flman wrote:
chrismc, I know you like to make your own Bio, but did you know that it may be prohibitive to run B100 in diesels made in 2007 and up. Case in point, I got a 2010 Sprinter van, on the fuel filler it says no more the 5% bio. A lot of nay sayers would say you can go higher, but if you knew the electronic wonder this vehicle was, you would not want to risk it, my exhaust has urea injection, and the dpf, it has an EGR that is known to be not very reliable on these vehicles. It is not a question of if your EGR will fail, it is a question of when. Maybe you are all good intentioned to be fossil fuel free, and think you are going to drive that CRD until you die any ways, but that never works out. What are you going to do in the future when you need a replacement vehicle, get mad and say, "Those stupid manufacturers don't know how to design an emission system that will work with bio." If the government was in our best interest, why don't they mandate bio instead of emission controls and fossil fuel? Oops, back to big oil is controlling your hero's in DC ...................
I'm very familiar with the biodiesel post-injection oil-dilution issue on some 2007+ vehicles. Not all engine designs use post-injection, but unfortunately the major ones do (VW). It sucks. Yes, I'm going to say "Those stupid manufacturers don't know how to design an emission system that will work with bio", but I also realize that it is not a high priority for them so I need to suck it up and find a different solution that works for me. B20+ is still not a cost- or climate-effective option for the masses, and there is no financial incentive for the manufacturers to spend a lot of money supporting it. Does that make me sad? Yes. Is there anything I can do about it? Nope. Even in the CRD, I was pretty hesitant about running B100 due the new (at the time) engine technology. There were concerns about atomization and injector coking with the new higher-pressure common-rail system. I did quite a bit of research on the issues, and let some other people be guinea-pigs first. DC made it very clear that biodiesel over B5 was not recommended in the CRD, so I knew that if I screwed it up I'd be taking full responsibility for it. If I'm using a product outside of the manufacturer's specs and it breaks, that's my problem. As it turns out, B100 works great in the CRD. Oil analysis comes up cleaner (than petro), engine innards are cleaner (than petro), and it runs much quieter. Performance is slightly down, but its not too noticeable unless I'm flying up a steep grade (GDE to the rescue!). Low-temp performance is still an unsolved problem. I haven't clogged a filter with gelled-fuel yet, but when it gets cold I keep the tank fairly empty and splash-blend with petro. In the winter, I carry a small amount of petro with me, and I always keep a spare filter on hand year-round.
When the CRD dies and its time to switch vehicles, I'll see what's available in the market. Unless something changes drastically, I'll probably be looking for a pre-2007 diesel. I'm not ruling out the possibility of a strong biodiesel future either, though. There is very active research on bio-based fuels, and there is a lot of promise in algal-based fuels that have much better low-temperature performance and yield than plant-based ones. There are two potential "good paths" here: 1) The new algal-based fuels could have characteristics that minimize the oil-dilution problem. 2) The new algal-based fuels might be able to be produced cheaply enough that there will be a biodiesel market presence and the vehicle manufacturers will design new system that work with them. I'm not holding my breath for either option, though. Research, testing, and scaling-up production takes a long time.
I don't know that I would currently support a government mandate for biodiesel. There's no way around the fact that its currently not economically effective. Some emissions have major improvements with biodiesel, but some other important ones are worse. Nitrous Oxides have been shown by varying studies to go both directions (sometimes a significant increase), depending on engine design. I see no reason to lower the emissions requirements that give us clean air and keep us healthy, and I think the manufacturers need to (and will) adapt if there is demand. Obviously, anything local and renewable that could wean us off of the OPEC terrorist teat and switch us away from an extraction-based fuel is a good thing, but I think bio-based fuel for the masses is still a little ways down the road.
Login
Register
FAQ
Search
4/11)..Bus gone to Scarp 8/23/11 
That explains a lot of why I felt like I was talking to a brick wall. Not reading things is an excellent way to gain an understanding of a scientific field in which you are not a professional. Its also a very effective and productive way to debate a topic. Who needs to produce a counterpoint when you don't know what the point is to start with!