable options: biodiesel and ethanol. Biodiesel appears to be superior to DinoDiesel. Ethanol is a wash compared to gasoline; Ethanol has a lower power density than gasoline (-20%), but very high octane (110). So you add a BIG turbo to increase the combustion efficiency, and you get a net power density similar to gasoline. The future is small engines with big turbos. Ethanol also burns very clean, as does biodiesel/vegetable oil.
I hope biodiesel/SVO wins out in the long run. Diesel-cycle engines are inherently more efficient than Otto-cycle engines, and lack an ignition system to control and fail. I got 28.5mpg driving my 4000lbs diesel station wagon on the interstate, and driving it HARD.
My .02
Government Teat-sucker
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 9,748
Likes: 1
From: Virginia Beach
Originally Posted by Franken-Truck
Hehe, I'm only half kiding when I ask people at work for a couple million $$$ to open about 6-8 stations around here Always looking for a serious partner to sit down and work this out. . .just throwing this out there
Always looking for a serious partner to sit down and work this out. . .just throwing this out there Stu
