Ok just wondering what the difference between the two is. Someone told me that the red dyed diesel wasnt as purified, and didnt contain all the additives that the green dye has to have for the environmental issues. Id guess this is true because red dye is off road only but im not completely sure. Just looking to gain more diesel knowledge just in case the question comes up and i need to give an answer. Saw a truck with a big ol tank of it and thought id find out. Thanks


Chad

 

Red dyed fuel is offroad fuel because the road use taxes have not been paid on it.

 

Never seen green diesel. What is it dyed for?

 

Green usually refers to the undyed fuel, sometimes can have a greenish tint to it.

 

I have been told that red diesel has more sulfer in it, but I don't KNOW that. Red diesel is about $.40 less per gallon due to no road tax. Where I live you can get a nasty fine if you are cought using it on the road in anything designed for highway travel. I assume the same goes in all states.

 

Yah i have heard that about the sulfur too. diesels got that greenish color to it, wich from what ive been told by a friend who works in the oil business, is an additive or dye of some sort. I dont know what raw un purified diesel looks like but im guessing its a light brown or maybe even clear hazy color. I know that diesel is basically trash fuel, a bi product in the making of gasoline. Gasoline sits on top, diesel is in the middle, and oil is on the bottom. I saw it on the history channel, and the same friend explained to me that the reason most trucks and trains and stuff run on diesel is because the oil company's need them to dispose of the "junk fuel" Im not saying this is all true, its just herasy, that is why i am posting so i will learn more. I do know one thing about farm diesel, if you get caught with it here in texas you pay a huge fine too.

 

in most states (wel lthe southern ones) red is either dyed to show no tax paid, or no tax paid and sulfer content is more. Green is usually for marine use and i think has different taxes applied.

 

Green or clear = road tax paid
Red = no tax paid and if you use it on the road you face both federal and state fines + EPA fines.

 

I live in a rural, agricultural area where a lot of the farmers drive diesel powered pickups. About a year ago one of the highway excise tax enforcers was sitting by the livestock auction houses waiting for the farmers to leave for the day. He caught a neighbor of mine using the wrong diesel fuel in his pickup. The highway boy really thought he was earning his taxpayer-based salary when my neighbor told him that he has just bought his used truck a few days ago and hadn't even had put enough miles on it to purchase any diesel fuel in it yet. My neighbor won his case although it took a few days of showing the date he purchased his truck, the exact amount of miles that had put on it and an official receipt from the car dealer.

You have to remember that in rural areas it's pretty easy to put off-road diesel in a highway vehicle, although I think it is seldom done.

 

Yes i know I farm full time. I have a clear fuel tank and a red fuel tank.

 

In my area of Central New York State, green and red diesel are the same thing, just different colors, and neither legal for on-the-road. A few companies used to advertise their "green" fuel, especially the now defunct Agway. All they did is put in their own dye in order to make their fuel look special. It wasn't. Around here, on-the-road fuel has to be clear. Green, Red, or anything else not permitted.
A while back, I heard that President Bush gave Louisana residents a waiver to use dyed fuel on the road because of hurricane and fuel shortages. If that's true, we all should have gotten the same permission - since some of the high diesel prices are blamed on the same hurricane and the rebuilding.

 

Diesel looks like beer to me.

jimbo

 

I strongly disagree with labeling Diesel as trash fuel. It is in fact a by- product of making gasoline or perhaps gasoline is a by-product of making diesel. Truth is they are both made in the cracking process which results in the production of everything from grease to some gasses. You cannot produce one of the products of cracking without producing all of them.
The lighter the particular product the higher up the tower it rises before condensing and being drawn off. It is a fact that heavier weight products pack more energy per unit volume since diesel (which is actually a light oil at 16 to 18 carbons per molecule) is heavier than gasoline (more of a solvent at 8 to 12 carbons per molecule) it packs more energy per gallon, approximately 17% more, which means a gallon of diesel will take you 17% farther than a gallon of gasoline. With the price of gasoline and diesel being fairly close (at least in my area it is) which would you rather use to power your vehicle. Now tell me which one is trash.

 

Red=off road as mentioned above. it has a much higher sulfer content than on road taxed fuel. tractors and such do not have to meet the same epa standards as over the road vehicles.

the waiver for using off road fuel in the south after the hurricane was only a waiver of the penalties for getting caught with it in your tanks. lots of people needed diesel to help with the clean up but there was very little on road fuel available. the law allowed people to use the off road stuff while the supply chain of on road fuel was being filled.
you were still supposed to report the fuel used and pay the taxes.

 

Well, every time i fill up my truck and it drips off the nozzle, it looks green. I asked someone and they said it was dyed that way to make it differ from gasoline color. Its prolly not dyed but it does have a greenish tint to it, and when theres a puddle of it it looks green. Also the nozzles are colored green so ionno. I know red diesel is dyed red, i was jus wondering what the difference was chmically!